The Enemy of Engagement: Put an End to Workplace Frustration and Get the Most from Your Employees - Hardcover

There are a lot of frustrated people in most workplaces today. We’re not talking about the incorrigible office grump or the permanent slacker. Instead, we’re referring to dedicated workers who are being prevented from achieving their peak potential by organizational obstacles. Better enabling these employees to succeed represents an untapped avenue for radically improving productivity.

Packed with the latest research findings from the prestigious Hay Group, The Enemy of Engagement uncovers the hidden impediments to performance—excessive procedures, lack of resources, overly narrow roles, and more—and outlines best-practice solutions for eliminating them. This is not an insignificant issue facing businesses today. According to Hay Group’s study, depending on the industry, between one-third and one-half of employees report work conditions that keep them from being as productive as they could be.

The Enemy of Engagement gives managers powerful new insights and research-based tools for ensuring their teams are both willing and able to make maximum contributions.

New data collected by Hay Group management consultants suggest that many high-potential employees are also frustrated employees. Individuals who are highly engaged but face barriers at work preventing them from doing their jobs effectively represent 20 percent or more of the workforce. That’s a whopping number, and one that provides a devastating critique of workplace cultures today, with their procedural red tape, ever-shifting priorities, and persistent demands to do more with less.

Over time these frustrated employees can be expected to disengage or leave in search of greener pastures. But the vast majority started as dedicated, hardworking employees eager to contribute to company goals. What happened?

For managers who are ready to face some painful truths, The Enemy of Engagement offers a rich, virtually untapped source for radically reducing frustration and improving productivity. Written by two leaders in Hay Group’s employee research division—which partners with Fortune magazine in identifying the “World’s Most Admired Companies”—the book uncovers a host of everyday ills that plague organizations: lack of training, inefficient work­flows, poor communication, and inadequate performance feedback. These are the kinds of nagging, ongoing management problems that contribute to long work hours, unhealthy stress levels, poor work-life balance . . . and high degrees of employee frustration.

The Enemy of Engagement not only pinpoints the organizational barriers that prevent high achievers from doing their jobs properly, it also offers practical, clearheaded advice for fixing the problems. You’ll learn how to ensure that your employees’ skills and abilities are put to best use, and to give them the resources they need—including clear goals and expectations and adequate information, decision-making authority, and collaborative support—to get the job done.

Everyone is under pressure in today’s competitive economy, but data show that the most successful organizations don’t meet their goals by squeezing employees a little more. Rather, they enable their best people to succeed. Now you can too with the eye-opening insights and strategies in The Enemy of Engagement.