Surveys routinely show that a large majority of the workforce is not engaged with their work. One recent poll put the number around 70 percent. And that number has remained constant over time. This naturally is a concern to companies who want to get the most from their workers, who want to keep their efficiency and productivity at peak levels.

A number of reasons have been given for this lack of engagement. One human resources expert has listed six reasons from the point of view of an employee, which makes them even more compelling:

• Employees feel overwhelmed
• They don’t understand the rationale for their work
• They are afraid.
• They don’t know what the vision is that guides their work.
• They don’t feel a sense of ownership
• They feel that their supervisors are being unrealistic in their demands

If your employees are subject to any one of these feelings, you have an engagement problem, and you need to take action. The first step is to come up with a list of questions related to each issue to better understand and define the problem and how you can take action to solve it.

For example, in dealing with employee trepidation, you would want to know how comfortable employees are with speaking their mind about how they really feel. Are your employees fearful of their job security, wondering if they will be replaced when future needs change? How intense is this feeling?

Are your employees more afraid of making mistakes than in taking the risks that are necessary to increase productivity? Is the company creating the type of environment where employees feel they can take chances?

Increasing employee engagement is the task of mangement. It is the responsibility of management to assign work that is high-reaching yet reasonable in terms of the workload. Management needs to be talking with employees about goals, vision and strategy and how the business is doing. Management needs to ensure that there is employee input on business goals and strategy. And management needs to set an example for the workers, an example of professionalism and integrity.

If you are a company in the New York City area looking for qualified workers, Winston Resources, one of the top employment agencies in the city, can help you. We handle recruiting in a wide variety of areas. Call us today.