There are two statistics about the American workforce that should be keeping human resource professionals and CEOs awake at night.

The first is the national Quit Rate in the US.  Some people call it the “Take This Job and Shove It” index.  The figure shows the percentage of Americans who are jumping ship voluntarily and is reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS reports that the US Quit Rate is at its highest level since 2008 and now hovers near 2.0%.  Translated into real numbers, that means that almost 2.8 million workers left their jobs in April 2015, the most recent month for which data is available.  What makes that statistic even more troubling is that groups like the Gallup Organization, ASTD and the Saratoga Institute independently reported that of the employees that voluntarily leave their jobs, somewhere between 75% and 80% do so because of their bosses, not the job itself.  We have a crisis of leadership and supervision in the workplace today that is impacting the profitability of companies in this country as employees seek opportunities where they will be appreciated and valued.

The second equally troubling statistic, which is clearly tied to the Quit Rate, is the Employee Engagement Rate within the American workforce.  The Gallup Organization has reported that over the past decade employee engagement at work has remained at a dismal level of just under 30%.  That means that more than two-thirds of employees in the US are disengaged at work – they’re checked out, unhappy, sleepwalking through the work day and, in some instances, undermining the productivity of engaged employees.

Scary information that should be grabbing everyone’s attention.  But what do we do?  How do we turn this around to our advantage?  Join Doug Miller, CEO of SatisFacts, and me at the 2015 NAA Education Conference & Exposition on Thursday, June 25 from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM for some specific answers.  Doug and I will be presenting “It’s No Grimm’s Fairy Tale:  Granting Employees the Midas Touch.”  Our session is packed full of recently gathered information about what motivates today’s property management employee and the steps we need to take to improve employee engagement and drive property performance.

We hope to see you there!