I am not happy. My chair has just broken and the printer has still not been fixed. The problem with the company is that it is going to the dogs. My boss is okay but has no clue what is going on.
A young lad started last Monday, no one bothered to introduce him to me and they gave him a job that he had no idea how to do; why didn’t they just ask me? I could have told them that a new set of drawings had been issued so even if he did know what he was doing the drawings he was using were obsolete anyway. Sometimes I don’t know why I bother turning up.
I went for a drink with some of the guys last night after work. No one is happy and Sally from Accounts says that she has just about had enough and is thinking of asking for a rise and if they don’t give it to her she is going to quit.
The management don’t have a clue, we are losing money through our inefficiencies and all they do is issue memo’s telling us of new procedures for claiming expenses as though it is going to make a difference to how efficient we are – whoopee do.
I think I’ll ask for a pay rise, if Sally from Accounts can get one I can.
And so it goes on.
These are the sort of thoughts that start to go through the minds of individuals when an organization loses touch with their personnel; the chair that is broken, no feeling of appreciation, blaming ‘management’ and for some even questioning the futility of what they are doing. Minor problems fester and a cynical and negative mindset develops. Can you be sure that this isn’t the sort of thing that is going on right now in your organisation?
What should be social events held outside the office become no more than a forum for complaints and negativity grows among people who feel unable to effect change. Diverse frustration will often amalgamate into a demand for an increase in remuneration, as though like a cheap fix more money will briefly reduce the pain.
Left by management, undiscovered and unaware, the concerns of this employee will inevitable find solace with their colleagues own individual concerns, where the only common demand will be for an increase in remuneration, more paid holidays and a reduction in working hours, all of which will not fix the broken chair, ensure that new personnel are in future properly introduced, trained and managed nor help management identify areas of inefficiency.
Organisations have a habit of pigeon holing people, physically through offices, cubicles or workstations and also in terms of responsibility. It can prove productive if there is effective and strong management in place to support this structure, but over time weak or inappropriate management can infiltrates the management chain and if it does it can be expected that cracks will start to appear.
From the top down all can appear rosy in the corporate garden as the weak and inappropriate manager reports that all is well in the engine room, oblivious to the fact that their coal stocks might be dwindling.
Experience shows us that relying on a limited number of indicators gives a skewed perspective just like a person with only one eye has difficulty judging distance. By establishing procedures that sample the mood from different perspectives throughout the organisation good management will be able to form a rounded picture.
The benefits of establishing good, frequent and extensive communication channels are both direct and indirect.
A senior management team that is known to have their ear to the ground will command great respect and will keep middle managers from becoming complacent knowing that they can no longer dismiss the senior managers searching “How is everything going?” question with a glib “Fine”; In my book if someone says “fine” you have to ask if they really know what is going on.
Most principals of an organisation will not have the luxury of spending time walking the floor and discussing the issues of individuals but through online employee satisfaction questionnaires they can achieve the same benefits and almost become omnipresent.
Online surveys provide an ideal method to establish good and effective communications between the employer and employee. Using a survey hosting service they can now be created and published with ease and speed.
Using the Internet and intranet surveys can be deployed in seconds, easily completed by employees and results can be displayed in real time allowing ‘problems’ and common themes of dissatisfaction to be identified early.
With their ability to get to the heart of an organization online employee satisfaction surveys can confirm that all is well in the engine room and that there is sufficient fuel to keep it running.
There are considerable benefits to conducting online surveys, real issues can be identified and employees feel that they have a forum to express their concerns.
Although online surveys will not on their own resolve problems they do help identify the concerns of the employees and that in turn gives senior management the opportunity to fix the problems that need fixing, if people then do decide to leave the organisation they will hopefully be doing so for the right and not wrong reasons.
Although monetary concerns can often be cited as the main reason good people decide to leave a company dig a little deeper and it is often found that it is more to do with one or more of the following:-
- the workplace environment;
- a lack of fulfilment;
- limited training and feedback;
- lack of career growth;
- over work;
- lack of trust and respect with the senior management.
A well planned employer/employee communications programme that can identify the individual and common concerns of employees will give senior management the opportunity to address root problems and not just the symptoms of employee dissatisfaction, allowing them to demonstrate to their employees that they are not viewed simply as interchangeable parts that can be used for any job at hand.
Employee surveys need to be customised so they are relevant for each individual organisation. I invite you to put yourself in the place of an employee and complete the short sample employee satisfaction survey, then view the results of the satisfaction survey and just think of the benefits to management being able to measure so easily the heart beat of the organization.