7 Signs You Have a Disconnected Culture

A disconnected culture is a business issue.

There’s no question that a disconnected workforce is not only a culture issue, but also a huge business risk. According to Cigna, lonely employees cost U.S. companies up to $406 billion annually. They also have a higher risk of turnover, lower productivity, and miss more work days overall. Best-selling author Smiley Poswolsky recently told us that the “Great Resignation” is really about the “Great Disconnection.”

But how can you know for sure whether your organization has a connection issue that needs an immediate remedy? In this blog, we’ll break down some of the telltale signs.

When you ask for feedback, you get crickets.

The Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness suggests asking these questions: Do employees feel comfortable speaking their minds? Are employees quieter than usual? You could be asking for feedback in a group setting (virtual or in-person), in a one-on-one, or through a survey. Regardless of the format, if employees are not sharing their feedback – either positive or constructive – that could be a sign of disconnection between employees and the organization.

You have high employee turnover.

Some amount of turnover is healthy and expected. But you should be tracking the number of regrettable leavers you have annually and compare that number to industry averages. Some industries are naturally higher (like leisure and hospitality, at 82% turnover), while others are lower (like manufacturing, at 39% turnover). If it’s starting to feel like a revolving door and you have the numbers to back up that feeling, you likely have a connection issue.

Everyone is suffering from meeting fatigue.

You might be tempted to think the more time everyone is together, either virtually or in person, the more connected they must be, right? Not necessarily. You need emotional connection (you can learn more about what that is in our paper with RedThread Research), but you also need to feel connected to the work and company mission. Research shows it takes 23 minutes to refocus after being distracted. Back-to-back meetings and an unhealthy meeting culture could be a sign your organization suffers from disconnection.

You have low employee engagement.

Whether you run pulse surveys or more in-depth annual surveys, poor engagement scores could be another sign you have a connection problem. Disengaged employees are not motivated to go above and beyond in their job and they lack a deeper emotional connection to your organization.
Your ratings on sites like Glassdoor are tanking. Industrial organizational psychologist Justin Deonarine suggests low morale and unhappy employees are signs of a disconnected culture and recommends monitoring comments on employer-rating sites. That’s often the first place employees go to share their true feelings about what it’s really like to work at your company.

Productivity is dwindling.

When employees don’t have clear access to the people and resources they need to do their jobs, productivity is going to tank. Take onboarding as an example. A disjointed and disconnected onboarding process sets new hires up to fail – and time to productivity goes down too.

Repeat questions.

According to Leadership Resources, another big red flag is if you keep getting the same questions over and over from employees – questions you’ve answered in previous communications. Are employees repeatedly asking what the steps are for your performance management process? Does no one know where to go for their benefits information? That’s a sign of disconnection.

Enboarder’s Human Connection Platform can fix your disconnected culture.

If some of these warning signs are all too familiar to you, do not fret! A Human Connection Platform like Enboarder can help you get your culture back on track. Curious how it works? Check out our customer stories to see how we’ve helped companies like yours fix engagement, boost belonging, and connect employees with the people and resources they need to be productive.