Engaged employees are the golden ticket to having a competitive organization. They're dedicated to their work, highly productive and motivated to participate in company culture. On the other side of the engagement coin, actively disengaged employees have a highly negative impact on organizations. This affects everything from productivity and efficiency to customer satisfaction and brand reputation.
Learn how actively disengaged employees harm businesses and find strategies for stopping disengagement at its source.
What are actively disengaged employees?
Actively disengaged employees are workers who feel resentful toward their employer because their needs aren’t being met. They act on this resentment by calling out of work, not participating in meetings, missing deadlines and not responding to regular communications. These employees are also more likely to have a bad attitude at work, refusing to collaborate or cooperate with other employees and possibly cutting down others’ ideas or hard work.
It’s important to understand the difference between an engaged employee, a disengaged employee and an actively disengaged employee.
- Engaged employees feel connected to the company and their work. Their attitude and motivation positively impact the organization thanks to added creativity and good camaraderie with other team members.
- Disengaged employees are unenthusiastic, unmotivated and lack commitment towards their work and the overall organization. Disengagement is often characterized by lack of interest, low productivity and a higher turnover rate. These employees may put in the bare minimum to keep their jobs.
- Actively disengaged workers have the same issues as disengaged employees but are more active in displaying their unhappiness. They’re not only less productive and less committed, but also more likely to undermine other workers and spread their bad attitude to others.
While disengaged employees are bad for business, actively disengaged employees are more likely to create a toxic workplace and bring others down with them.
The rise of actively disengaged employees over time
Unfortunately for employers, the ratio of engaged to actively disengaged workers has been tipping in the wrong direction, with active disengagement on the rise — especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a Gallup survey of 67,000 full- and part-time employees, 32% of employees were engaged in their work as of 2022 — down from 36% in 2020. Worse yet, the percentage of disengaged employees rose for four consecutive years between 2018 and 2022, from 13% to 18%, before seeing a slight dip to 16% in 2023.
Respondents in these surveys reported feeling disengaged due to a lack of connection to their company’s mission, unclear expectations and a lack of development opportunities — plus no enjoyment at work and feeling like their organizations don’t care about them.
Women have reported more increases in disengagement than men since 2020, as well as younger employees under 35. Employees who can do their work remotely but were forced to return to the office also reported higher levels of disengagement, although onsite, hybrid and fully remote workers all reported declining rates of engagement. Work-life balance has a large impact on engagement levels, and overworked employees are also more likely to become actively disengaged.
8 ways actively disengaged employees hurt businesses
Actively disengaged employees have several consequences for businesses. While many are similar to those of passively disengaged employees, actively disengaged employees impact other employees in significant ways.
1. Lower productivity
Disengaged employees are less productive, period. According to Forbes, disengaged employees are 18% less productive than their engaged teammates. Actively disengaged employees are more likely to pass work off to other colleagues, miss deadlines without explaining why or simply not care about work. Employees who are actively disengaged often refuse to work and spend more time on their phones or other activities.
2. Decreased quality of work
If an employee’s work quality has declined quickly, it’s a good sign they’re disengaged. Actively disengaged employees stop finding ways to perform better or grow in their roles. They often “pass the buck” and blame other employees for mistakes or low-quality results. At the end of the day, an actively disengaged employee doesn’t care about their work or how well they perform. Active disengagement also leads to decreased creativity and problem-solving, further decreasing work quality for the team.
3. Negative influence on workplace culture
Because actively disengaged employees are more likely to blame others for their lack of productivity or work quality and let other team members pick up the slack when they call out sick, they actively harm workplace culture. They also tend to withdraw from social relationships at work and often stop communicating actively with coworkers, which adds even more strain. They may also talk badly about the organization, their work assignments or, worse yet, their colleagues’ work and ideas. This behavior is destructive to other employees’ morale and productivity, which has devastating consequences for the organization.
4. Higher turnover rates
An employee who is actively disengaged is more likely to leave a business and inspire other workers to leave as well. According to Gallup, disengaged employees can cause up to 43% more turnover in the workplace. When a highly disengaged employee leaves, it may feel like a relief, but studies show it costs 33% of their annual salary to find and train a replacement. Additionally, remaining employees may have to take on additional responsibilities to fill the gap, which can lead to burnout. The damage an actively disengaged worker does to their team and colleagues’ morale has lasting effects long after they’ve left.
5. Increased and more destructive absenteeism
Forbes reports disengaged employees call in sick 37% more often than other employees. They’re also more likely to come to work but not be productive — a trend called presenteeism or quiet quitting — and take frequent breaks. Actively disengaged employees take this to another level, as they’re more likely to not come in at all. In addition, they may not call ahead to let others know they’ll be out, leaving employees to scramble and figure out solutions on their own.
6. Lower customer satisfaction
Employees who aren’t interested in doing their work at all, let alone putting in their best efforts, are much less likely to impress customers. Customers may also be unimpressed or even offended by lower-quality services or products caused by actively disengaged workers. It’s difficult to hide actively disengaged employees and their work from customers or other stakeholders.
7. Reduced revenue
With poor quality services or products, lower customer satisfaction and reduced productivity, it’s no surprise actively disengaged employees lead to reduced company revenue. ADP reports a disengaged employee can cost as much as $2,246 a year, while Gallup reports they can cost companies 18% of their annual salary. Combined, the estimated cost of disengaged employees is $8.8 trillion from lost productivity across the globe.
8. Poor brand reputation
Actively disengaged employees can have a devastating impact on your brand’s reputation. Poor quality work or low productivity will earn your organization a bad name with customers, while high turnover and bad employee experiences will ruin your reputation with job seekers and make it more difficult to recruit employees. Highly disengaged employees will also ruin your brand from within with negative talk and destructive behaviors toward colleagues.
Prevent employees from becoming actively disengaged with ActivTrak
From decreased productivity to customer dissatisfaction, actively disengaged employees have far-reaching consequences. While you can address existing disengagement at work, prevention is a more effective strategy.
ActivTrak’s employee engagement solution helps you spot the early stages of disengagement so you can step in before the damage starts. You can also measure employee engagement to track if changes have a positive or negative impact, then adapt your policies and support to suit each employee. Contact our sales team today to learn how ActivTrak helps you monitor and prevent employees from becoming actively disengaged.
