Last week a long time friend of mine shared his observation on how little some employers value their workforce and how -in his observation- many are over-using the economy to reduce benefits and perks. We agreed that "common wisdom" assumes that, in harsh economic times like these, employees should be grateful to be employed and even more grateful to get paid. Everybody by now has seen the hardship placed on friends and family members who lost their job during this recession and the reasoning is that nobody in their right mind will complain or bolt from their job.
The fact is that employees will put up with this situation for 12 to 18 month before the rebellion sets in and productivity, and even more importantly, customer service, drops significantly. As employee engagement* wanes, so does the positive picture your customers have of your company and, with your customers' enthusiasm, leaves your profit.
Not convinced? Let me tell you about the latest survey from the Conference Board. Employee job satisfaction dropped from 65% in 1987 to a low of 45% in 2009! This means that now two out of three employees are dissatisfied with their jobs! And even more astonishing, the Millennials previously thought of as continually dissatisfied are actually today the most satisfied employees! Between the ages of 18 and 25 there was "only" a 56% job dissatisfaction. Generation X members were dissatisfied at a rate of 60% and baby boomers between 61% and a whopping 71%. The survey found that the three main reasons for this steep decline are:
· Erosion of the income levels (younger employees)
· Working conditions (baby boomers)
· Disappearance of the interesting parts of the jobs
· Interpersonal part of the job (middle age group)
This is consistent with pre-recession surveys in the past. 35% of employees listed income as the #3 reason why they were leaving their jobs and job dissatisfaction as #2.
Toxic workplace attitude is a very complex problem. As companies fight for their lives they stop doing all those morale building things they engaged in before. The leadership is under intense pressure and they become more prone to express that pressure by pushing on those they manage. The employees are under intense pressure due to the additional workload and the deterioration of their relationship with management only makes this situation worse.
The other significant findings were that only 43% of employees felt secure in their jobs and only 50% said they were satisfied with their boss. It is troubling to know that historically the #1 reason for employees to leave their position is due to the inability of getting along with their supervisor.
Just take a minute and think about your top two or three performers. How satisfied do you think they are? What would happen to your company if two or three of them would quit as the economy recovers? What would be the impact on your operation? Then write down ideas on how you can ensure that they are engaged and satisfied. We always recommend to start with effective communication from "your heart". Show them how important they are to your operation and that you value them. Nobody says that you have to do this with lavish raises or Wall Street size bonuses.
Showing genuine interest, listening to their feelings, valuing their input, acknowledging their extra effort, delegation of tasks with the authority to execute and providing honest feedback and recognition are in many cases far more effective and longer lasting.
At the Mayer Business group we have the expertise to diagnose and recommend cost-effective programs that help you improve employee engagement by enhancing and leveraging your leadership skills.
* For more on how employee engagement impacts your bottom line, see our article in the archives.
