4Cs Blog: Happy Employees = Happy Customers

The growth of technology combined with the idea that we need to work harder to achieve more is a popular concept in the modern workplace. And, according to a study by Techtalk, 55% of US employees have admitted to checking work emails after 11pm. Research by Harvard Business Review also shows the average CEO works 62.5 hours a week - around 21.3 hours above the global baseline of 41.2 hours.

As technology makes it increasingly easy to push beyond the 9-5, Lucinda Pullinger, Global Head of HR at Instant Offices provides pointers on how US workers can recognize the difference between committed working habits and work addiction.

With smartphones, computers and apps at our fingertips, we’re able to maintain a constant connection to our work. In theory, these tools should make our workdays shorter and more efficient, but constant distractions and the inability to disconnect can lead to longer work hours and less to show for it.

According to a recent article on Vox.com, the US is experiencing a widespread worker shortage. Here’s why.

As you can see from the graphic below, there are now more jobs available in the US that there are unemployed individuals available to fill them. Add that to the skills gap and you have a perfect storm of employee risk for US companies. Keeping your current talent, then, is of critical importance in a highly competetive labor market.

Research Flash

In a recent benchmark study, U.S. employees are showing signs of frustration toward employers that could undermine corporations as the job market tightens:

• 26 percent of employees were not satisfied with the way they were managed;
  
• 17 percent felt their employer undervalued them; and
  
• 32 percent would likely not spend the rest of their career with their present company.

There is a huge disconnect between what employees believe they are doing right and how they are recognized for their contributions. Fully 72 percent of employees said they believe their company knows they are doing a good job, yet 33 percent do not feel they are given feedback on how their work contributes to the success of the organization.

Another indicator of employee disillusionment is their lack of confidence in the company they work for as a whole. Thirty-five percent of surveyed employees revealed that they would not invest their own money with their present company.

AKA What Makes American Workers Happy?

Each year since 2001 we have conducted an annual survey of the American and Canadian workforce. In total, we have collected employee satisfaction data from more than 30,000 workers across many industries. From this very large sample we run a drivers analysis to find out exactly what it is that motivates employees and leads to higher levels of job satisfaction.  Here are the results:

When it comes to employee surveys, a common question from prospective clients is ‘How often should I survey my employees?’ It used to be organizations relied on an annual employee survey to collect feedback but in our world today, big data platforms embrace micro-surveys on every topic imaginable including where bet we work. Ever since employee engagement became a buzzword, employee surveys have moved from being an annual event to a sometimes weekly and even daily event.. Do we ever get tired of surveys? You bet we do!

One of the most common questions we get at Insightlink when talking with prospective clients is: "How do you guarantee anonymity for our employees?". We have a well-defined policy for doing that and we take that responsibility very, very seriously. You might think that every company would take the anonymity of employee surveys just as seriously as we do (and trust us, employees certainly do) but recent experience would suggest otherwise. Our Operations VP just published a LinkedIN article on the topic here. It's well worth a read.

DIY survey tools have opened up a whole new world when it comes to survey technology, but the one thing they cannot do is protect a person's identity the way a 3rd party provider can. If HR and management have the keys to the survey, then they can access every response and know exactly who said what. Your employees are not stupid. They know that. And if they know that, they won't be 100% honest. 

Do yourself a favor. A 3rd party provider may cost a bit more than doing it yourself in-house, but the benefits of expertise and the critical requirement of anonymity is well worth the few extra dollars you might pay.

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