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How to re-engage a dissatisfied employee

Oksana LavriFuture work expert29. August 20239 min read

Why should business leaders reconsider re-engaging employees?
1. Reasons to engage and re-engage employees
2. Reasons people leave their organization
Re-engaging your employees: Tips and solutions

The capacity to retain proficient and enthusiastic employees extends beyond mere stability; it’s a pivotal factor for sustained success. Central to this achievement is a potent revelation — engaged team members.

Thus, just as a meal needs quality ingredients to be delicious, your engagement strategy should be based on valuable and meaningful content. It could be the core information, skills, or concepts you want to convey. Make sure it’s relevant, re-engaging, and tailored to your audience’s needs and level of understanding.

According to Gallup‘s state of the global workplace report in 2017, highly engaged team members show 21% greater profitability.
A study by Aon Hewitt found that companies with high employee engagement saw 22% higher productivity.

There isn’t a miraculous solution to the turnover challenge, meaning the issue many organizations face when employees voluntarily leave their jobs, often called “employee turnover.” It involves comprehending your employees and creating initiatives that cater to their requirements. The International Labor Organization discovered that employees are nearly thrice prone to leave companies to escape from their previous jobs (72%) compared to their inclination to join new companies for stimulating opportunities (28%). You possess the ability to regain control and revitalize your employees’ engagement.

Why should business leaders reconsider re-engaging employees?

Re-engaging employees is not just a matter of improving morale; it’s a strategic decision that can have far-reaching positive effects on productivity, innovation, retention, customer satisfaction, company culture, and overall business success.

Reasons to engage and re-engage employees

Among the most common reasons to engage your employees are:

Productivity and performance. Involved employees exhibit higher motivation, productivity, and dedication to their tasks. They tend to go the extra mile to achieve their goals and consistently deliver high-quality results. Engaged employees can directly impact a company’s bottom line by increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Should that employee decide to resign, they would create significant knowledge gaps and could potentially encourage dedicated colleagues to follow suit. These outcomes have the potential to hinder your business significantly. Given the high stakes involved, it’s evident that minimizing employee turnover offers a greater opportunity for achieving seamless and efficient business outcomes.
Innovation and creativity. Employees who are actively involved are more likely to offer novel ideas and innovative solutions to address challenges. They feel a sense of ownership and pride in their work, leading to a more innovative and creative work environment. It can be crucial for staying competitive and adapting to changing market conditions.
Employee retention. Engaged employees are less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere. High employee turnover can be costly regarding recruitment, training, and lost institutional knowledge. Re-engaging employees can improve retention rates, saving time and resources. Say you have a well-respected and long-tenured developer on your team. They’ve spent years collecting knowledge about the work and your processes and practices — to the point that this employee understands how work happens on the dev team better than anyone else.
Customer satisfaction. Engaged employees typically deliver enhanced customer service. They are more attuned to customer needs, more willing to solve problems, and more likely to create positive interactions. It can lead to improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and increased business. PwC research indicates that companies that allocate resources towards enhancing experiences for customers and employees can command a premium of up to 16% for their offerings. Furthermore, studies conducted by MIT reveal that companies positioned within the highest EX quartile not only foster more impactful innovations but also achieve twice the revenue generated from these innovations compared to their counterparts in the lowest quartile. Additionally, their industry-adjusted Net Promoter Scores (NPS) exhibit a twofold increase.
Company culture. Employee engagement is closely linked to a positive company culture. When employees are engaged, they often contribute to a more collaborative, inclusive, and supportive work environment. This, in turn, can attract top talent and improve overall workplace morale. Employees who perceive a positive organizational culture are almost four times more inclined to be engaged. Recent statistics about corporate culture reveal that 54% of profoundly engaged employees sense an enhancement in their workplace culture, whereas 35% believe that it remains unaltered.
Cost saving. Studies have shown that the cost of employee turnover can be significant. According to research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the cost of replacing an employee can range from 50% to 200% of their annual salary. This cost depends on various factors such as the position’s level, industry, and location. Fostering active employee engagement is crucial to mitigate the substantial expenses associated with high voluntary turnover within your company. The process of onboarding a new employee comes with expenses ranging from half to twice the departing employee’s annual salary. Given the prevailing scarcity of skilled personnel, it’s reasonable to anticipate these costs leaning towards the higher end of this range. However, the repercussions of turnover extend beyond the financial realm. In addition to the monetary strain, the departure of employees results in the loss of institutional wisdom and the resources dedicated to their training and growth.

Reasons people leave their organization

According to Betterworks’s 2022 state of performance enablement research report, the top reasons prompting employees to leave their jobs are better pay and benefits and better career development opportunities. However, the reasons employees leave the organization can be varied. Here are some of them:

Lack of growth opportunities. Employees often seek career advancement, skill development, and personal growth opportunities. If they feel stuck in their current role with limited chances for progression, they may consider leaving to find a more promising environment.
Low compensation and benefits. Inadequate compensation and benefits packages can lead employees to explore other opportunities that offer better financial rewards. It includes salary and benefits like health insurance, retirement plans, and other perks.
Poor management and leadership. A toxic or ineffective management style can deter employees. People often leave because of conflicts with supervisors, lack of clear direction, micromanagement, or feeling undervalued by their superiors.
Work-life balance issues. Organizations that consistently demand excessive hours and fail to promote a healthy work-life balance can cause burnout and employee dissatisfaction. People value their time and well-being and may leave to find a better balance elsewhere.
Lack of recognition and appreciation. Feeling unrecognized or unappreciated for their efforts and contributions can make employees feel undervalued. Organizations that don’t foster a culture of recognition risk losing talented individuals.
Inadequate work environment. An uncomfortable or toxic work environment characterized by office politics, bullying, harassment, or a lack of teamwork can make employees want to leave for a healthier and more positive workplace.
Unaligned values and culture. Employees often prioritize working for organizations whose values align with theirs. If employees feel that the company’s values and culture don’t resonate with them, they may seek a better fit elsewhere.
Limited opportunities for skill utilization. Suppose employees feel they need to be more utilized or believe their skills and talents should be fully utilized in their current role. In that case, they might consider leaving to find a position where they can contribute more effectively.
Geographical or relocation reasons. Sometimes, personal circumstances such as changes in location, family considerations, or the need to be closer to loved ones can lead employees to leave their current organization.
Career change or exploration. Individuals may leave an organization to pursue a different career path or explore new industry opportunities that align better with their passions and interests.

Below we will share solutions for re-engaging employees for each reason they may leave the organization.

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Re-engaging your employees: Tips and solutions

Addressing the reasons that prompt employees to leave is essential for fostering a loyal and motivated workforce. We offer comprehensive solutions to tackle the common challenges that lead to employee attrition. By understanding and proactively addressing issues such as limited growth opportunities, inadequate compensation, poor management, and more, organizations can create an environment where employees feel valued, engaged, and motivated to contribute their best. Let’s explore how HRForecast solutions can empower companies to retain their talent and drive success.

Lack of growth opportunities and poor management and leadership

Define future workforce demand. Identify the skills and workforce gaps necessary for the optimal workforce structure.
Automated gap-closing proposals. Receive proposals on how to close the identified gaps.
Structured SWP approach. Make HR a strategic partner in workforce transformation.

The cautious hiring practices during and after the financial crisis led to competency gaps in middle management positions within EY. The labor market struggled to provide suitable profiles to fill these gaps.

EY leveraged modern data analysis instruments to address these challenges and adapt its workforce strategy to changing conditions, including diversity discussions. EY and HRForecast collaborated to study attrition behavior across all hierarchy levels. This analysis aimed to uncover the reasons behind unwanted employee turnover. Advanced statistical methods were employed to analyze individual workload, gender, education level, development time per career level, and performance evaluations. Diversity-related factors were also considered in this analysis. A special focus was placed on “middle management” profiles, which were identified as having a high attrition risk. HRForecast examined potential external candidates that could fill the gap at the senior manager level.

Low compensation and benefits

Use smart labor market data. Process, compare, and integrate internal data with global external data to make data-driven decisions about compensation and benefits.
Optimize talent development. Align talent development, training, and recruiting with future job requirements.

The rapid pace of technological advancements is transforming traditional job roles in the transportation sector. For instance, the role of a train conductor is evolving to include proficiency in managing automated ticketing systems and digital passenger information. Keeping up with these changes and ensuring employees possess the necessary skills presents a significant challenge.

Deutsche Bahn recognized the need to adapt to these changes and partnered with HRForecast, an analytics firm. They embarked on a project to analyze current job postings, assess the future-oriented nature of these postings, and identify the skills that would be crucial in the evolving landscape. They collected data on job requirements and emerging trends by crawling through job postings from various sources.

Work-life balance and lack of recognition and appreciation

Skills-based organization. Assess skills landscapes to ensure skills are recognized and utilized effectively.
Agile career pathing. Enable agile career paths to recognize and appreciate employee contributions.

Lufthansa Systems Hungary faced the challenge of a rapidly evolving skill landscape in the dynamic IT industry. The company was confronted with the uncertainty of future skills requirements, skill gaps, and intense competition for talent in the labor market. This posed a significant obstacle to maintaining a workforce with the right skills to adapt effectively to industry changes.

Lufthansa Systems Hungary partnered with HRForecast to address these challenges through a strategic skill management project. The project aimed to bring transparency to the existing skill supply, anticipate future skill needs, identify skill gaps, and formulate targeted strategies to bridge those gaps.

Inadequate work environment

A holistic view of workforce planning. Utilize smartPlan to create a positive work environment by addressing office politics, bullying, and harassment.
Strategic workforce planning platform. Model scenarios to improve teamwork and foster a healthier workplace.

The challenge faced by hanseWasser was monumental: overseeing the wastewater disposal of a major city while ensuring the continuity of critical workforce competencies. By integrating internal and external data, HRForecast identified areas where cost-saving potential existed within hanseWasser’s workforce planning, which helped the company optimize its resource allocation. HRForecast developed a customized sourcing strategy for hanseWasser, ensuring the company acquires the right talents at the right time. This minimizes recruitment challenges and ensures competency coverage.

These solutions collectively enable hanseWasser Bremen GmbH to proactively manage its workforce challenges, optimize recruitment efforts, and strategically plan for the future while ensuring a positive work environment.

Unaligned values and culture

Detect future roles and skills. Identify skills and job profiles relevant to the organization’s values and culture.
Optimize talent development. Align the workforce with the organization’s values and culture.

Wacker AG wanted to evaluate existing engineering job profiles for future fit and identify best practices. They needed to define future-proven job profiles in mid- and long-term scenarios and gain insights into competitors’ sourcing strategies and skill availability in the global labor market. HRForecast set up data crawlers to access relevant career websites and job portals, capturing published job openings of market players. Machine learning algorithms were then applied to extract and classify relevant information on skills, jobs, locations, and other components. The data was evaluated and visualized, providing insights and future trends relevant to the chemical industry. These insights helped Wacker Chemie optimize its recruiting and development strategy.

Limited opportunities for skill utilization and career сhange

Upskill your workforce. Drive skill transformation through the smartPeople platform to ensure employees can fully utilize their skills. Enhancing software solutions for skills advancement, encompassing skill management platforms, learning management systems (LMS), virtual reality (VR) training software, and mentoring applications, is vital in establishing efficient processes.
Skill-based teams. Form teams based on complementary skills rather than traditional job roles. This encourages employees to share their expertise and learn from one another.

For example, Deutsche Telekom, a corporation employing over 220,000 individuals, innovatively constructed learning trajectories through automated, data-informed methods. With the help of the smartPeople solution, the company got future-oriented job profiles, defined skills needed for the target job role, and used insights & AI to build employees’ learning journeys.

Geographical or relocation reasons

Big data concept. Use global external data to understand labor market trends and identify potential locations for talent sourcing.
Customized relocation packages. Design relocation packages that cater to individual needs. These could include assistance with housing, transportation, spousal employment support, childcare, and local orientation.

IAV, an automotive company, exemplified how data-driven insights transform location decisions. Balancing logistics, finance, and skilled labor availability, they partnered to analyze countries and locations. Through structured research and analytics, IAV illuminated labor market dynamics. Results were communicated through visuals and explanations, empowering informed decisions. Insights gained included strategic clarity, labor market understanding, and competitive intelligence. This case underscores data’s pivotal role in modern business expansion.

These solutions from HRForecast address a wide range of reasons that lead employees to leave organizations. HRForecast aims to help organizations retain their valuable employees and create a more positive and growth-oriented work environment by offering tools for strategic workforce planning, labor market insights, skills management, and talent development.