Employee disengagement rarely happens overnight.

Most people do not suddenly wake up one morning and stop caring about their work.

Employee Disengagement usually develops slowly.

It often begins when employees stop feeling:

• heard
• valued
• trusted
• supported
• or connected to the environment around them

At first, the signs can be subtle.

Someone contributes less in meetings.
Communication becomes more transactional.
Energy shifts.
A previously engaged employee begins doing only what is necessary.

Leaders sometimes interpret this as laziness or poor attitude.

But in many cases, disengagement is actually a response to ongoing workplace experiences.

Employees quietly disengage when they feel:

• overlooked
• emotionally exhausted
• micromanaged
• unfairly treated
• disconnected from purpose
• or unable to influence their environment

One of the biggest mistakes organisations make is assuming engagement is created through perks, events or motivational initiatives alone.

In reality, engagement is deeply connected to daily workplace experience.

People stay emotionally connected to work when they experience:

• trust
• fairness
• meaningful contribution
• healthy communication
• recognition
• and psychological safety

When those things slowly disappear, employees often stop investing emotionally long before they physically leave.

Leaders also need to recognise that disengagement is contagious.

When teams begin witnessing:

• inconsistent treatment
• unresolved conflict
• unclear leadership
• favouritism
• or ongoing stress

morale can decline across the wider environment.

Sometimes employees disengage because they no longer see a future for themselves within the organisation.

Other times, they disengage because they have spent too long operating in survival mode.

And in many workplaces, employees stop raising concerns because previous attempts led nowhere.

Silence should never automatically be interpreted as satisfaction.

Sometimes silence simply means people have stopped believing change is possible.

Healthy leadership requires curiosity.

Instead of only asking:
“Why is this employee disengaged?”

leaders should also ask:
“What has this employee been experiencing?”

That shift in perspective matters.

Workplace engagement is not built through pressure.

It grows when people feel respected, included, trusted and able to contribute meaningfully.

Employees are far more likely to remain connected to organisations where:

• communication is healthy
• expectations are clear
• leadership is emotionally mature
• and people feel psychologically safe enough to participate honestly

Sustainable workplaces are not created by keeping people productive at all costs.

They are created by building environments where people can continue contributing without slowly disconnecting from themselves, their work or each other.

Employee Disengagement is often a signal that something deeper in the workplace environment needs attention. HoHR supports businesses in strengthening communication, leadership and team culture to support healthier, more sustainable performance.

People do not all work, make decisions, communicate or use their energy in the same way.

That does sound obvious, yet most workplaces are still designed around a traditional working model, with expectations about how people should work — how quickly they should respond, how much interaction they need, how decisions should be made and what productivity should look like.

This is where Human Design became useful to me.

I originally came across Human Design while trying to understand my own experience of work. By that point I had already gathered plenty of information about myself through years of work, personality assessments, strengths work, qualifications, feedback from others and self-reflection.

I had a lot of pieces.

Human Design helped me see a pattern.

Human Design describes five energy types — Manifestors, Generators, Manifesting Generators, Projectors and Reflectors — each with a different way of engaging with energy and the world around them.

It gave me language for things such as energy, decision-making, role, interaction, environment and the way I naturally contribute.

But the chart on its own wasn’t enough.

I began comparing what Human Design showed me with what had actually happened throughout my life and work.

Was this something I recognised?

Where had it already shown up?

What happened when I worked with it?

What happened when I ignored it?

That distinction became important.

Human Design gave me a map. My life gave me the evidence.

From a chart to lived experience

I don’t use it to tell someone who they are or what career they should choose.

I use it as a tool to uncover patterns that we can then explore against the person’s lived experience.

We might look at:

• how they naturally use and manage their energy
• how they make decisions
• the role they tend to take around other people
• where their strengths repeatedly show up
• the conditions in which they seem to function best
• what repeatedly creates friction or depletion
• how their work history supports — or contradicts — what we’re seeing

The useful part isn’t simply what the chart says.

It is the point where the chart and the person’s actual experience begin to meet.

Different people need different conditions

That can be particularly useful at work because two equally capable people may need very different conditions in order to do their best work.

One person may thrive on sustained activity and involvement.

Another may contribute most through observation, guidance and seeing what others miss.

Someone may need time before reaching clarity around an important decision, while another may know almost immediately when something feels right or wrong.

One person may flourish in a highly collaborative environment while another does their best thinking with greater autonomy and space.

That doesn’t automatically make one way better than another.

It gives us more information.

And that can lead to better questions:

Is this person struggling because they lack capability — or because the way the role is structured works against them?

Are we asking someone to work at a pace or rhythm they cannot sustainably maintain?

Are we overlooking the contribution they make because it doesn’t look like the contribution we expected?

Could a communication problem actually be a difference in how people process, decide or interact?

Human Design doesn’t remove accountability or replace sound people practices.

It can help us develop a better understanding of how a person tends to operate — how they use their energy, make decisions and interact with the world around them.

Explore how you work best

If you’re questioning your role, feeling drained by the way you’re working or simply trying to understand yourself more clearly at work, Workstyle Alignment mentoring gives us space to bring those pieces together.

👉 Explore Workstyle Alignment

Prefer to begin in your own time? Work Your Way: Be Yourself. Work the Way You Work Best. offers a self-guided way to begin exploring your own patterns, strengths and way of working.

👉 Explore Work Your Way Kindle E-Book

Career development drives both employee engagement and retention. Progressive organisations committed to skills development will attract top talent. It shows the candidate, firstly that you value the human experience and secondly increases their belief that opportunities for growth exist within your company.

In our ever-changing working world with millennials demanding more opportunities to hone existing strengths and grow into leadership roles, providing your employees with career development opportunities can help prevent them from jumping ship too soon and reduce unnecessary costs spent on sourcing new talent simultaneously topping up your talent pool ready for you to dive into when they swim ashore to take up a new job opportunity or career move.

As we know losing great talent is a costly affair. Your employees who are recognised and progress in their careers are more likely to be more engaging and mentor newbies on their career journey.

Showing your employees how what they are learning now will prepare them for their next job is also a great employee motivational tool for their employability.

It is a win-win for you and your employees.

We all learn and grow at our own pace so we cannot apply a “one size fits all” approach to career development or most aspects of work and life for that matter.

Career development drives both employee engagement and retention. A win-win for both the company and the employee.

“Help your employees grow—and watch your business thrive. Begin building a career development plan now!”

Explore our services at HoHR.

 

My son Josh was 3 years old when he hacked into hubby’s PC, (how he bypassed the password we still do not know) and as they say, “the rest is history.” The mouse was double the size of his little hand but yet he displayed excellent mouse control, aim and Game sense.

All he wanted to do was observe Dad while he participated in LANS, and play on Dads PC, following in Daddy’s footsteps. Despite my attempts to try to lure him to occupying his free time with outdoor activities, and as he grew older to participate in outdoor physical sports, PC Gaming, E-Sports came to him naturally, this is his MAGIC, his interest, natural talent and ability. So we gave up the fight and we empowered him to follow his dreams.

Since that day, he has spent every waking hour of spare time hidden in his dark bedroom behind his PC screens for the last 16 years, chirping the odds to his teammates, involved in his E-Sports Gaming community, blocked out from the physical world around him, nagging folks, chores, hiding behind those earphones focused on his goal to mastering his craft. Every Christmas and birthday without fail, all he wanted and still does, is money for him to put towards optimizing his PC equipment. An expensive hobby, I won’t lie!

Trying out for a new team became his past time and participating in leagues and competitions. His dream was to participate in the highest division in South African E-Sports and he ACHIEVED this dream! Sadly, the schools he attended did not offer E-Sports. During his matric year, he approached the School Principal to start up an E-Sports team which he led and they participated in Inter-high school competitions.

When the time came to apply to Institutions for Tertiary studies, he too had no idea which field of studies to explore. We took a conventional approach, and he underwent a series of psychometric assessments and received some safe career guidance. He was not convinced that this was right for him. I have always pushed him to live a life guided from the heart and make decisions from this place because it makes sense to me despite what the rest have to say.

With whispers of conventional thoughts still strongly ingrained in my belief system which I couldn’t silence, hindering me from acting on this conventional safe guidance of studying towards a qualification which is said to assure you entrance into the workplace and hopefully earn a good living.

We followed this traditional approach and applied for the usual BCOM degrees at all the well-known country-wide Institutions and despite knowing that his heart was not there, we succumbed to the system anyway.

It was in his own best interest in the end that he was not accepted and that steered us into following an unconventional approach, he chose to follow his dreams and is studying towards a BA: Game Design and Production at SAE Institue South Africa

We are nearing the end of his 1st year. It’s been a steep learning curve for him, as he never majored in Art in his high school career, but one thing we knew for sure was that he was Passionate about Gaming and has always dreamt of developing his own PC Game one day.

Today, after he wrote his second last exam, he said “I am so glad I never got into that said Institution, because I would have hated my life. I am surrounded by people excited about the same things, in a colourful environment, with Creative minds, and people with the same passions and values. His eyes lit up with excitement and of course, I broke down in tears of JOY that he confirmed that he is in the right place.

My mission for him to follow his heart and pave his way in a career which speaks to things he enjoys doing, surrounded by like-minded individuals has been achieved.

And this AHA moment put to bed any fears and doubts that he was headed in the wrong direction. I am not saying that he is guaranteed to earn millions, but this route has the potential for him to be fulfilled with the work he does and possibly doing what he loves may even make earning millions seem less relevant.

A staggering 85 percent of the population are unhappy in their work, and this is where we spend the most time!

Whatever your goal or dream is and whatever your definition of SUCCESS is, my message to you is to block out the naysayers and tap into what drives you, what speaks to you, what lights you up and DO IT! Especially in our VUCA world.

Follow your Passion in your Career.

DO WORK THAT YOU LOVE.

View my career and transition coaching process and explore packages.

#FollowYourHeart #DoWhatYouLove #HRinGoodHands #CareerDevelopment #PersonalDevelopment #TruthSayer

TOP TIPS FOR JOB SEEKERS:

We want to see more successful candidates in their job search. The question we often ask when screening through applications is, “How badly do job seekers want to get a job interview?”

List of things candidates should NOT do when applying for a job:

1. Never use the same covering letter. We come across so many applicants who use the same covering letter for every job they apply for. Taking the time to motivate why you want the job could be the deciding factor between adding or removing you from the shortlist of potentially suitable candidates. The message job seekers send to the recruiter is that they are not really that keen on the job.
2. The candidate doesn’t meet the minimum job requirements. We screen through hundreds of CV’s and so we are searching for specific competencies, which meet the key requirements of the role. Take the time to make sure your skills match the requirements of the role. Candidates who blindly shoot arrows in the dark with the hope that they will hit something will not prove successful.
3. If candidates have no exposure to the field in which they are applying and are desperately wanting the job opportunity or career change, then do not leave it up to the recruiter to assume how badly you want it, motivate how badly the job opportunity is desired.
4. Submit an outdated and unpresentable CV– A CV that is not up to date is not going to win any awards and may cost job seekers the interview. Omitting the reason why the candidate is not currently employed leaves everything to assumption which will not strengthen their case. Getting noticed in the job market is up to the job seeker.  Write the CV in a structured format. Make candidate CV’s presentable with the use of a professional template. Try to reduce the length of the CV to a maximum length of two pages. We know this is challenging when you want to provide evidence of the tasks accomplished in each position you have held. Focus on the key performance areas.
5. Listing employment history in chronological order – Write employment history in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent position and ending with your first job. Include all your roles, and let the recruiter decide what is most relevant to the vacancy you are applying for.
6. Supplying uncontactable Referees – Be honest with the recruiter about the reason for leaving. When providing references make sure they are contactable and inform Referee’s that you are in the job market and that they will be contacted at some point.
7. Failure to include a personal profile section- It is advisable to summarize your career history with a professional summary at the beginning of your CV. That will provide the recruiter with an immediate overview of your experience without having to read any further.

2 PRO-TIPS:

1. KEEP IT SIMPLE
2. READ THROUGH YOUR CV and make sure it is understandable, bad grammar and spelling errors show carelessness and laziness, Grammarly is a great writing tool that you can enable on various browsers and platforms. Your CV is a reflection of your work ethic so upload a document that you are proud of.

We aim to empower our candidates with the tools to succeed in their job search. We do not view our applicants as a number in the running for the position, we take their career journey seriously and want to support them in the best way possible so download our interview guide for further tips to ensure your success in the interview whether virtual or face to face here.

These tips may seem obvious to most, but these common careless mistakes we have highlighted could cost you the interview so it’s worth the extra effort.

Employee engagement and the human experience are not interchangeable terms. The Human experience influences employee engagement.

What can you do to lead the future of the “Human experience” in your business?

AI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (the term for technology used to mimic human behavior) are here to stay forcing us to adapt.  Technology is helping reduce, repetitive actions that bog down HR and employees however we need to keep an eye out for any employee touch-points on the employee journey (which starts from on-boarding right through to off-boarding) that are complicated and messy. The result? HR is free to focus on strategies that support engaged and productive employees, who in turn can better focus on making an impact on the business and their career.

If employees have a great experience at work because of the culture, technology or physical space, they are much more likely to be engaged. But, if they have a bad experience, even if they like the work they do, it becomes much harder for them to stay motivated and work hard.

Of course, some individuals are less engaged by nature or due to external factors outside the company’s control, but focusing on the HUMAN experience can help mitigate the impact.

Here are 18 Employee Engagement interventions implemented by Top Class Companies for you to implement in your organisation to increase engagement:

🥇
Chat to us. Let us help you improve your employee experience.

As I reach over to the bedside table to press the dismiss button on my smartphone alarm, I think, “just another 5 minutes”, instead, I CHOOSE the thought, “5-4-3-2-1-GO!” #the5secondrule by Mel Robbins, which is so simple and yet so effective! I sit up in bed, light a candle, meditate, and harmonize heart and mind. These well-being practices set the tone for my best day ahead. How we start our day matters for our overall well-being.

Sure we have flaws, we crumble, we crack, and we freak out, as I write these words it reminds me of how my son and husband drive me to lose my mind because of their inability to assist me with managing our home, despite the fact that they are treated like absolute Kings…almost always.

Can you relate?

Yip, sure you can, I know I’m not the only frustrated person! I too have those days where I open that bottle of red wine with the intention of drinking half a glass to take the edge off after a stressful day, whilst preparing dinner. I won’t lie, one glass may have led to a few more glasses which required me to blast the speakers with my favorite tunes and let loose!

I love a lounge disco, it’s readily available, requires no dressing up, there’s no one to pass judgment, I have full control of the media player and well, I have the choice to dance starkers too!

Tackling those daily tasks on your to-do list, with LOVE and with SPEED, doing the school run, moving my body, corresponding to e-mails, coaching and consulting clients, completing HR projects, designing adverts for my INSTA, FACEBOOK, LINKED IN, TWITTER, and GOOGLE posts. Love and Speed, a positive mindset shift, essential daily well-being practices.

Of course, I want to take full advantage of the free marketing we get from the social media platforms, so I have had to research the “HOW TO’s”, and spent hours developing a content media strategy and having loads of fun playing on Adobe Illustrator!

Reflecting on my personal and business progress, setting new goals, planning my week, and my business content plan to be shared, and scheduling my daily and monthly tasks into my diary for the week ahead are essential daily practices I need to do consistently to stay on track.

Scheduled into my diary too, “Search for new recipes”. While we were in the store isles to grab a few groceries the other day my son was complaining that he has lost complete interest in eating because my cooking is so boring and not flavorful enough! My attempt to ensure he is fed nutritious, healthy meals appears to not have been very well received, “BAD Mother!” I thought, “You deserve a slap on the wrist!” Just proves that because he is a teen doesn’t mean that I have stopped beating myself up for “Not doing the best I can for him”.

Taking our spoilt furry Bassett Hound kids to the vet for their Paw-dicure is a funny story I have to share. So, I manage to get the Bassett’s into the vet’s rooms and our younger male “Oliver” freaks out and literally has a poo as the vet approaches him to pick him up and take him through to the room, really now?

Of course, he needed to be sedated to get his nails trimmed and the bill was four times more than what it should have been… Why I am even batting an eyelid about how this panned out is beyond me.  There has never been anything simple or normal about our animals or our household for that matter…. So the productive day I had planned didn’t quite pan out as planned.

The Bassett’s require exercise which seems to be solely my responsibility, grooming them, prepping their bone broth for their healthy meals, prepping our green juice and overnight oat jars too so I get to sail through my to-do list with ease and grace.

Allocating funds to those self-care rituals, the highlighting and dying of those grey’s, plucking or tinting the brows, bikini and lip waxes, let alone taking the time to sit in the salon whilst my mind is racing about what I still need to get through before I can have 30 mins to relax in whichever way works for me at the time.

After many decades I have learned that well-being practices are in fact not an act of vanity but energizing and empowering me to be the best version of myself in my pursuit of LIVING my best life. By embracing these rituals I have learned to look forward to them and believe that it is my divine right and that in order to give love to those close to me and to serve others, these are non-negotiable’s.

After evening dishes and meal prep for the next day, I get to unwind and read a couple of pages of my self-help paperback, Oh’ Yes, and lastly the most important task, 5 mins before I slip into my sleep state, I affirm my “I AM” statements learned from, Dr. Wayne Dyer, “ I AM ABUNDANCE”, “I AM PEACE”, “I AM GORGEOUS” and any others I feel I need.

I hear some of you responding with “ What a load of WOO WOO”!

I dare you to give these practices a try.

What have you got to lose? You can only gain a POSITIVE MINDSET. 

Unfortunately, the reality is that we sabotage ourselves and have reinforced the “I AM NOT” statements, such as, “I AM NOT INTELLIGENT ENOUGH”, “I AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH” for a lifetime, so it will take time to unlearn.

I am sure many of you fulfilling feminine roles may relate to this snippet or maybe enduring TOUGHER circumstances, have LONGER TO DO Lists to get through on a daily basis, and maybe raise larger families single-handedly whilst working in a professional career.

Nurturing, self-giving, vulnerability, and sensitivity– the very attributes of femininity to go under fire——can actually be our greatest STRENGTHS.

Women, womanhood, femininity, a quality, an essence that is enduring and timeless, its inherent nature is magical and holds everything together.

In HONOUR of celebrating the ESSENCE that represents, kindness, bravery, will, passion, grace, and light-heartedness.

“ I SALUTE YOU!”

If you are curious to explore my TruEssence Pathway – a 3 step Process to discover your true nature in my Leadership Mentoring sessions, book a call.

#positivemindset #changeyourmindset #positivepsychology #drwaynedyer #affirmations #dailypractice #mindfullness #5secondrule #melrobbins

Step into those red heels darlings!

Strike that power pose, and strut your stuff bravely, confidently, and courageously!

The reality of Solopreneurship can be daunting, especially when your projects have wrapped up and you’re waiting for the next one to start. My focus has been on keeping my eye on the prize, powering through every day, and holding the belief that the energy I am investing will not be in vain, reinforcing that my efforts will bear fruit soon!

I found myself exhausted after countless late nights at my desk, researching, developing, and marketing my brand, staying on trend—all with a super positive attitude while journeying through my personal transformation.

After exploring and acting on the available resources to continuously improve the version of my service offerings, I anticipated that phone call or email inquiry. I finally got that call—a seemingly “in-the-bag” inquiry! Phew, what a relief! After shooting many arrows, I hit something! Super excited about the inquiry, I was surprised when the potential client went quiet.

The final push for a response came at the last minute, and the service offering was rejected, with no real clarity on the reasons that could help me improve my offering.

Can you relate?

This situation had the potential to send me down the streets of self-doubt and self-destruction, OR I could CHOOSE to sail down the river of Resilience and practice these rituals.

So, how did I choose to respond?

I shed a few frustrating tears, expressed a couple of “Sh!ts” and “F*cks,” and then stepped into my gym shoes—only to realize that my gym was closed. So, I streamed a YouTube workout video, selected my favourite playlist (you know, those tunes that get you head-banging in your lounge disco), and got my sweat on at the foot of my bed, in candlelight—becoz, load-shedding! I must have been a sight for sore eyes!

I recovered, slept like the dead, and woke the next morning to ask myself, “What lesson do I need to learn? What state of mind will help me achieve my desired outcome?”

I thanked my lovely teachers, put pen to paper, observed my thoughts and feelings, listened for the answer, and then took action.

What is my lesson?

My lesson learned is to develop the skill called Resilience. We need to develop that “thick leather skin” that so many people I’ve engaged with seem to possess naturally.

Then there are people like me, who have had to develop this skill, defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”

What positive outcomes have come from this?

The positive outcome from this experience is that I’ve learned a valuable skill that I will apply when faced with similar situations in the future.

What I’ve learned is that it’s okay to feel vulnerable, then snap out of it, and bounce back stronger than before.

Only you can choose how you respond to difficulties. It’s easier to feel the emotion in your body and release it, then MOVE ON, than to stay stuck. It’s not an option for us to mope and dwell there!

I hope these help when faced with similar setbacks.

RESILIENCE RITUALS:

1. Kill yourself and your teachers with kindness. Beating yourself up about the “what if’s,” “would’ve,” “could’ve,” “should’ve’s,” blah blah blah, serves no purpose! FEEL the emotion and ACT from a place of LOVE.
2. Be brave. Continue to put yourself out there! It’s tough, but POWER through! Keep walking tall, in those heels! Connect with your family and friends.
3. Stay Flexible. You need to be able to roll with the punches, darlings. It’s HARD, I know, BUT DO some introspection and be flexible in figuring out what you should do next.
4. Re-affirm WHY you are doing what you are doing.
5. Reach out to those in a similar situation. You don’t have to navigate this on your own.
6. Retreat. Do whatever brings you JOY. Take an Epsom salts foam bath, sauna, or steam bath, book a massage, walk on the beach or in the forest, exercise, meditate, journal, draw, paint, or craft. Do whatever helps you raise YOUR vibration.

NOW GO WITH THE FLOW

Don’t let setbacks hold you back!

Get in touch with me to learn more about my Leadership Mentoring

#truessence #resiliencerituals #leadershipdevelopment #solopreneurship

 

A Gallup analysis reveals that people who use their strengths every day are three times more likely to report having an excellent quality of life, six times more likely to be engaged at work, 8% more productive, and 15% less likely to quit their jobs. Often employees find themselves stuck, unfulfilled in their roles, and are merely functioning on autopilot. Their only motivation to present themselves at work every day is to collect that monthly paycheck, they live for weekends and absolutely dread a Monday morning, spending Sunday nights filled with anxiety about the idea that they need to face another day in a role that is sapping them of any last drop of inspiration they may have left.

For some this may lead to a state of depression, reaching for medication to cope with this draining job they need to face every day, and may even lead to the employee developing chronic illness and exiting the business due to incapacity or dismissal for poor performance.

Are you committed to preventing this scenario from playing out in your company?

Realizing your employees’ strengths and developing a strengths-based culture will contribute to strategic human capital and succession planning and ultimately engaging with happy people on a daily basis and achieving your business targets.

Remaining curious about what makes people tick is a winning perspective to adopt in setting your business and humans up for SUCCESS. Get serious about investing in their development and retaining your talent in your business by adopting the “we play our people to their strengths” attitude.

How are you empowering and growing your talent in your business and utilizing them in positions where they will feel valued and impact your business positively?