To some people, a job is a job, a means to an end that incites little passion in their lives. To others it is a big part of the passion in their lives, a point of pride, a personal area of dedication and responsibility. The very difference between employees who live to work and those who work to live can be broken down into clear comparative structures. At the end of the day these defined lines affect so much more than the employees’ lives, they affect the lifeblood of the company – adding to its success based on their emotional engagement and attachment. Business Development Director at PDT, Chris Clark discusses South Africa’s first ‘state of employee engagement survey’. The results are quite troubling, whether you are a business owner or an employee, your environment and company’s bottom line is directly affected by various types of engaged employees. How do we compare, and what needs to be done to ensure a more engaged workforce? – LF
ALEC HOGG: Welcome back. According to PDT, 85 percent of South African workers believe their companies could do significantly more to engage their employees to increase motivation and performance. Chris Clark is the Business Development Director at PDT. He’s come into the studio with us. Chris, I’ve been at many international conferences where this issue is discussed about ‘engaged/disengaged and actively disengaged employees’ with engaged’ of course, being the kind of employees you want. ‘Actively disengaged’ are the people who really give you a hard time. We haven’t had South African stats before and you guys have decided to address the issue.
CHRIS CLARK: One hundred percent. Thanks, Alec and thanks for having me. It is South Africa’s first state of employee engagement survey, so we’re quite excited about the results as well. Maybe I should just take a step back and explain what an engaged employee is for the South Africans out there. If you can imagine an engaged person or a colleague as someone who is really emotionally connected to the organisation, you find them as innovative and problem-solvers, and they tend to rate their own success within the organisation. It’s not just an employed person or someone who enjoys going to work. It’s someone who feels that they can make a difference to the organisation around them.
ALEC HOGG: It’s the ones who tap-dance to work, the ones who think about their jobs in the bath – these are the kinds of people you want working for you.
CHRIS CLARK: We all look and we’re kind of jealous, looking at those people who stand at the weekend braai, turn the chops, wear the branded T-shirt of their company, and are proud to wear it in their normal friendship situations.
ALEC HOGG: And disengaged people…
CHRIS CLARK: We’re currently sitting at 15 percent engagement.
ALEC HOGG: Let’s just go through the categories. Disengaged…
CHRIS CLARK: In terms of the disengaged, we’re looking at the 85 percent mark.
ALEC HOGG: What kind of people are disengaged?
CHRIS CLARK: Disengaged people are eight-to-five people, the ‘I’m just coming to work. I’m just going to do my eight-to-five’ – sort of clock watching – just can’t wait to get home and leave it. It is the vast majority of South Africans that we’re finding at this point.
ALEC HOGG: And then, actively disengaged…
CHRIS CLARK: The actively disengaged people are the ones who are actually looking for new jobs. We are looking at about a 20 percent market at the moment.
ALEC HOGG: You’ve given away the story, but in the U.S., Gallop Data says 30 percent of Americans are engaged, and they’re disappointed with that. They say 52 percent are disengaged, and 18 percent are actively disengaged – so 18 percent saboteurs and 30 percent are what you want. In South Africa already, from what you’ve let slip, we don’t rate well. Fifteen percent are engaged.
CHRIS CLARK: That’s correct.
ALEC HOGG: That’s half of what’s in the U.S.
CHRIS CLARK: One hundred percent. We’re looking at engaged employment. I think there’s this big disconnect between business (where they feel that we’re providing management structures) and to get an engaged employee, you need to provide leadership and I think that’s where we’re struggling a lot in South Africa. We have these great HR structures that are put in place. We have employee recognition programs. We have empowerment schemes. We have all of this going for us, but it’s generally just a management tool that’s pushed down to employees, saying ‘well, we’ve given HR the directive and the mandate – now go for it’. However, it’s not what South Africans are looking for. We’re looking for more leadership within our country and our organisations, as well.
ALEC HOGG: Twenty percent actively disengaged.
CHRIS CLARK: That’s correct.
ALEC HOGG: That’s a scary number.
CHRIS CLARK: Yes. If you think about this in your organisation, you have 20 percent…one-fifth of your company is looking for a new job right now. Not only are they clock-watching, but they are ready to leave the organisation as well – on these career websites, per se.
ALEC HOGG: Spending their time maybe playing around on Facebook, phoning friends, and whatever else the disengaged employees do or rather, what actively disengaged employees do. The disengaged are just the nine-to-five people who say ‘kannie kla nie, want dit help nie’ – those types of individuals.
CHRIS CLARK: Many people say ‘do we really need this kind of survey at this point in our economy, with a 30 percent unemployment rate’, but I think we have a maturing market and we’re quite looking forward to having these mature types of conversations now within the economy. Saying ‘it’s not just about being employed and having a job now’. Companies need to say ‘my biggest expense – my income statement – is salaries. How do I increase that productivity?’
ALEC HOGG: Chris, when are you going to do the next survey?
CHRIS CLARK: It happens in April every year. We do it online via social media. We receive results from NGO’s. We’ve even had respondents from within the police service as such, so it is quite a wide range of respondents.
ALEC HOGG: We’re looking forward to an improvement – hopefully – next year. What is it? You hit the nail on the head by saying that it’s all about leadership and not management. That was Chris Clark, Business Development Director at PDT.
