The above term is from The Herman Group’s weekly newsletter (no link but their website is www.herman.net). I love that phrase – it is quite descriptive. Here is the excerpt that caught my attention:
Fueled by the publicity frenzy the press is enjoying, the current volatility in world financial markets is affecting many people at all levels of our societies.
From the employees’ point of view, this uncertainty engenders insecurity. What will happen to my company? Will it be in business? Will I have a job? The reaction is that they continue “corporate cocooning”, staying in the safety and sanctuary of their corporate jobs, despite their deep dissatisfaction.
A number of studies have confirmed that at least 35 percent of our workforce is unhappy. Thanks to a social network analyst Scott DeGraffenreid, we have a label for it. We call it “Warm Chair Attrition”. The shame is these employees still collect paychecks, take up space, and infect their fellow associates. It would seem to be good news for employers: their workers will not leave. However, bottom line, disaffected employees are not particularly productive.
This topic is always one for debate. I’m not a fan of the Jack Welch theory that you need to be turning over your bottom 10% annually. However, no turnover can be a sign that you have a fair amount of warm chair attrition occurring.
The long-term danger here is that mediocrity can creep in to your culture. At that point “good enough” can become the predominant approach. We’ve encountered companies with this approach and it stands out from those companies where excellence is the expectation. As painful as it is, it is best to upgrade your salesforce if you have a team settling into mediocrity.