Management Best Practices

The 8 Warning Signs of an Unhappy Employee

Transcript of HR Podcast #28: The 8 Warning Signs of an Unhappy Employee

Listen to the audio (7 mins, 39 secs)

 

This article focuses on 8 clues that you want to pay attention to to be aware whether your employees are unhappy.

These are 8 workplace behaviors that signify that employees may be disengaged or just not motivated and what you can do about it. Being aware of changes in behavior or performance is key as a manager if you want to stay abreast of issues and have a highly functioning team.

Some of the telltale signs include: 

  1. Submitting work late.
  2. Frequently complaining no matter how small an issue may be.
  3. Seeming to be overly sensitive when approached with a question or comment.
  4. Inappropriate use of office time or resources or spending a lot of time on non work-related websites or texting or talking on the phone.
  5. Often misses meetings or arrives late to meetings.
  6.  When at meetings they are not participating where they seem agitated or disengaged with the process.
  7. The employee may show signs of lack of productivity or the quality of their work decreases. Maybe they do not get work done in a timely fashion.
  8. Using an inordinate amount of sick or personal time.

Now it is easy to take the approach that employees who display some or all of these behaviors are not worth the investment or just maybe a bad apple but taking this approach can be a little shortsighted especially in situations where you’re dealing with a high performing employee who suddenly displays more negative behaviors.

This is where managing can be difficult because it’s your charge as a manager to not only determine what the issue may be but to take steps when it makes sense to help your employees work through the issue. Work with your employees to identify the root cause of their frustration or the root cause of the issue. It could just be that there has been an increase in workload with no relief in sight for them or maybe there’s an issue with workflow or another employee could be the root cause of a particular employee’s problem.

As much as we’d like to think that our employees are at the very minimum respecting us as managers it could be also that your management style is an issue. So do some self-assessment as part of this process. Are you a micro manager with employees who are quite capable of working well without someone looking over their shoulder? Or do your employees want some sense of direction or guidance from you so that they can perform the work that they need to do?

Both are opposite ends of the spectrum but for certain work styles when dealing with employees being a micro manager or not offering enough input could cause issues for your employees.

A big part of managing staff includes understanding how your approach impacts staff. Whether that approach encourages them to excel or leaves your employees feeling that they are being taken for granted or unappreciated.

Another thing to think about: Maybe your employees are having problems at home. And as much as we expect our staff to leave their problems at the front door when they come to work it’s not that black and white.

Not many small businesses have in-house employee assistance programs but if you do offer your employees health insurance for example. Encourage employees who are having issues outside of work to take advantage of the services provided through their health insurance.

Now it’s easy to get caught up in the meetings and the paper works that comes part and parcel with being a supervisor but don’t let that part of the job of being a manager deter you from your other responsibility which is supporting, encouraging, and motivating your staff.

Get more tips on interviewing, hiring, managing and engaging your employees. Dianne Shaddock is the President of Easy Small Business HR, Employee Hiring and Managing Tips and the author of the eGuide, “How To Supervise:  What Your Boss Never Told You Before You Took the Job“, A Step-By-Step Guide For New and Seasoned Managers.

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3 Strategies to Help Small Business Owners Address Tardiness

The office culture in any given small business is one of a kind.  Part of the romanticism, in fact, of starting a small business, or working for one, is that the constricting rules that apply in the corporate world don’t necessarily apply in the small business.  Dress code is often thrown out the window, e-mail etiquette is all but absent, and communication is frequently casual and friendly, instead of formal and rigid.

However, the lax atmosphere of many small businesses often leads its employees to get more comfortable than they should, which can be counter-productive at best, and actively harmful at worst.

One of the most common abuses of small business protocol is tardiness.  Employees think that because the office is so cool, so hip — and most important, so forgiving — they can stretch their arrival time, sometimes up to an hour.

While your small business may not run on the same clock as a large, corporate firm, you can’t afford an hour of missed work from your employees.  At the same time, you might not want to take severe action, either because it doesn’t fit with your management style, or because you haven’t ever done it before.

The important thing to remember is that just because you run a small business doesn’t mean that you can’t have rules.  It just means that you have to find a way to enforce your rules that fits in with your business culture.  Here are some tips:

1.      Have Rules.  This might seem like an unusual rule, but you’d be surprised to find out how many small businesses never even take the time to lay out rules for things like tardiness and absenteeism.  If you don’t have any rules, get with any other executive officers in your company, and decide on some.  Then make the rules known to your employees.  It’s not a sin to have rules, or to expect your employees to show up on time.  The basic fact is that most people will take advantage of the fact that there aren’t any rules, even if they’re only doing it subconsciously.

2.       Nip Behavior in the Bud.  What frequently happens in small businesses is that a manager waits until the behavior is out of control before she takes action, often too harshly considering that she never brought it up before.  When you notice an employee is late, approach them about it.  You can make it “unofficial” but stress that being late doesn’t fit in to the company’s culture.  It’s always a good strategy to balance a criticism with a compliment, so a comment on the employee’s great work as of late, followed by a light warning would be ideal.  Remember, it’s not about making someone feel guilty.  Their behavior will change or it will not.  Your job is to remind that what your work place is all about and giving them the choice to reform themselves to fit in.

3.      Take Action.  If an employee continues to be late, take disciplinary action.  The worst thing you can do is make empty threats.  If you tell an employee that her salary will be affected if the tardiness continues, cut her salary if the tardiness continues. It’s as simple as that.  Action will always speak louder than words.  So find a disciplinary model that works, and stick to it.

Learning how to manage your employees and find the right balance between trendy office culture and formality is difficult, but with time and practice, it will get a lot easier, and you’ll find that if you let your employees know the rules — and then enforce them — they will follow them.

 

Jane Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about free background checks for Backgroundcheck.org. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 @ gmail.com

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