Like me, you have
been in a workforce of some description for some years or maybe you are a
relative new comer to the world of work. A modern factory, a modern office environment
or a shambles of a building or office that you diligently attend every day.
From an early age,
I have had a fascination about human behavior and how it all works and why we
do what we do and behave the way we behave. And today , my role is meeting with
senior people in all sorts of businesses big and small and I am rather dismayed
at what is published in terms of how we generally treat people in workplaces
and what the workforce is saying about how they feel in their workplaces.
On one hand I want
to believe that senior people and actual business owners would surely want
their workforce to thrive . Would want
their people to be physically well, to be forthcoming with their creativity,
with their energy and ideas. I
desparately want to believe that the vast vast numbers of senior people would
want all of this and more for their people.
On the other hand,
I cannot but despair at what the research and statistics actually report.
When you look at
the extraordinary research carried out by firms
like the Gallup Corporation – who have been painstakingly measuring what
is actually going on within workforces for decades – you cannot but wonder what
a sorry state of affairs we have.
Only today I was
reading another lot of evidence that points us toward a sorry state of affairs.
Ok, there were
only 1,000 US workers polled but still it revealed that :-
- Employee's Feel Discouraged: More than half (54%) of employees have felt frustrated about work.
- Manager/Employee Relationships Need Improvement: Only 38% strongly agree that their manager has established an effective working relationship with them.
- People Don't Understand Strategic Direction: 40% say they don't get the company's vision or have never seen it.
- Innovation Is Being Stymied: Nearly 67% of American workers can name at least one thing that would prevent them from taking any kind of risk at work.
- Big Picture Contributions Missing: Only 43% of workers say they feel accountable for the company's revenue, profit, or growth.
- Not Leading by Example: Just 26% of workers strongly agree that managers embody the values they expect from their employees, only 39% say their manager understands his/her role at the company, and 40% strongly feel their managers understand their company's strategy or goals.
- Collaboration Across Teams Is Tough: Just 27% strongly feel they can depend on outsiders to fulfill their duties when working with other groups.
- Training Isn't Relevant: 26% report they don't have any training available to them right now, and the 62% that do have training available believe it is either somewhat or not at all applicable to their jobs.
How do these findings impact on you ?
For me ?
I need to do something about it.
Thank you Ray Jacobs for submitting this article. To get in touch with Ray please contact him through the following mediums:
- ray@rayjacobstraining.com
- Phone: +971-(0)55 460 0708
