A recent Threads post featured an individual claiming to be a sales professional who described how he became a “payroll thief,” using company time to run a side business. After three years, he was eventually laid off.
In response to the criticism, he stated, “Since I made the company a lot of money, they gave me significant autonomy.” This discussion sheds light on a crucial question: When high-performing employees start disengaging, is it a personal choice or a failure in corporate management?
The Decline from High Performance to Low Engagement
Recent global workplace trends, such as “quiet quitting” in the West and “lying flat” in China, indicate a shift where employees reduce work engagement due to various reasons. These factors can transform highly motivated employees into disengaged ones, or even completely passive participants in the workplace. Key reasons include:
- Lack of growth opportunities: Employees feel stagnant due to the absence of learning and promotion paths, leading to a sense of futility in making extra efforts.
- Unfair performance evaluations: If past high performance fails to yield fair rewards, employees feel their efforts are mismatched with compensation.
- Diminished sense of work value: Employees no longer align with the company’s vision or culture, leading them to adopt a “minimum effort” approach.
When many employees reduce their engagement and management fails to address the issue, it can result in:
- Disillusioned high-performers who feel the workplace lacks fairness
- Low-engagement employees continuing to earn high salaries without corresponding output
- Competitive talent leaving, while those who remain adopt a passive attitude
To prevent high-performers from turning into disengaged workers, companies need to identify potential management loopholes.
How to Prevent High-Performers from Slacking Off?
1. Lack of an Effective Performance Management System
Past achievements do not guarantee future productivity. When companies fail to continuously assess employee contributions, an initially high-performing employee may gradually reduce their effort and eventually disengage entirely.
2. Absence of Workplace Burnout Detection
The employee in the post mentioned, “I don’t want to receive a salary, but I don’t know what else to do.” This is a clear sign of workplace burnout. If companies proactively detect and address burnout, they might be able to re-engage employees before they stagnate.
3. No Retention Strategy for Key Talent
When companies fail to provide new growth opportunities, employees redirect their energy elsewhere. Eventually, they perceive their job merely as a “paycheck dispenser.” Ignoring this issue only intensifies their burnout.
How Can Companies Avoid This Situation?
1. Monitor Employee Engagement Beyond KPI Metrics
Managers should not only focus on performance numbers but also observe employee behavior, such as:
- Whether they proactively offer suggestions
- Their participation level in team meetings
- Their willingness to take on new challenges
- Their frequency in reporting progress to supervisors
Implementing 360-degree feedback mechanisms—gathering insights from colleagues, managers, and clients—can provide a comprehensive understanding of an employee’s engagement level.
2. Early Identification of Workplace Disengagement Signals
Key indicators include:
- Reduced participation in discussions
- Slower task completion and more passive responses
- Delayed communication and decreased interaction with colleagues
- Increased complaints and reluctance to embrace new challenges
When these signs appear, companies should intervene early through one-on-one discussions or performance reviews to determine if the employee is facing obstacles or simply disengaging.
3. Timely Intervention and Development Opportunities
Regular career development discussions—at least every six months—should include:
- Whether current tasks provide sufficient challenges
- Employee satisfaction with their role and interest in exploring new fields
Companies should proactively provide career development resources rather than waiting until employees disengage to attempt retention efforts.
How to Prevent Management Loopholes in Remote Work Environments?
With remote work becoming increasingly common, how can companies ensure engagement when employees are not physically present?
Remote work makes “low engagement” harder to detect, especially in roles like sales, consulting, and creative work that don’t require fixed schedules. To prevent “payroll theft” and ensure employees remain productive while working remotely, companies should adopt outcome-based management instead of relying on physical presence as a performance metric.
1. Focus on Visible Output, Not Time Spent
Different roles require different engagement metrics:
- Sales teams: Track deals closed, client acquisition, and feedback rather than hours worked.
- Creative professionals: Assess project completion and content output instead of monitoring online status.
- Technical employees: Measure problem-solving efficiency and product development progress rather than counting lines of code.
Clearly defined KPIs or OKRs ensure employee contributions are measurable rather than relying on physical presence.
2. Implement Regular Alignment Mechanisms to Improve Transparency
Remote work environments can make employees “invisible,” but consistent alignment can keep them on track.
- Weekly one-on-ones: Brief meetings between managers and employees to track progress and challenges
- Team progress updates: Use shared task management tools like Notion, Asana, or Trello
- Public milestone reviews: Visualize achievements to prevent employees from “disappearing” into the system
Being remote doesn’t mean being disconnected—structured check-ins ensure accountability and productivity.
3. Use Behavioral Data to Detect Low Engagement
Instead of relying on intuition, companies can use data to monitor employee engagement:
- Sales professionals: Track CRM activity and client follow-ups
- Technical staff: Evaluate Jira or GitHub activity
- Marketing teams: Monitor project completion and content output frequency
This approach is not about surveillance but about establishing reasonable performance indicators to ensure employee engagement remains steady.
4. Introduce High-Performance Incentives to Sustain Motivation
Remote work can sometimes weaken employees’ sense of belonging. Companies should implement dynamic performance management systems with clear reward mechanisms:
- Performance-linked bonuses: Establish structured incentive programs beyond basic salaries
- Increased growth opportunities: Assign high performers larger projects and decision-making authority
- Transparent performance standards: Clearly define pathways to higher compensation and career progression
Instead of just preventing “payroll theft,” companies should use incentive mechanisms to ensure high-performers remain engaged.
Shaping a Workplace That Fosters Engagement
“Quiet quitting,” “lying flat,” and “payroll theft” often result from ineffective management structures that fail to offer fair incentives and growth opportunities. Employees who feel dissatisfied yet lack motivation for change ultimately resort to disengagement.
Companies that build visible performance metrics, fair evaluation systems, and engaging work environments will retain motivated employees and cultivate a high-performance culture.
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