Job satisfaction is dropping steadily. People are reporting very high levels of frustration with their work lives. Work, for some, has become a byword for wasted time, a lack of self-worth, and stressful overexertion. So what exactly has gone wrong? This article takes a look at some of the main reasons for workplace satisfaction. Workplaces need to think strategically about how to foster a supportive, productive, and enjoyable environment. If they don’t, they could hemorrhage their most talented staff members.
They Are Not Paid Enough
For most people, pay steadily rises as the years progress, but it by no means goes up by enough. Inflation causes pay to take a real-world drop in many cases, even if the numbers look bigger. Put your wage through the Office For National Statistics’ inflation calculator. The chances are that you are paid slightly less than you think you are in relative terms.
Employers need to be more proactive when they budget for wages. Thinking in the long term, it is typically a worthwhile endeavor to make less profit whilst keeping workers happy in their roles. Unhappy employees will lead to huge headaches in the future.
They Have Long Commutes
Ah, the rat race. If you live in the city, you might come to dread the morning. Long commutes can really take it out of a worker before they even step through the office doors and load up their computers. People are commuting further and further in order to get to work. Research has suggested that the perceived gains that come from traveling to a more senior place of work are far outweighed by the negative impact that a long and stressful journey can have on a person’s life.
They Are Not Trained Properly
If an employee has not received proper training, then work can become immensely frustrating and stressful. If an employee feels lost at sea – like they have to improvise and struggle their way through their assigned work – something has gone terribly wrong.
Companies like thinqi.com have started to make giving good training a little bit easier for employers. There really is no excuse for undertraining staff! Modern training platforms allow employers to develop efficient and genuinely useful training plans and receive all sorts of feedback from their employees.
They Hate Their Boss
Research has shown that people tend to leave their boss, not their job. Nothing turns people away from a job like an overbearing, annoying or condescending manager or director. Bosses need to train themselves to really empathize with the myriad issues that their employees face. Imagine working all day with a person that doesn’t listen to you, talks down to you, or bullies you. No amount of money would be worth that. Personal enjoyment of a job is largely dependent upon the interpersonal relationships encountered at work. Managers and directors are, naturally, dominating figures in the interpersonal lives of employees. If a boss is bad, the job is bad – it is as simple as that.