Why unhappy workforces should concern employers
Have a workplace with high absenteeism levels and employees with low morale and it’s likely the company in question will suffer from a loss of profits, reduced operational efficiencies and high staff turnover rates. If the firm must invest in recruitment processes or pay for additional training for their current members of staff, the cost on a business will increase even more.
Chill Factore, where you can find various fun things to do in Manchester such as entertaining and inclusive team-building activities, has detail just how costly an unhappy workforce can be on a business in this article…
Working out the cost of unhappy employees on UK businesses
Studies have shown that members of staff who feel dejected in their current roles will be less productive. Considering that satisfied employees outperform companies with unhappy workers by 202%, it’s clearly beneficial for a company to take notice of the happiness of its staff.
Wondering just how much unhappy employees can affect the profit margin of a business? Personal Group, a staff services company, discovered that people who were happy with their job were 12% more productive than those who felt negatively about their role. Staff that aren’t satisfied will typically be less enthusiastic and involved — and this disengagement is reportedly costing the UK £85 billion a year in lost productivity, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce report.
Employees can also develop negative feelings if they believe their working hours to be long or are poorly organised — their emotional wellbeing can also be badly affected. This in turn affects workplace performance. A poll carried out by The Hoxby Collective found that 33% of workers said they’d suffered mental health problems directly because of rigid working hours. If your staff are unfit for work, this will cost you. According to estimations by The Centre of Economic and Business Research, absenteeism alone will cost the UK economy £21 billion by 2020, while overworking your staff can also lead to exhaustion and lack of sleep — another contributor of poor productivity levels that costs the UK economy £40.3 billion a year. Consequently, it’s key to create a positive working environment that staff want to get up in the morning and work in if companies want to keep paid sick days to a minimum.
Links between low staff morale and members of staff feeling depressed or anxious have been witnessed as well. According to research from the Centre for Mental Health, it costs employers £3.1 billion in staff turnover and £10.6 billion in sickness just to cover mental health problems of staff in the workplace. From implementing staff perks and bonuses to creating a happy, communicative atmosphere; all employers should be investing in lowering the risk of mental health issues for their staff.
Employees who feel unhappy in their current job may feel inclined to leave the company and take up employment elsewhere too. The Oxford Economics and Income Protection Providers Unum has calculated that the average amount of replacing a staff member sits at approximately £30,614 — taking into account hiring, lost time, training, and adapting new staff to the workplace culture. Can your business afford to keep covering or taking on new staff?
It’s clear to put a focus on ensuring staff morale remains high across a business then. Fortunately, there are many initiatives employers can enforce to boost employee happiness.
What can be done to improve staff morale?
According to an Investors in People survey carried out earlier in 2018, close to half of the poll’s 2,000 participants admitted that they were considering leaving their job sometime over the next year due to poor management. Meanwhile, 39% stated that it was because of feeling undervalued and 30% claimed the reason was lack of job development opportunities. Are these factors that you can explore as part of a business strategy to improve staff morale?
Management therefore appears to be a key element when employees make the decision to leave a company for a new job. Considering the cost of replacing staff, this is something you’ll want to reduce. Assess how your supervisors and managers treat and interact with their staff — could they do with having stronger relationships to encourage better communication? If so, consider scheduling a series of corporate team-building activities to help boost collaboration across all of your departments, or organise onsite charity fundraisers, staff quizzes or regular nights out to inject a sociable aspect into the corporate environment.
Staff morale can be improved so much with training and development — provided either in-house or through external training courses. Sending your staff on these will not only make them feel valued — another factor of workplace happiness — but should also mean your company will benefit from more knowledgeable and confident business decisions, which should prove lucrative in the long run.
The wellbeing of staff members can also be improved through enhancements to job quality. This is according to a report created for Britain’s Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS). For instance, give your employees more authority over their working day — from how long it takes to complete a task properly, to how they schedule their day. This level of control and variety will help make workers feel more important and excited for the day ahead, while re-evaluating the time it takes to complete a task will lower the risk of them feeling rushed or stressed, thereby reducing the chance that they will take time off for anxiety-related issues.
Noticed that your company is racking up high costs because of sick days? If so, it may be worth trying to implement a strategy that focuses on improving the health of employees as well. The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence claims that a well-researched and managed wellness plan can reduce sick days by almost a third — which means the expense of covering shifts and reduced productivity levels will go down accordingly, too.
Hopefully by taking this advice on board, showing initiative and implementing positive processes across your firm today will help ensure that your staff feel happy, secure and valued at work.
Sources:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/work/5-reasons-unhappy-work-can-do/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273968
http://smallbusiness.co.uk/lack-of-sleep-work-costs-uk-2543203/
http://www.cityam.com/274044/unhappy-and-unengaged-employees-losing-uk-gbp85bn-year
