Are your employees
actually “happy” at work?
Do your employees truly
feel “secure” in their jobs?
Your organization may be surprised at the
answers. I recently received the results of a Rutgers University Work Trends survey study which reported
that American workers are unhappy, worried and pessimistic about their post Great Recession futures.
With regard to Question #1… Rutgers University’s
report revealed that only a scant 14% of the workers surveyed said that they
were happy at work. The flip side of this finding would indicate that the other
86% of the workers surveyed were in fact “unhappy”
at work.
The eerie thing about the Rutgers report is
that it directly corresponds with a report of several years ago which was
performed by Salary.com. At that time, Salary.com reported that 84% of all
American workers were either “unhappy”
or “dissatisfied” with their job or
career. Salary.com also concurrently reported that 86% of all American workers
were not fully engaged in their work.
When it comes to Question #2… the Rutgers
report states that 70% of the workers which they surveyed did not feel secure in their jobs.
Regardless of how you frame these reports, the
picture that they paint is quite somber. Given that the Rutgers University and
Salary.com reports were conducted nearly five years apart – Clearly signifies
that the Rutgers findings are not simply a momentary snapshot of a current
circumstance. In consideration of the lengthy time frame that these feelings
have prevailed, it is also something far more than a trend.
In consideration of such an extended period of
time, what your organization is now confronted with is an engrained pattern of
negative perception (thinking) which translates
into negative feelings and then manifests as negative behavior in the form of
lack of engagement, impaired productivity and indifference. Simply stated… a
poor (negative) “attitude”. Moreover,
that attitude has now become habitual.
As first cited above, when your people are
unhappy, worried and pessimistic – They are not going to have positive
attitudes, nor are they going to have “hope”
of a better future. Research has time and again confirmed that there is a
direct correlation between attitudes
and productivity. These attitudes and
behaviors also result in increased absenteeism and employee turnover.
What then are you as an employer to do? Your
first undertaking is to comprehend what author Patrick Lencioni refers to as
‘The Three Sign of a Miserable Job” which he defines as:
Feeling
of anonymity.
As I have cited before, the number one cause of employee turnover is a lack of
connection with the employer. In essence, not “feeling” that they belong. The relevant questions is… do your
people feel “valued” as individuals
or do they feel like a number who just happens to have some skills that your
organization happens to need at the present moment?
Inability to measure the quality of their own work. When people don’t know how their work brings value to the organization, they are resultantly incapable of finding value in themselves and the work that they perform. In like fashion, when they don’t have performance standards to live up to, they are incapable of setting similar standards for their own lives.
Not
understanding the significance of what they do and how it affects both internal
and external customers. There is a clear disconnect with your organization when
your people don’t understand how their work benefits the organization, let
alone the achievement of its objectives and goals. This is a very common
circumstance and is highly detrimental to both internal and external customer
relationships.
As an employer that undoubtedly has a genuine
concern regarding their workers job satisfaction, what you need to comprehend
is that the above cited reports and related issues inevitably boil down to
three distinct issues:
Organizational Leadership.
Communication.
Personal Leadership (on the part of the employee).
The good news is that all of these foundational
issues can be readily addressed with appropriate developmental training.
As a valued resource partner, we can
readily assist your organization and your people to… Learn more… Do more… Become more.
Copyright © 2015 Developing
Forward | Thomas H. Swank, CBC
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