Every workplace has them - the hard-workers, the whiners, the shirkers and the invisible employees. If you think the last two are practically synonymous, you have another thing coming. Shirkers don't want to work, but with the invisible employees, willingness to work is not in question. Says marketing executive Sucheta Madan (name changed): "I like what I am doing but there's something lacking.
My work is good but not considered superlative; appraisals are fair but not extraordinary. And though I may not be my boss' favourite, he isn't unhappy with me either. I think I am mostly irrelevant, invisible except when I am literally in his line of vision." If you echo her feelings and believe you are somewhere on the periphery of the organisation's consciousness, you are most likely an invisible employee yourself.
Part of the problem is inadequate networking skills - you may be a competent worker but find it difficult to assert your presence or 'market' yourself well. At a broader level, an assortment of aspects are at play, such as competence, confidence and inherent shyness.
"Such employees focus on irrelevant things, for instance; 'What do they think of me'; 'What if I am wrong in what I say/do?' Then there are those who feel secure in the comfort of their 'invisible zone' and avoid taking on responsibilities," says Meenakshi Roy, senior vice-president of human resources at Reliance Broadcast Network.
Identifying your type
Latha Nambisan, senior vice-president (HR) at Servion Global, a customer interaction management solutions company, divides invisible employees into three categories. The first comprises employees who give up on being visible because of the frustration generated by unmet expectations. Employees who believe that only empty vessels make noise form the second category.
You will find them believing that their work should speak for them. The third category is made up of those who lack achievement orientation. Their pet phrases are "living for the moment" and "que sera sera", and they are more or less convinced that their current job doesn't form a part of the larger scheme of things.
Nambisan believes many such invisible employees can be found in large organisations, partly because it's difficult to keep tabs in a large workforce.
Whose responsibility is it?
The responsibility of tackling an invisible employee rests on the manager. Most experts believe that visibility, or the lack of it, is a result of an all-important two-way process gone awry. "If an employee feels that his immediate manager is transactional in nature without offering positive reinforcement, we can be sure of creating an invisible employee.
On the other hand, if assertion is expected for a role but an employee does not possess this trait - nor makes any attempt to acquire and hone it - he can easily get sidelined," says Roopa Badrinath, group head of HR at Rediffusion Y&R, a leading advertising company.
Employees who have succumbed to this rampant career-killing malaise tend to look up to the immediate manager or the management in general to put an end to their suffering. For this, a manager has to be intuitive enough to understand an employee's reasons for becoming indifferent. "A good manager can easily spot employees in each of these categories and do what is required to pull them into the mainstream. But nowadays most managers aren't motivated enough to do so. Either they are too busy or their tenures are too short to sustain a relationship building process," says Nambisan.
via - economics times
My work is good but not considered superlative; appraisals are fair but not extraordinary. And though I may not be my boss' favourite, he isn't unhappy with me either. I think I am mostly irrelevant, invisible except when I am literally in his line of vision." If you echo her feelings and believe you are somewhere on the periphery of the organisation's consciousness, you are most likely an invisible employee yourself.
Part of the problem is inadequate networking skills - you may be a competent worker but find it difficult to assert your presence or 'market' yourself well. At a broader level, an assortment of aspects are at play, such as competence, confidence and inherent shyness.
"Such employees focus on irrelevant things, for instance; 'What do they think of me'; 'What if I am wrong in what I say/do?' Then there are those who feel secure in the comfort of their 'invisible zone' and avoid taking on responsibilities," says Meenakshi Roy, senior vice-president of human resources at Reliance Broadcast Network.
Identifying your type
Latha Nambisan, senior vice-president (HR) at Servion Global, a customer interaction management solutions company, divides invisible employees into three categories. The first comprises employees who give up on being visible because of the frustration generated by unmet expectations. Employees who believe that only empty vessels make noise form the second category.
You will find them believing that their work should speak for them. The third category is made up of those who lack achievement orientation. Their pet phrases are "living for the moment" and "que sera sera", and they are more or less convinced that their current job doesn't form a part of the larger scheme of things.
Nambisan believes many such invisible employees can be found in large organisations, partly because it's difficult to keep tabs in a large workforce.
Whose responsibility is it?
The responsibility of tackling an invisible employee rests on the manager. Most experts believe that visibility, or the lack of it, is a result of an all-important two-way process gone awry. "If an employee feels that his immediate manager is transactional in nature without offering positive reinforcement, we can be sure of creating an invisible employee.
On the other hand, if assertion is expected for a role but an employee does not possess this trait - nor makes any attempt to acquire and hone it - he can easily get sidelined," says Roopa Badrinath, group head of HR at Rediffusion Y&R, a leading advertising company.
Employees who have succumbed to this rampant career-killing malaise tend to look up to the immediate manager or the management in general to put an end to their suffering. For this, a manager has to be intuitive enough to understand an employee's reasons for becoming indifferent. "A good manager can easily spot employees in each of these categories and do what is required to pull them into the mainstream. But nowadays most managers aren't motivated enough to do so. Either they are too busy or their tenures are too short to sustain a relationship building process," says Nambisan.
via - economics times
