The Negativity Virus: Curing the Disease of Employee Disengagement

According to a Gallup Poll conducted at the end of last year, only 13% of employees feel “engaged” at work. In other words, only 1 out of every 8 employees feel that their work is valued, and that they are contributing to their workplace in a way that is meaningful to both themselves and their coworkers. Perhaps even more shockingly, the same poll found that 63% are disengaged, defined as lacking “motivation and less likely to invest discretionary effort in organizational goals or outcomes.” But the real kicker? 24% are actively disengaged. Not only are they unfocused and unmotivated, almost a quarter of employees feel so negative about work that the poll labels these folks as “liable to spread negativity to coworkers.”

To be fair, the prospects look a little better in the United States, with 29% engaged, 54% disengaged, and 18% actively disengaged. But over half of our workforce feeling disengaged and almost a fifth likely to emanate severe negativity shouldn’t make any employer or HR manager feel very warm and fuzzy. More engaged employees mean a higher retention rate, better customer relations (where applicable), and more efficient output of quality work. If less than 30% of the average company’s employees fit the bill, that doesn’t bode well for the success of many companies—or the status of the economy.

To state the obvious, if an employee doesn’t feel like their work is meaningful or valued, practically all motivation for creating high quality work is stripped away. Studies have shown that negativity spreads like a plague—but happiness can too. To describe this phenomenon, researchers have coined the phrase “emotional contagion.” This term lends itself to considering stress and pessimistic vibes less like an individual emotional state, and more like a contagious disease. Now if 18% of your workforce contracts a virus and 54% are known to be susceptible, wouldn’t this leave you wishing for some sort of vaccine?

Lucky for us, many variations of employee engagement software already exist. Several options try to “gamify” work by provoking a little friendly competition between coworkers or introducing game-like training modules. Simpler solutions simply encourage employees to help themselves to the Internet. But as we know, the Internet isn’t always exactly a breeding ground for positivity. Social networks may connect employees to their friends—but through frequent use, they’re also likely distancing themselves from the workplace and reducing the possibility of developing strong relationships with their coworkers. As a sense of belonging is key to developing employee engagement, escapism probably isn’t the best option. Another problem with these methods is that there is no easy way to know if these tactics are actually improving the employees’ feelings of workplace satisfaction. If symptomatic changes aren’t visible to management, what’s to say that the emotional contagion vaccination even worked?

UpJoy is employee engagement software that isn’t a game, a competition, or a free pass to keep a tab open for Facebook. Unlike other products, this software doesn’t just try to treat the symptoms, it goes after the root of the problem: employee stress and negativity. UpJoy provides employees with limited access to handpicked images and videos specifically chosen for their uplifting qualities, while incorporating experience sampling so management knows how well the medicine works.

We can’t afford to have 72% of our employees feeling disengaged. Can you? Visit www.upjoy.org for more information and a free trial.