In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have remained in remote setups, operating under this assumption: Working from home enables employees to better manage work-life balance. Instead of having to separate work from life, they could integrate the two, so they could take care of children and other domestic matters in between meetings and deliverables. Employees would have better mental health — at least in theory.

That theory has long gone unquestioned until a recent Gallup survey put it to the test. Gallup found that employees who were engaged on-site became more stressed at home (29 per cent to 32 per cent), those who were not engaged also became more stressed (38 per cent to 46 per cent), and those who were actively disengaged experienced no change at all in their stress levels (remaining at 52 per cent in both conditions).

This survey undermines the assumption that work-from-home is universally better for our mental health. While most businesses would look at this data as a location issue and immediately set in motion a back-to-office change management plan, this view is misguided. This data does not reveal a geographical issue, but a cultural one. 

Companies must address the fundamental challenge that comes with each type of employee.

Empower your engaged employees

For purposes of organisation, the Gallup survey and other similar initiatives had to categorise employees into three distinct groups. This categorisation may promote the false idea that these groupings are fixed and that engaged employees will always be engaged.

Also Read: Examining remote work trends: What it takes for businesses to do this successfully

Such, of course, could not be further from the truth. While certain employees may be engaged now, they may slip toward not being engaged or even actively disengaged. Employees in these other categories may manifest as quiet quitters and other performance issues.

To continue engaging them, you must support their professional growth. Do so by keeping an open line of conversation about their experience. Ask them what they like most about your organisation, why they stay, and, just as importantly, how you can improve. You may even want to keep an open door policy or office hours for these types of conversations. These highly engaged employees are a gold mine: You will learn the most about your culture from them.

Part ways with actively disengaged employees

Keeping these employees is bad for both parties. Employees who are actively disengaged but remain with an organisation remain removed from finding a company that they are passionate about. 

On the employer side, actively disengaged employees waste resources. Many organisations tend to fall into a sunk cost fallacy with these employees: Since they already invested so much time in training, education, and other activities, it only makes sense to continue trying to engage them. This view is full of false hope: No amount of work will get them invested.

It is best to part ways with these employees as soon as possible. Although this choice may be difficult to do – and tempting to stall with a PIP and other procedures — swift action is empathetic: They will be one step closer to finding the role that is right for them.

Study your quiet quitters

You need to identify your quiet quitters – the people doing the bare minimum required of their job — and find out what makes them tick. In many cases, their lack of engagement is due to issues with recognition or competition: They feel there is a disconnect between how they perceive the company and how it rewards performance.

Also Read: Examining global hybrid and remote work trends beyond the West

Companies will have their own unique problems. The important part is that you surface these issues through dialogue with your quiet quitters. With enough engagement, some of these quiet quitters may trend in a positive direction and become engaged employees, rather than slide into active disengagement. 

If you give them a voice to speak up, quiet quitters will not sit on the sidelines. Every employee wants to be heard. 

First steps 

To address the challenges associated with each employee type, business leaders and entrepreneurs must reframe the overarching problem. They do not have a location problem on their hands — it’s not an issue so much of where to work, but how.

Business leaders must continue dialogue with engaged employees, study employees who are not engaged for areas of improvement, and part ways with the actively disengaged employees. You could view these actions as a sort of triage: You are focusing on what needs the most attention, so that your business can not only survive, but thrive.

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