HR professionals will have seen more than anyone the ongoing challenges being faced by both employers and workers as the seemingly never-ending economic crisis rolls on.
Some may be claiming that the green shoots of recovery are now visible but others are telling us to prepare for a triple dip recession.
Whatever future difficulties we may be facing, businesses need to start acting now to prevent their workers from experiencing burn out. Years of uncertainty have led to increased anxiety around job security, with workers putting in longer hours than ever.
Employees feel that they have no choice but to stick it out where they are and put up with what their boss throws at them because, at the end of the day it could be worse and they don’t want to have their head on the block if the redundancy axe starts swinging.
Obviously it’s hard for employers too but having staff working weekends and not taking holidays is a short term solution to a long term problem. Over time morale will decrease and staff will struggle to produce good work.
Workers are struggling to cope
Our latest Global Workforce Study, which surveyed 32,000 employees worldwide, reveals that more than one in three UK employees (34 per cent) say they are often affected by excessive pressure in their job.
Over half (58 per cent) said that they have been working more hours than normal over the last three years and half expect this to continue for the next three years.
This coincides with a trend for cutting workforce numbers – or at least not recruiting to replace natural wastage – leaving one in five employees (22 per cent) feeling that the amount of work they are asked to do is unreasonable with around a third (30 per cent) believing their organisation is under-resourced.
Expecting a team of three to carry out the work that used to be carried out by a team of six is an example of an unsustainable way to work. The recession has led to huge demands on workers, with only 53 per cent feeling their stress levels at work are manageable.
However, it is important to realise that they might be able to improve their situation if Human Resources help them to be more proactive and take a degree of responsibility for themselves.
They need to be aware of their own pressure points and stress triggers and be made aware of the company resources available to them such as an employee assistance programme (EAP) if there is one.
It’s also important that they feel that they can be as open, honest and communicative as possible, talking to their line manager about particular pressures, issues and workload.
Engaging staff will improve the bottom line
It is important for the employer to offer these options to their staff and encourage them to use them. It might feel like a waste of time and money to some employers, but in the long run it makes business sense.
Organisations with low employee engagement produce an average operating margin of around 10 per cent while organisations with high sustainable engagement perform nearly three times better, with operating margins of more than 27 per cent.
It is also counterproductive when workers don’t use up their full holiday allowance yet more than a quarter of us have had less planned time off over the past three years despite the increased workload. It is estimated that 6.2 million days of annual leave will be lost in the UK this year.
One in four people that don’t use their full entitlement do so due to work pressures.
Of course the other issue that employers should consider is that, for now at least, we are starting to see an improvement in the job market.
While employees have done their best to hold on to the job they have for the past five years, there could be a power-shift on the horizon as more jobs become available and workers feel they can start to look around for a role that gives them a better work-life balance.
Businesses need to consider that they could end up watching experienced talent walk out the door if things don’t change.
HR professionals must bridge the gap
This is where Human Resources staff must seize the initiative and ensure that the workforce is not at risk of burnout. We have carried out a number of studies with individual clients that show a clear relationship between wellbeing and business and HR metrics.
Businesses should act now to avoid a ‘work until you drop’ culture turning into the norm, with workers becoming increasingly unproductive, something our economy can ill-afford at the moment. The people who stay in their jobs are those who work for companies that care. The ones who will leave are the ones who feel they have been used.
Charles Fair is senior engagement and wellbeing consultant at professional services firm, Towers Watson.
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One Response
Wearer of Many Hats
We agree that many job duties are being added onto a single individual’s plate and they now wear many hats within the company. One way to help with any HR, Sales, PR, Marketing and SME positions, especially with their social media, is through training or the outsourcing of their social media networking. At the very least training or outsourcing can lighten the load of the individuals within these positions and help them not to feel overwhelmed. By a company offering an employee training, it gives that employee a boost in their willingness to stay and work through the hard times where they may feel spread thin. (http://www.lovesocialmedia.com)