Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
The cost of unhappy workers
Organization | Growth
October 12, 2023 – Worker attrition and disengagement cost median S&P 500 companies about $282 million annually, senior partner Aaron De Smet and colleagues note. Companies that prioritize six factors addressing employee engagement, such as providing adequate compensation and workplace flexibility, could capture $90 million in value.
To read the article, see “Some employees are destroying value. Others are building it. Do you know the difference?,” September 11, 2023.
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Visual form
Ranked factor-contribution chart. It presents disengagement drivers as a prioritized list rather than as a time series.
Layout / body structure
The chart is laid out as a single vertical ranking of employee factors, with each factor occupying its own row and carrying a percentage contribution. It reads from the most important driver at the top down through the smaller contributors.
What is being compared
It compares six employee factors and their relative contribution to disengagement cost, linking each factor to the share of the value at stake that organizations could recover.
Measurement system
The numbers are percentages of disengagement cost contribution, tied to the broader value-at-stake framing on the page. The reader is tracking share of impact, not head count or time change.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The graphic organizes the six factors into a ranked list with numeric callouts beside the rows. That structure makes it easy to see where the biggest pieces of the disengagement cost sit and how quickly the contributions taper off.
Main takeaway from the visual
A relatively small set of employee factors drives a large share of disengagement cost. The ranking concentrates the problem in a few leading rows instead of spreading it evenly across every aspect of the employee experience.
Key standout values or extremes
The top factor sits close to 29 percent, while the rest step down into the low teens and single digits. The chart title also frames the broader magnitude clearly by pointing to nearly two-thirds of the 90 million dollars of value at stake.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.