4 ways to re-engage employees who have checked out at work, according to an HR consultant

• HR consultant Michael Timmes says mental health and burnout are key factors in employee satisfaction.
• He recommends pulse surveys and scaling questions to help work through employee engagement issues.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with human-resources consultant Michael Timmes about keeping employees motivated. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I've worked at human-resources consultancy Insperity for more than 12 years. Lately, from colleagues to clients to people at public-speaking events, it seems like everyone wants to talk about how to manage quiet quitting or employees who actively disengage at work.

Here's what I suggested to those people to motivate and re-energize their teams.

Start by getting a pulse on your team's wellbeing

Mental health has become a priority for many employees who were overworked and reached burnout in their jobs and personal lives during the pandemic. I recommend workplaces conduct pulse surveys, or ask a brief set of questions to get a feel for how everyone is doing and whether this has changed over time.

One of the key pieces to these surveys is being transparent about the results. Specifically, leaders need to be open about gaps and take accountability for issues that haven't previously been addressed. If the company isn't able or willing to address an issue raised, management needs to explain their position.

I'm also always suggesting that organizations have regular discussions with employees. Questions you can ask include: How do you feel about your role? How do you feel about your future with the organization? How do you feel about the company?

I'm a big believer in scaling questions. Ask employees to scale from one to 10, where one is not feeling comfortable with what's going on and 10 is feeling extremely comfortable with things today at the organization. If they come back with anything below an eight, ask them how to move one or two points up the scale. Having these conversations in person or on Zoom also allows you to pay attention to body language and respond accordingly.

For employees to open up during surveys and discussions, there needs to be a culture where they feel safe and understood. Managers should encourage employee autonomy and spend time with their teams away from desks, screens, and board rooms through outings, team-building activities, or non-work-related conversations during work hours.

Encourage employees to write personal mission statements

I'm a big advocate of organizations getting employees to write personal mission statements. A personal mission statement defines an employee's values, who they are, and how they define success. It can then help the employee to set goals for their current role and envision their future at the company, while helping them become connected with their "why."

At the same time, an organization can begin to figure out how they can connect the employees' mission and values with what's going on within the organization, which creates a sense of fulfillment and purpose for the employee. When employees feel they have a clear purpose at work and believe their leaders set clear directions and expectations, companies' bottom lines benefit, too.

In one case I worked with, incorporating personal mission statements into the hiring process helped the recruitment team find candidates who were aligned with company values and fully committed to their roles.

Reset expectations

One recent quiet-quitting case I was working on — where there was fault on both sides — required management to reset expectations.

The manager sat down with the employee and went over their job description, highlighting the responsibilities they were excelling at and the ones they were falling short on. Then, they discussed why that was the case, and the employee said they didn't understand why active engagement in group activities was part of their role. By outlining the impact of that responsibility on the company and its clients, the employee was better motivated to be more involved.

In this case, it took around six months for things to turn around, which is a reasonable time frame. Employers might think that's too long to invest in this situation, but for long-term employees, you need to consider the employee's legacy and institutional knowledge.

Learn to step back and lead with empathy

One thing all leaders can get better at is stopping themselves from immediately reacting. It's better to take that pause and look at an issue critically before responding.

Say an employee wants to take a day off near a deadline. Instead of reacting badly, we should be asking, "What can I do in the moment to be there as support and to check in with the individual to see if there's something truly going on?"

Taking an empathetic approach allows you to build trust. Once you build trust, people are going to be more transparent with you moving forward. It's not something that you're either born with or you're not — emotional intelligence is a muscle that can be developed.

One empathy exercise I recommend is addressing interpretation and assumptions. We brainstorm five alternative ways to look at a situation because people sometimes look at a situation from only one perspective.

Developing empathy also requires getting out of your comfort zone. Exercises like community service, active listening, and meditations can help.