EMPLOYEE HAPPINESS
“Perkbox’s
research found
that a third of UK
workers (3O%) are
unhappy at work and
would move jobs for
better benefits.”
businesses, and goes some way
into revealing some of the causes
of the nation’s general productivity
issues. A single disengaged worker
can cost a business over £3000
annually in sick leave, lost productivity,
training and recruitment. This cost spirals
into six figures if the organisation employs
over a thousand workers. Yet, most research
already in the public domain indicates that while
remuneration might instantly gratify and sway
potential employees into accepting a job offer, it’s
the non-financial factors that come with reward
and recognition that engage and retain workers in
the long run.
The aspects that employees look for in job
satisfaction are changing and this is reflected
through profound changes in the workplace too.
Clarke, IPA elaborates: “No longer will people
just put up with being poorly managed, their
views ignored, working in toxic low trust cultures,
treated unfairly, in jobs stripped of meaning and
purpose, for companies where values and ethics
are simply slogans on the wall.
“To survive this
turbulence,
employers need
to turn to their
only asset – their
people. Ensure that
the workforce are aware
of the challenges, and of
the opportunities, and can
act as key partners in navigating
the way ahead. Ensure their views are
listened to, as well as their advice about how to
do the job better. Ensure their warnings about
egregious behaviours are heeded, that bad apples
at whatever level are weeded out, that a diversity
of views eliminates the danger of groupthink. After
all, in this era of transparency, reputational risk has
undermined organisations that were once thought
of as impregnable.
“Engaging employees to create the right culture
is perhaps the greatest challenge employers face.
Get it right, and it will help organisations face the
future with confidence.”
9