7 Reasons Your Employees are Unhappy and What to do About it

If all of your employees were happy all of the time, running a company would be a lot easier. Unfortunately, chances are, at least one of your employees will eventually become dissatisfied with their job and bring a bad attitude into the workplace, and it doesn’t take long for that feeling to be projected on others.

Leaders will often look for a quick fix, but it’s not that simple. The root of the problem is not always that obvious.

Why are Employees Unhappy?

1. No Growth

This is true at both the personal and the business level. If the business isn’t growing and there’s no movement or action, employees can become bored and demotivated. Employees need growth to stay engaged, and if they don’t get it, they’ll start to become disengaged and eventually leave for a more challenging role.

2. Lack Of Clarity

Do they really know what’s expected of them? If it’s not completely clear, that leads to unneeded stress and people will lose morale. Setting goals and having frequent one-on-ones to check if everything is clear and alright.

3. A Change In Leadership

Changes do not come easy. No matter if it’s a new manager, CEO, or a change in the way they interact with the others, people find it hard to adapt, especially if those changes are not justified and carefully presented.

4. Problems with Management

Management and leadership issues are one of the biggest reasons for low morale. Managers should understand how their behaviour is affecting the team, and senior managers and CEOs must realize that the pressure they put on managers will likely be transferred to the rest of the team.

5. Improper Compensation

Are you paying your employees what they are worth? Ensuring they receive a fair salary helps your employees feel valued. Do you reward hard work or do you punish mistakes? Most employees respond better to the reward rather than to the punishment, so think about your policies before you implement them. And no, it’s not always about the money. Additional perks like training, gym memberships or better health plan might help a lot more than a minor raise. Do a survey and ask questions.

6. No Recognition

Are your employees getting the recognition they deserve? Do they feel pride for their achievements and for being part of the company? Entering awards programmes and having your team compete together is often the best morale boost you can possibly have. Who knows, if your organisation has a great initiative on how to improve employee engagement, maybe you can enter and win Employee Experience Awards?

7. No Connection

Be honest now – do you think communication and connection in your company are at a high level? When was the last team building activity you’ve had? Did you conduct an anonymous survey and ask for a feedback? Sociometry is a method of measuring social relationships within a group and can provide an incredible feedback, you can find out about the “office bully” or discover a new team leader.

What to do?

Luckily, there are numerous things you can do to act before it’s too late. First of all, you should make sure you know how to handle toxic employees and deal with similar hostile environments.

Depending on the cause of the problem, your solution may lie in one of the following:

• Practice transparency
• Give recognition
• Provide training
• Offer growth
• Collect feedback
• Organize team building
• Don’t forget about the fun

If you’re not a corporation just forget about the corporate culture. They can afford to replace and train a whole new team, can you? Employee morale can mean a difference between a company’s success and a failure. Effective and experienced leaders often keep a close eye on it and enlist simple and creative approaches to strengthen it.