As the debate continues over whether organisations should be compelling employees to return to the workplace, a recent report from Oyster HR focuses on why employees continue to be disillusioned with work and, more importantly, what employers can do to address this issue.
The aptly named Who gives a Shuck is based on interviews with 2,500 knowledge workers about their own personal and professional priorities at a time when there remains enormous uncertainty over the post-Covid business environment, the cost-of-living crisis, and a moribund economy.
Perhaps the most important finding is that many employees are not living to work anymore, with nealy half of those questioned stating that their number one priority in life was their mental health.
In contrast, career advancement within their organisation was ranked fifth after relationships with friends, physical wellbeing, spirituality, and hobbies.
This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that the experience of Covid was a wake-up call to many people who had been working hard with little appreciation from employers. When the world was facing the most serious pandemic in over a century, many people’s priorities changed during this time and the time given to reflect on what was important to them.
This has resulted in high numbers not only re-evaluating their futures but, in many cases, leaving bad employers to do other things as part of the so-called Great Resignation that has swept the labour force of most developed nations.
As employees have begun to move back to their workplaces after the pandemic, it would have expected that some sense of normality would eventually return. However, after the events of 2020 and 2021, the cost-of-living crisis that many have had to face since is leading to further issues in the workplace. In fact, the survey shows most people are finding it hard to focus on work because of the higher prices and inflation affecting their lives.
Dealing with this is critical to both the competitiveness of individual firms and the productivity of the economy as the study suggests that, on average, half of the staff of an organisation are now struggling to get their work done, leading to a ‘quiet quitting’ pandemic where employees are doing the bare minimum in their jobs.
So what can businesses to do to make this situation better? The key, of course, is creating a company culture where workers are happy and satisfied with their place of work and the three main ingredients of a positive workplace culture were regular pay increases, time and location flexibility, and a safe working environment.
That shouldn’t be surprising as all of us would want to be paid fairly, feel safe at work and be trusted to do our work. Check-in with managers, workplace friendships, and recognition at work were not as critical but were also judged as important to happiness at work.
However, perhaps the most important finding from the survey that there is not one simple formula that can solve workplace problems with the interviews suggesting that different employee needs will have to be balanced across the organisation. However, what seems to be critical is for companies to listen to employees to make changes according to employee needs.
In terms of work-related benefits, it’s not always about extra remuneration with three quarters of respondents saying that taking time off was very important to their wellbeing. In contrast, only a small percentage said that they wanted reimbursed gym classes or free access to mental health apps. This is good news for many smaller businesses who can use time off as the best way to support the mental wellbeing of their employees.
And it is increased personal time which seems to be the direction of travel for the future of the workplace with nearly half of those questioned stating that a four-day week would make the biggest impact to their working lives as compared to only one in ten who would choose an unlimited vacation policy for their company.
This supports the results of other recent experiments on the introduction of a shorter working week which has seen productivity increases across both public and private organisations.
Therefore, as this column has stated time and time again, the world of work has changed irrevocably and employers who treat their staff badly no longer have the right to retain that talent and more importantly, will struggle to replace those that have left to go to work for better bosses.
People are at the centre of today’s modern business and as the study concludes, work needs to be joyful, meaningful, and fun. More importantly, leaders need to move away from adopting an approach where their workers are seen as just another asset rather than the most vital part of the organisation that should be nurtured and developed.
Simply put, if you look after your employees, your employees will look after you. If you do not, then the organisation will deserve to inevitably fail.
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