New research, ‘The Deluge of Unhappy Workers’, has revealed that employees are unhappier than ever post pandemic.
The research was commissioned by Firstup, a leader in digital employee experience and shows a mounting dissatisfaction amongst workforces across the UK, US, Germany, Benelux and the Nordics, with employees feeling undervalued, uninformed, and ununified.
A lack of employer communication was cited as a key contributing factor for unhappiness, with nearly 25% of respondents agreeing that more communication from employers would result in increased productivity, and work satisfaction.
“Businesses need to do more to support their employees, to reduce attrition rates, and provide more valuable working experiences or remain responsible for the career reboot of the decade that some are calling ‘The Great Resignation of 2021’,” said Nicole Alvino, founder and CSO at Firstup.
“At Firstup, we deliver a digital employee experience (DEX) that helps companies reach, connect, and engage every worker, everywhere. This research is a clear and urgent call to action – an organisation’s employees are its most valuable asset with employee satisfaction having a direct impact on the bottom line. Business, HR and Internal Comms leaders must act now to stem this workforce dissatisfaction and engage their teams with personalised information that helps them do their best work.”
The research highlighted a number of distinct areas of concern across the 23,105 workers surveyed, with highlights including the discrepancy between the perceived value of workers’ roles within their organisations; an unstable work/life balance; and the mental health support received.
Unfortunately, those based outside of the office seem to feel these complaints most keenly, with a growing tension between desk based and deskless workers.
- 56% don’t feel valued in their role
- Only 16% felt that their employer need make no changes to improve their employee experience and help them feel more valued in work
- A mere 12% believe their organisation had sufficient boundaries in place to safeguard their work/life balance
- 38% want employers to ‘create better lines of communication between executives and employees’
- 20% want ‘company communications and messages delivered to the places I spend my work day
The data also demonstrates a clear desire for employees to feel that they contribute to the success of the organisation, with 72% saying overall business goals and strategies are important to them, but shockingly, only 18% of surveyed workers expressed that they were not sure if their colleagues would notice if they were on leave.
Deskless workers are feeling more neglected in terms of career progression and work/life balance, with research highlights including:
- 25% of respondents felt they get more attention from their employer when they are physically at the office
- Only 30% of deskless workers think that their employers listen to them
- 22% of deskless workers claimed that their employers have never asked about their thoughts or feelings towards the company, compared to 19% among desk-based workers
- 39% of desk-based workers felt that their deskless colleagues could learn from them about ‘how to communicate with colleagues and ‘how to work as a team’
- 40% indicated that deskless workers felt those in the office could learn from them to ‘to have flexibility in their day to day’. 38% responded with ‘to think on your feet’.
“Today’s organisations need to give their people the tools and bandwidth to perform their role to the best of their ability, regardless of location,” concluded Alvino. “Taking steps to identify issues and enabling workers to feel connected to the company and their colleagues through a strong digital employee experience (DEX) will pay dividends in the long term.”
