Page 39 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

1,680 minutes per week (28 hours a week; 4 hours a
day). Fewer Americans participate in civic movements
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like signing petitions, voting, or attending club meet-
ings, and entertaining at home is half as common now
as 20 years ago. The sense of isolation spreads to the
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workplace as job changes, international assignments,
and constantly shifting work groups dominate the work
landscape and undermine the sense of community.
People lose the stories, the history, the heroes, and the
routines of small interactions that form the bonds of
connection. In a work setting, countering these trends
means building a culture and work setting that unite
and unify people.
5. Low employee commitment. A recent analysis of data
by HR Solutions, Inc., found that an astonishing 50
percent of employees said yes when asked if they had
thought of resigning in the last six months. According to
a Saratoga Institute study of more than 19,000 U.S. work-
ers in 17 industries, 72 percent of employees who quit
leave because they feel they are not being recognized for
their contributions or sufficiently respected and coached
by their leaders. Gallup Management Journal’s semian-
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nual Employee Engagement Index shows that only 29
percent of employees are actively engaged in their jobs,
while 54 percent are not engaged and 17 percent are
actively disengaged. Right Management (a consult-
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ing firm) found similar results with only 34 percent of
employees fully engaged while 50 percent are completely
disengaged. Nine percent are engaged by their organiza-
tion but not their job, and 7 percent are engaged by their
job but not the organization. The cost of lost productiv-
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ity in the United States is estimated to be between $287

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