Almost half of New Zealand businesses are dealing with staff who have given up on their job, even though they haven't actually resigned, a recruitment survey has found.
Staff members being physically at work, but emotionally checked out, was a big problem, Robert Half said. Photo: 123rf
Recruiter Robert Half surveyed 100 human resource managers from across the country, and found 42 percent of New Zealand businesses had staff who had "emotionally resigned" from their jobs.
It said inner-resignation - where staff members were physically at work, but had emotionally checked out - was a big problem.
The survey found emotional resignation could affect employees at almost any business, but was most common in public sector organisations and medium-sized businesses.
More than a third of employers said they were dealing with the problem by providing rewards and recognition to staff.
But Robert Half Asia Pacific general manager Megan Alexander said that wouldn't motivate those employees who were just marking time.
"What you want to try and avoid is those ones that emotionally check out and then don't leave because maybe it is close to home and it is just convenient, as opposed to they've emotionally made that decision and then decided to do something about it and therefore leave," she said.
Ms Alexander said paying people more money might not resolve the underlying issues of why people emotionally checked out.
