????如今的公司可能正背負著沉重的負擔，不過這副擔子或許并不是你想的那種。

????經理們常常擔心，一只腳已經邁出公司大門的員工在目前的崗位上會失去努力工作的動力。這確實是個問題。相比以往，現在越來越多的人想要離職。美世咨詢公司（Mercer）最近的調查顯示，2005年至2010年間，曾認真考慮過離職的人從23%猛增到了32%。

????“人力資源部門憂心忡忡，” 美世咨詢公司人力資源顧問戴夫?范德沃特說。“競爭對手已經開始招人，因此很難防止員工離職，而且流失的恰恰又是最出色、最為訓練有素的員工。”

????然而，對健康的企業文化來說，離職員工所造成的威脅其實比不上那些繼續留守但卻灰心喪氣的員工，而且后者的隊伍正在日益壯大。

????美世咨詢公司的調查中，21%的人表示，他們并不在乎是走還是留。更糟的是，這部分員工對公司的抱怨明顯多于決定留下和干脆打算離職的員工。

????范德沃特指出，這21%的人出于某種原因而選擇留任。他說，對公司無所助益的員工通常分為兩類：一類是辦公室寵兒，他們討人喜歡，但工作表現糟糕。這類人在經濟衰退期間大多都被炒了魷魚。而第二類人卻留了下來。他們擁有必備的技能，對公司頗有價值。但他們要么毫無貢獻，要么對其他人造成負面影響。而主要是因為他們心存芥蒂。

????翰威特咨詢公司（Aon Hewitt）高級副總裁肯?歐勒說：“你會發現，有些才干極為出眾的人卻做出了些破壞性的行為，但公司卻會容忍他們，就因為他們才華橫溢。”

????這些人大部分都有心煩不安的理由。很多人目睹同事被減薪甚至失業。另外一些人則認為公司管理團隊在困難時期沒有采取最佳的應對措施。然而，由于經濟依然充滿不確定性，員工覺得前途渺茫，于是他們留了下來，但卻滋生了負面情緒。

????“我的同事將這類人稱為病毒，”范德沃特說，“他們無疑會帶來破壞。雇主必須設法幫助這些人離職，或者讓他們更有動力。”

????如何才能做到這一點呢？這個問題很棘手。首先，必須清除那些打算離職或者對公司造成負面影響的人。博斯管理咨詢公司（Booz & Company）高級合伙人喬恩?卡曾巴赫說，這部分工作可能比想象的要簡單。要想找出這些人，必須借助他們的“指揮棒”，也就是公司里的一呼百應的人物。這些人通常是非正式的領導者，未必是公司高層。

????卡曾巴赫說：“同事們愿意為這些人赴湯蹈火。”管理層了解員工的不滿，首先首先應該跟這些人談。但如果這些人本身就是心存芥蒂的人，那么最好能贏得他們的支持。

????要想讓心灰意冷的員工重燃激情，首先應確保讓他們有機會與上司或管理人員進行富有成效的一對一談話。必須弄明白他們缺乏積極性的原因。如果他們理由很充分，公司可以作出小范圍的調整，幫助他們找回工作熱情。

????弗吉尼亞大學達登商學院（the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business）工商管理學教授克里斯汀?貝法爾說，即使是表面看起來消極的行為也能化害為利。貝法爾稱，她曾與某個團隊合作，團隊成員向她抱怨說，團隊中有個員工經驗豐富，但對公司心懷不滿，他的負面情緒已經傳染給了團隊中的其他成員，但他們離不開他。

????貝法爾問他們，團隊成員認為這位員工最擅長做什么。他們回答說，他很會批評人。于是，他們利用他的這個才能，讓他負責檢查所有對外工作的錯誤，使他那雙挑剔的眼睛有了用武之地。這種安排取收到了很好的成效。“我喜歡這個故事，”貝法爾說，“這位員工希望好好工作，但所處的環境卻使他無心工作。”經驗豐富但心懷不滿的人，比如本案例中的這個人，就是主要的改造目標。

????巴克公司（Buck）顧問斯蒂芬?可可說，讓員工保持積極性的最好方法當然是從招聘程序開始時避免出現這種問題。建立正式的員工適應性培訓計劃；掌握員工在公司里的最新情況，與他們保持同步成長；創造機會讓他們可以定期提供反饋；確保管理者與員工關系穩固。

????然而，陷入困境或正在經歷變革的公司可能不得不直接面對員工積極性問題。卡曾巴赫說，在這種情況下，必須鼓勵某些員工作出特定的改變，而不是徹底改變整個公司文化。他說：“這時候需要的是步槍點射，而不是散彈掃射。”

????譯者: 千牛絮

????Your company is probably carrying dead weight, though it might not be where you think.

????Managers often harbor the fear that employees with one foot out the door will lose motivation to work hard at their current jobs, and that's a real problem: more and more people want to leave their jobs today than in years past. Between 2005 and 2010, the number of people who said they were seriously considering leaving their job jumped from 23% to 32%, according to new research from consulting firm Mercer.

????"HR departments are very concerned," says Dave Van De Voort, a human resources consultant at Mercer. "As their competitors start to hire, it's going to be very tough to keep people from leaving, and it will be the best people with the best training that will go."

????But employees on the way out aren't actually as big of a threat to a healthy corporate culture as the growing ranks of disillusioned and frustrated workers who simply stay put.

????Twenty-one percent of the people surveyed in the Mercer study said that they were apathetic about whether they stayed or left. But what's worse is that this part of the employee population had significantly more negative things to say about their companies than both people who were staying and people who planned to leave.

????The people within this 21% group are lingering at their jobs for a reason, says Van De Voort, who says that unproductive employees generally fall in one of two categories. The first includes people who are office favorites; they're likeable, but bad at their jobs. Most of those were culled during job cuts throughout the recession. The second type, however, is still around. These are people with a necessary skill. They're valuable, but they're either unproductive or negative influences on others, largely because of the chips on their shoulders.

????"You see very highly talented people that have really destructive behaviors, and the organization will tolerate them because they are so talented," says Ken Oehler, a senior vice president at consulting firm Aon Hewitt.

????A lot of these people have reasons to be upset. Many have seen their colleagues take pay cuts or lose their jobs. Others feel like their company's management team hasn't chosen the best course to adapt to tough times. Yet, because the economy is still uncertain, employees feel trapped, so they stay, and their negative attitudes fester.

????"One of my folks refers to them as viruses," Van De Voort says. "They're truly causing harm, and employers need to have a plan for either helping these people leave or getting them to be more engaged."

????The question is how, and that can be tricky. First, you have to root out the people who are checking out or otherwise negatively affecting the organization. That part is easier than you may think, says Jon Katzenbach, a senior partner at consulting firm Booz & Company. To find them, you have to use their foils - the key motivators in a company. These are often informal leaders who are not necessarily at the top of a company's hierarchy.

????"You're looking for someone whose colleagues would walk over hot coals for them," says Katzenbach. Those are the first people a manager should ask about dissatisfied employees. And if these key motivators are the disengaged ones themselves, they are the most important to win over.

????The first step towards winning back disengaged employees is to ensure that they have productive, one-on-one conversations with supervisors or management. You have to find out why people aren't motivated. If they've lost interest for a good reason, the company can often make small adjustments to bring them back on board.

????Even behavior that seems unworkable on the surface can be useful, says Kristin Behfar, a professor of business administration at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. Behfar says she once worked with a team of people that complained to her about one of the members, an experienced employee who had grown frustrated with the company. His negative attitude was poisoning the rest of the team, but they needed him.

????Behfar says she asked them what the team members thought this employee was good at, and they said he had a talent for dishing out criticism. So they put his skill to use. The group made him in charge of reviewing all outgoing work for errors, giving his critical eye a purpose, with great results. "I love that story," Behfar says. "He cared, but the circumstances he was in left him unengaged." Experienced people like the man in this example are pivotal dead-weight turnaround targets.

????Of course, the best way to keep your staff engaged is to stay on top of the issue from the hiring process on, says Stephen Coco, a consultant with Buck. Have a formal employee orientation program and keep up with staffers as they grow within the company. As they develop, create regular opportunities for them to give feedback, and make sure that managers have solid relationships with their employees.

????But a struggling or changing company may have to respond directly to an engagement problem. In that case, you want to encourage specific changes from certain people, says Katzenbach, not overhaul the entire culture. "This is a rifle game, not a shotgun game," he says.