I am not happy. The printer has still not been fixed and now my chair is broken. The problem with the company is that it is going to the dogs. The boss is okay but really doesn’t seem to have a clue as to what is really going on.
A young lad started last Wednesday, 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.
Some of us went out for a drink after work last night. 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’m going to ask for a pay rise, if Sally can get one so should I.
And on and on it goes.
When a company loses touch with their employees these are the sort of thoughts that start to play on the minds of individuals; the lack of appreciation, a broken chair, the blaming of ‘management’, even questioning the futility of what they are doing. Minor problems fester and a sceptical and critical state of mind develops. Can you be sure that it isn’t going on right now in your organisation?
Social events outside the office become nothing more than a forum for complaints and negativity grows among people who feel powerless to effect change. Dissatisfaction will often synthesise into a demand for an increase in remuneration, as though like a cheap fix more money will momentarily lessen the pain.
If ignored by management the concerns of this employee will inevitable find empathy with their colleagues own individual concerns, where the only common demand might well be a demand 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 compartmentalising people, physically through offices, cubicles and workstations 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.
Looking at an organization from the top down all the corporate garden can appear to be in full bloom as middle management either disguise or are just unaware of festering problems.
A very skewed view can be the result of relying on a limited number of indicators, just as a one eyed person finds judging distance difficult. Good management will therefore establish procedures that sample the mood throughout the organisation from different perspectives providing a rounded picture.
The benefits of establishing good, frequent and extensive communication channels are both direct and indirect.
Greater respect will be given to a senior management team that is known to have their ear to the ground and where they keep the middle management honest by knowing that middle managers can no longer shrug away the senior manager’s searching inquiry “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 saltisfaction surveys 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 speed and ease.
Surveys can be deployed in seconds by utilising the Internet and intranet, they can be completed easily by employees and the results analyzed in real-time exposing the ‘problems’ and giving early warning towards common themes of dissatisfaction.
Online employee satisfaction surveys have the ability to get to the heart of an organisation, confirm not only that the engine room is working but that there is sufficient coal in the bunker.
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 organization 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 accomplishment
- limited training and feedback;
- lack of a career path;
- over worked;
- 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. To get an idea as to how effective online surveys can be try completing the sample employee satisfaction survey, then view the results of the satisfaction questionnaire and just think of the benefits to management being able to measure so easily the heart beat of the organization.
