Some Employees Are Destroying Value. Others Are Building It. Do You Know The Difference?
Read time: 2.5 min
Big Idea
Companies face financial loss due to unproductive employees, divided into six archetypes and six distinct employee archetypes; tailored engagement and retention strategies can help shift employees towards higher productivity and satisfaction,
Top Thoughts
There are six employee archetypes and targeted actions a company should take to address and retain each type:
The Quitters - Headed for the door or already gone
Action - Identify high-potential, high-performers and ensure they feel valued and fairly compensated with clear trajectory and role changes open to them.
The Disruptors - Actively disengaged and likely to demoralize others
Action - Build trust, ensure available career development and advancement opportunities, connect their work to a higher purpose within the company, shift roles or teams for a change of pace and ensure fair compensation.
The Mildly Disengaged - Doing the bare minimum
Action - The same actions as for The Disruptors, and additionally add work flexibility and autonomy to re-engage interest.
The Double-Dippers - A growing phenomenon of workers who hold two or more jobs simultaneously
Action - Key motivators are inadequate compensation and lack of career development. Improve compensation and added benefits such as transportation, meals, or childcare.
The Reliable And Committed - Going above and beyond
Action - To optimize this group, provide meaningful work, flexibility, and a supportive, collaborative, and fair work environment.
The Thriving Stars - Creating value, innovation and elevating others
Action - Limit the number of involved projects to prevent burnout and create sustainable conditions. Provide a sense of meaning and purpose.
There are six top factors driving two-thirds of the cost to companies from disengagement. Addressing these could save companies up to US$56 million a year. The factors are:
Inadequate total compensation
Lack of meaningful work
Lack of workplace flexibility
Lack of career development and advancement
Unreliable and unsupportive people at work
Unsafe workplace environment
Adopt a segmented approach to disengagement by customizing strategies for different employee archetypes to maximize performance and satisfaction.
Quick Quotes
"Employee disengagement and attrition could cost a median-size S&P 500 company between $228 million and $355 million a year in lost productivity."
"The central challenge for organizations is to move as many workers as possible away from the highly dissatisfied group (which is probably larger and more destructive than most C-suites realize) and toward greater engagement and commitment."
"Leaders are best served by focusing on the dissatisfied double-dippers. Inadequate total compensation and a lack of career development and advancement opportunities emerge as the two key motivators for this group."
"The thriving stars are the top talent in your organization: these are the rare employees who bring disproportionate value to the company... Thrivers can have a hugely positive impact on performance and productivity by, among other things, creating psychological safety and trust in a team setting."
"Our data show that 45 percent of thriving stars work remotely, compared with 36 percent in hybrid environments and only 19 percent in person... However, rather than mandating more in-office time in rigid or mechanistic ways, leaders can look at this new reality as an opportunity to engage with their thriving stars and to think through how to amplify their impact via mentorship, collaboration, and interaction with others across working models."
“When employees are dissatisfied and seeking recognition for their value, compensation acts as only a temporary motivator for retention.”
Actionable Advice
Rethink performance metrics - In hybrid and remote work environments, focus on output-based performance metrics rather than time spent or location and provide support for in-person tasks and remote work.
Source(s)
De Smet, A., Mugayar-Baldocchi, M., Reich, A., & Schaninger, B. (2023, Sep 11). Some employees are destroying value. Others are building it. Do you know the difference? [Web article]. McKinsey & Company. (Link)
