48% of America’s workers are actively job searching or watching for opportunities, according to Gallup on July 22.* This is across the board – from customer-facing to highly professional positions. 3.6 million Americans resigned in May alone. Would your organization survive if 50% of your employees left within the next 3 months? How about “only” 25%? And who do you think your competitors will lure away – your best performers or the “ok” performers?

This movement should not be surprising. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report found that only 34% of employees are engaged – the rest are either not engaged or are actively disengaged. “Gallup has found that it takes more than a 20% pay raise to lure most employees away from a manager who engages them, and next to nothing to poach most disengaged workers.”*

The good news is this is NOT about pay! It is about engagement. And that is something you can address without pouring red ink on your P&L. On the other hand, ignoring this phenomenon costs real money: 1) the cost to replace workers (but even when you replace them, their wisdom is gone forever), and 2) the lost productivity of not-engaged and actively disengaged employees is equal to 18% of their salary. *

Want to know what your employees are REALLY thinking? Here’s 2 screen shots of the Engagement section on an organizational health survey. The results below are for the entire company.

But the devil is in the details, so let’s drill down. The results below are for the women in one department. Look at the donuts for “I receive clear, constructive feedback on my performance”, “I have opportunities to develop and grow” and “I have a good relationship with my direct supervisor”. The red means the respondents answered “never” and the orange means they answered “seldom”. Two questions:
1) do you think anyone will be telling you this? and,
2) how hard will it be to replace the best performers when they find other positions?

Want to take cost-effective action to keep your best performers? We can help. Let’s have a conversation – no cost or obligation.

Gary Langenwalter

(These screen shots are from the Vantage Point organizational health assessment, which was developed by 25 professionals at the Oregon Organization Development Network.)

*https://www.gallup.com/workplace/351545/great-resignation-really-great-discontent.aspx?utm_source=workplace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=workplace_newsletter_aug_08102021&utm_term=newsletter&utm_content=keep_employees_engaged_textlink_1&elqTrackId=9dbabb89e12f4777bee2409d9301f17f&elq=fd96e3039c9b468386d04e7cdcf9ea77&elqaid=7149&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=1515

Gary Langenwalter

Portland Consulting Group

Wisdom for Exceptional Results

971-221-8155

www.portlandconsultinggroup.com