Misemployment
The Ansley Advisor--April 2002
80% Are MisEmployed...How much is that costing the business?
By Jim Hicks—Founder & President
Much has been written lately about the vast numbers of people in the workplace who are misemployed. This means that they are either in the wrong job, working for the wrong boss and/or working in the wrong environment. They do not enjoy going to work and are probably not very productive; yet the majority of them do nothing about it. Most of the articles on the subject that I have read are aimed at the employees: urging them to take charge of their lives and address their unhappiness with their jobs. But, we have seen no articles aimed at the CEO, the one whose enterprise suffers the inefficiency caused by this widespread misemployment.
The CEO may want to ask:
What percent of my employees are misemployed?
Are any of my executives feeling misemployed?
How much is this misemployment costing me on the bottom line?
How do I find out the answers to the above questions?
What options do I have for addressing this misemployment situation?
How long will it take?
Before attempting to answer these questions, let’s delve a little deeper into what this misemployment thing is all about. Some of the experts define misemployment as the condition that exists when someone is in a role that is not suitable for their personality. Emory Mulling of The Mulling Companies in Atlanta says that 95% of the time the misemployment condition has nothing to do with the type of work that one does…rather it is caused by working for the wrong kind of boss or in the wrong kind of culture. Misemployment manifests itself in complacency, unnecessary stress in the workplace, boredom, lack of productivity and ultimately, health problems in the more serious cases.
Certainly the effects of rampant misemployment can have a seriously negative impact on the bottom line of almost any enterprise. How much waste is caused by this phenomenon? Mr. Bill Conway (Deming disciple) of Conway Management defines waste as: the difference between the way things are now and the way things could or should be if everything were perfect. He goes on to say that the average waste is easily equal to 40% of the revenue of most enterprises.
The Answer…Delve into the work…find out what is going on…
Consider some combination of the following:
Conduct a company–wide senior management level climate survey to assess the job satisfaction level of the primary leadership team. Consider a follow-on study of the hourly workers to ascertain how wide and deep the problem really is.
Administer personality assessments at various levels of the organization to assess the cultural fit within keys areas of the enterprise.
Gather and analyze data on employee turnover, absenteeism, and medical claims to try to get a handle on potential problem areas.
Commence the practice of conducting “non-evaluative” listening sessions with groups of employees at all levels.
Whenever the CEO embarks on a mission of identifying problems and opportunities, he/she will almost inevitably conclude that there are a number of leadership problems within the enterprise. These problems are costing the organization millions/billions of dollars and could very well cause a company to go completely out of business.
What we’re talking about here is leadership. If the right leadership is in place throughout the enterprise, then they will take the appropriate steps to ensure that misemployment is kept at a minimum as employees at all levels are inspired and challenged to make their company all that it can be. The steps taken by the CEO to get this process moving might include:
Some internal reorganization to focus certain leadership qualities where they are most needed
The termination of certain senior executives whose style does not properly reflect the desired culture of the company
The launching of a “user friendly” system of job rotation within the enterprise…a means of keeping solid performers on the team while enabling them to solve their misemployment situation
Comprehensive training, beginning with the senior executives, aimed at ways to identify, address and minimize misemployment problems
The recruitment of outstanding leaders whose skill-set, management style, leadership qualities and personality tendencies closely mesh with the culture and mission of the enterprise.
The Bottom Line: It’s really all about leadership…
Jim Hicks, Founder and President of The Ansley Consulting Group, specializes in delivering value well beyond the executive search process. Following a 27-year career equally split between line management and consulting, Jim founded Ansley Consulting in June of 1999. He sincerely feels that by far the most important decisions a CEO will ever make are those regarding the recruitment of leaders and those involving the selection of those leaders to be promoted. Jim’s many former roles include COO of Nautica, EVP of Polo, Principal at Kurt Salmon Associates, and implementer of The Deming Method while working with Bill Conway of Conway Management. A former officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, Jim holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Auburn University and an MBA from The University of Hawaii.
Direct Dial: 404-817-3477 or jmh@ansleygroup.com
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