Why Is Our Team Disengaged at Work?

If someone asked me at a dinner table why their team is disengaged at work, and I knew nothing about their company, here’s how I’d answer.

First, I'd be honest. It's impossible to know exactly why your team is disengaged, because every team is unique. But I can tell you what I see most often in my corporate well-being work, and what teams tell me again and again.

Staying engaged in anything is tricky these days, whether it's work, something you do for joy, or a relationship. Our attention spans are lower than ever. Much of that comes from social media and the way we take in information and content all day long, and much of it comes from the enormous number of options around us. So when a leader asks me why their team has checked out, I start with this: you're not the only one, and it's not only your team.

Here are the three things I hear about most.

1. Cognitive overload is the new burnout

Burnout used to mean we had too much to do in too little time. People got tired, energy dropped, and capacity dropped with it.

Now many people never get that far. Before they reach burnout, they're already overwhelmed by how much information is coming in. There's so much to take in that they don't know where to start.

In practice, cognitive overload looks like jumping from one thing to another. People can't discern what matters most, so they bounce from task to task, and productivity drops along with engagement. When you don't know where to start, it's very hard to feel engaged in anything. You get lost in the shuffle.

To overcome it, people need to understand what they're missing and feel free to ask questions. The person asking needs someone they trust to answer, someone who can help rein them in. They also need to not be embarrassed to say, "There's too much information, and I don't know what to focus on." That one sentence can turn things around, but only if it feels safe to say.

2. We lost connection when we stopped sitting together

I support remote and hybrid work. People can get a lot done at home and on their own schedules, more than we give them credit for.

But remote work requires a different communication style and a different way of building relationships, and many people don't have the skills, the experience, or the know-how to do that yet.

Work isn't just about getting things done. It's also about drawing on everybody's skills, creative power, and connection to each other. When we can't see each other and we're not together, we lose much of that.

Some of that learning happened without anyone planning it. Think about a room full of people all making the same kind of calls. You'd hear your neighbour having more success than you, and you'd learn from them on the fly, sometimes without ever talking to them.

We also lost the people who prop us up. I worked with a recruitment company that runs a call centre. One person was having a hard time landing their sales calls, over and over again. When they were in the office, the person sitting beside them would say, "You know what? It's been a bad day. Let's go for a little walk, get a glass of water, take a break, and come back." They had someone to lift them up and give them some positive reinforcement. At home, nobody does that. You sit there feeling really negative, and it's very hard to come back to the work.

Both sides feel the disconnect. The person driving back and forth to the office who feels there's no reason to be there might be fed up before the day even starts. They get there, nothing new is asked of them, their boss doesn't really know them, and it's boring, so they go through the motions.

The person working from home often feels just as stuck, for different reasons. They're doing the same thing every day. They're just doing their job, without being given anything new or extra. They sit in meetings that happen because the boss feels there have to be meetings, not because the meetings are worthwhile. There's no real breathing room, no space to think, contribute, or feel like part of the team.

3. Leading looks different now

Long gone are the days when you could walk into the room, sit in a cubicle bigger than everybody else's, and know you were the leader.

If you take on a leadership role today, you need to be at peace with the fact that you're leading because you want to do the work, not because everybody can see you doing it. You're responsible for a bigger team, often one you rarely see in person, and many leaders were never shown how to do that.

So the real question is: how do we develop people we can't see? We do it by communicating with them more often.

I've heard this from more than one client that runs a call centre. When everyone was together on a big floor, the team lead could hear everybody on the phone. After a call, they'd tap someone on the shoulder and say, "Hey, if you want a better result next time, try this." It was one piece of feedback. It was given, it was received, and everyone moved on.

Now that people work from home, managers often have to listen to call recordings instead. The feedback comes all at once, much of it negative, and it feels like being dumped on. The light, everyday "hey, try this" is gone.

A one-on-one once a month where you tell everybody what's wrong doesn't work. It's hard to give good feedback when you're not with people all the time, so the information needs to flow more frequently, and it needs to go both ways. Ask questions. How are you? What do you need?

If you're a very detailed manager, that style will work for some people and not for others. If you're a very high-level manager, the same is true. No single style works for everyone. What works is consistent communication, real openness to the back and forth, and being okay with making mistakes.

That takes some humility. You can't assume your management style works. You can't see people's faces. If you're not asking how they are, and they aren't naturally open people, you'll never get what you need from them.

The thread that connects all three

Here's what I think sits underneath all of it.

When everyone was together, a good leader would notice things. This person is really good at this. That person looks bored. I want to give her a little something extra. People got stretched, trusted, and seen without anyone making a plan for it.

When people are at home, that stops happening. We can't see who needs more and who needs less. Communication drops, and the people who are quietly bored stay quietly bored.

Add AI to the mix. Every job has administrative tasks we do over and over. But when companies use AI and assume output can be four times higher, people often end up doing four times more of that same bland, repetitive work, just with some help. That isn't growth. It's the opposite of engagement.

So the questions I'd ask any leader are:

• Are you giving your team a chance to flex their independence?

• Are you giving them room to be creative and come up with solutions to real problems?

• Do they feel part of something bigger, a bigger wheel, a bigger purpose for the team?

What an engaged job looks like

When I think about when I'm the most engaged at work, it's because I get to do something different all the time.

A job that works gives someone purpose. The company gets what it needs, so the tasks still get done, but there's also extra room to flex your brain, collaborate with other people, and have some autonomy. It's a balance.

A disengaged team usually means someone is doing too much of one thing and doesn't feel seen.

Where to start when your team is disengaged at work

Look at what an average job on your team looks like today, then compare it to two years ago.

Maybe back then people handled the administrative work, but they also worked on projects together where you could see them. Is that still true? Or has the creative part quietly disappeared while the repetitive part grew?

Then ask yourself honestly: do you know who on your team is disengaged right now? If you can't answer that, that's your first step. Get back in the know, find out who needs something new, and give them some trust and a real problem to solve.

This is also why a strategic wellbeing program works better than a collection of one-off activities. You have to know who needs what first.

If this sounds like your team, take a look at my workplace wellbeing programs, or I'm happy to talk.