EMPLOYEE HAPPINESS
Despite this overwhelming demand from employees
for rewards and benefits, over half (53%) of UK
companies do not formally recognise outstanding
employees on a regular basis,* yet 44% believe
that rewards and recognition are either very or
extremely relevant to their business.
The requirement for employers to engage with staff
on a regular basis is an essential part of successful
business growth. As well as a lack of reward and
recognition in the workplace, UK workers reported
that a toxic culture at work was their biggest
grievance (cited by 21% of respondents) while
others highlighted micromanagement (17%) and
long hours (15%).
Discussing the impact of this, Graham Boyle,
Managing Director at Global Executive Consulting
said: “We have all worked for a company where
we are surrounded by negativity and demotivated
employees. This can be due to a lot of reasons.
The company may not be performing well, the
management may not be engaged with the staff or
various other reasons. The total end result can be
devastating for a company.
“Companies can drop productivity tremendously
during these times. It can be very difficult to stop
the rot. Loss of productivity can result in companies
losing vast amounts of revenue. The bigger the
company the more they can lose. Absenteeism,
productivity and unhappy employees are all linked.
The cycle usually starts with an unhappy employee,
which will result in a drop in productivity and
possibly taking time off work. It is much easier for
an unhappy employee to wake up in the morning
and decide not to attend than it is for a happy
employee to do the same.”
Perkbox’s research showed that one in five (20%)
workers believe their boss would be moderately
or not at all supportive if they told them they
were unhappy in their jobs. Younger workers feel
more supported by their bosses than the older
generation, with two thirds (66%) of 18–24 year
olds believing that if they told their bosses they
were unhappy, they would be either moderately or
very supportive, compared with just 49% of 55–64
year olds.
While most UK workers are relatively positive about
their boss overall, with 15% saying their bosses is
‘fantastic’, 16% (6.5 million UK workers) suggested
they either have a ‘poor’ or ‘terrible’ boss.
Nita Clarke OBE, Director at Involvement and
Participation Association (IPA) and Co-chair at
Employee Engagement Taskforce, commented on
how employers are dealing with this. “More and
more companies and organisations are coming
8
to realise that how they run their business is as important
as what they do. That culture really does eat strategy for
breakfast, and that getting the workplace culture right is the
precondition for meeting the myriad of challenges that every
employer–public, private and third sector–faces.
“Some are putting the pieces together, improving productivity
and performance requires a workforce that embraces change
and innovation, that is aligned, motivated and engaged.
But that requires a very different way of managing; not the
traditional hierarchy, bureaucracy and command and control,
which stifles the workforce, but empowering the front line to
deliver the outcomes desired, in an enterprise where everyone
is committed to its success.”
Employee happiness is much more than a costly, non-critical
‘nice-to-have’. The research by ADP found that levels of job
satisfaction vary significantly across Europe, with Dutch,
Polish and Swiss employees being the most satisfied. The
study explored how employees across Europe feel about
the future of work and revealed that the UK came joint fifth
with Germany.
Jeff Phipps, Managing Director at ADP UK, believes that: “The
very best businesses are focussing their efforts on the ‘whole
person’, ensuring their people feel valued, have a sense of
purpose their wellbeing is supported. Employee satisfaction
has long been acknowledged to have major implications for
innovation, productivity and customer experience.”
There is a lot of research currently in the market that
indicates the scale of unhappiness in workers within UK
*Research with 100 businesses in June 2015