CovSearch Blog

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 really doesn’t seem to have a clue as to what is really going on.

That new guy that started last week, who no one bothered to introduce, was given 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 here just don’t have a clue, we are haemorrhaging money through our inefficiencies and they think that sending out memo’s telling us that they are introducing new procedures for claiming expenses is going to make a difference – 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?

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. 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.

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. With effective and strong management to support this structure it can be productive, but as an organisation grows, and weak or inappropriate management infiltrates the management chain, it is perhaps inevitable that cracks will begin 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.

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. 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.

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 are the perfect mechanism for establishing effective communications between the employer and employee. Using a survey hosting service they can now be created and published with ease and speed.

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.

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.

Online surveys provide many benefits, not only do they help identified concerns, but the employees voices are heard and their views, right or wrong, have a forum.

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.

The grass will always appear greener on the other side but the underlying reasons for good people leaving an organisation are rarely purely monetary (although it is often cited as the reason) and more often 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 work;

 

 

• lack of trust and respect with their senior managers.

 

 

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 questionnaire, 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.