As was mentioned in the first half of this article, driving employee happiness and job satisfaction is the cornerstone of any employee retention strategy, and the best way to learn about employees’ needs is by listening to their complaints. So, expanding from the previous list of most common employee grievances, here are the final five most frequently cited problems voiced by employees and compiled by executive search firms.
- Human Resources Lack of Responsiveness
To many employees a company’s human resources department is viewed as the decision making branch of an organization as far as a company’s employee policies are concerned. Unfortunately, far too often, many HR departments fall short of these expectations and fail to meet the needs of the employees, an issue that will need to be remedied if employee retention efforts are to be successful.
Too Much Playing Favorites
Returning to the subject of equitable employee treatment, the perception of favoritism is a major issue for many employees who feel that they are being underappreciated and overlooked as a result of their management picking favorites. In order to be truly effective managers need to take the time to show equal attention and become equally acquainted with each and every one of their employees.
- Poor Communication
All too often employees complain that their managers fail to share information with them effectively and do not provide ample opportunity for the employees to communicate with management. Key to employee satisfaction and providing them with a sense of value to the organization is to provide them with the ability to openly communicate with their managers and provide feedback as a part of the company’s decision making process.
- Overburdening
Managers often try to get as much work out of their employees as possible, to the extent that they wind up piling on to much work, driving up stress until employees can no longer take it and will bolt for the next best position they can find. While providing employees with enough varied work to keep them stimulated is a good thing, pushing this too far becomes a problem. Also, managers need to be as clear as possible when it comes to communicating these responsibilities to their employees, as giving an individual various duties to perform can often lead to confusion regarding their priorities and specific job function.
- Unfriendly Environment
Finally, companies need to give more consideration to the physical environment in which their employees are working. Contrary to what many may believe, a stark, utilitarian working environment may not be what is called for in the workplace. Instead, managers should provide their employees with a clean, comfortable environment that is both functional while at the same time providing an inviting atmosphere to which employees will not dread coming. Conducting executive search and hiring procedures are a necessary hassle from time to time. However, through the simple act of listening to the needs of a company’s employees and doing what is necessary to assuage any complaints and raise job satisfaction, organizations can make major improvements in their employee retention efforts, drastically cutting down on the time spent trying to find new employees and ultimately improving the health and longevity of the company.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
