Workplace PrisonersHuman Resource Management

Prepared By Manu Melwin Joy

Assistant ProfessorSCMS School of Technology and Management

Kerala, India.Phone – 9744551114

Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

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Workplace prisoners• While the majority of

disengaged workers end up looking for work elsewhere, leading to healthy turnover in their organizations, the “prisoners” stay put and impede progress, said the human-resources consulting firm in a recent white paper based on case studies of its clients.

Workplace prisoners

• About 8% of employees are “workplace prisoners,” a category described by Aon Hewitt as people who stay at their jobs despite feeling unmotivated, disengaged and generally negative about their employers.

Workplace prisoners• You might be surprised to learn

that one in twelve global workers are “Disengaged" yet are still planning to stay with their current employer. That's correct. About 8 percent of the people you come in contact with at work or in a working situation are miserable in what they are doing, are doing the minimum to get by and have no plan to change their situation. We call these employees “Workplace Prisoners."

Workplace prisoners

• In what may be a chicken-and-egg problem, long-tenured employees are likelier to fit the “prisoner” profile. Among workers with 26 years or more at their company, 17.1% are prisoners, Aon said.

Workplace prisoners

Workplace prisoners• Such disengaged workers also tend

to be higher-paid, in accordance with their typically longer tenures. In one firm that Aon studied, around 61% of such unhappy employees received salaries above the market median for their jobs, and 27% received below the median. Among other employees, 48% were paid above-market salaries and 41% fell below the median for compensation.

Workplace prisoners

• Aon said managers should focus on getting such disengaged employees to shape up or move out since they “are keeping you from achieving your goals.”

Workplace prisoners• Some workplace prisoners can be

motivated to improve; in fact, many report that they don’t feel their managers encourage them to work up to their potential. When that doesn’t work, managers and human resources leaders need to be ready for “difficult conversations,” along with implementing performance improvement plans, which are often the first step to a termination.

Workplace prisoners• Our research has uncovered a

number of reasons why employees become “Prisoners." One reason is inertia. An employee who has been with their employer for many years is far more likely to stay despite being “Disengaged." Someone might be an expert at their job, but the thought of going somewhere else that is more inspiring to them is terrifying. That's why more than 17 percent of people working at the same place for 26 plus years are “Prisoners."

Are you a Prisoner?• First, ask yourself two questions about your

organization.– In general, do you say good things about your organization

when talking with friends and family?– Does your organization inspire you to do your best at

work?– Do you intend to stay with your employer a long time?

• If you answered “yes" to question three, that you intend to stay with your employer a long time and responded an emphatic “no" to question one, question two, or both, you are wearing the shackles of a “Workplace Prisoner."

Get Yourself released• Can you be engaged at your current employer?

– If “no," then you need ask yourself if your health

and happiness are worth it. Keep in mind that you

are patterning behavior that others see. If you have

children, they may believe that work is a miserable

experience that must be tolerated and that could

taint their perception of work for life.

Get Yourself released

Get Yourself released• What would it take to be engaged by your

current employer?

– Break your responses into two categories – what you

can do make it happen and what your organization or

leadership can do to make it happen. Engagement is

bidirectional—not something that is done to you—so

be sure not to leave the “what you can do" part

blank.

Get Yourself released• This is the really hard part. Gather all the

courage you can and have a conversation with

your manager or leadership about your list. Let

them know there is more to you than what they

have seen lately. Tell them what you'd like to

see from them and what you are committed to

doing in order to re-engage.

Get Yourself released• This is the really hard part. Gather

all the courage you can and have a

conversation with your manager or

leadership about your list. Let them

know there is more to you than

what they have seen lately. Tell

them what you'd like to see from

them and what you are committed

to doing in order to re-engage.