Employees don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses and colleagues, and a toxic environment. You must have heard this a million times. But how often have you really invested much thought into it?
If not, Now Is the Time. Nothing gets to an employee as much as consistent negativity in the workplace. It affects the energy of the organisation and in the longer run, hampers performance and productivity.
As a human resource manager, there are certain things you can consider, that can safeguard your company from facing such issues.
Be conscious
A survey by Development Dimensions International indicates that most of the employees spend 10+ hours every month complaining about their managers or the top bosses.
You definitely have a problem here. This sort of negativity is toxic. It destroys productive outlook and often leads to loss of confidence and community. Take the initial step and be aware of what people are negative about.
Identify the employees concerned in the matter and talk to them whenever you sense a certain negative issue brewing under the surface. Whether it’s an organizational decision that adversely affected staff or an executive manager who seem to be hard on his team… whatever the cause, you must tackle them early. It’ll help you understand the exact problem and the degree to which the problems are impacting your workplace.
Give a sense of control
7 out of 10 employees believe that they are not given enough control as per their job role.
Trust an employee to deliver and give equal opportunity to everyone. One of the most important triggers of negativity in the workplace is a supervisor or the company making a decision about an employee’s work without their input. Any conclusion that is drawn without any input from the person who is doing the work as seen as damaging.
Avoid employees getting overworked
Overworked employees are always unproductive, unhappy and disengaged. To curb this, managers should align priorities clearly and ensure they are realistic. Motivating the team to work harder is positive, but burning them out is not.
Hear them out
Employees know more about the company than you might think. The sad part is, they feel like their employers don’t take stock of their opinion.
As an HR manger, make it possible for employees to express their opinions. Be it about work hours, salary, aids, overtime, comp offs, dress codes or working conditions, some of these factors are very impactful. Setting up different rules for these can lead to grave negative responses. Always lend them a listening ear.
Don’t indulge
If you overhear negative conversations, don’t partake in them. You can either try and re-frame the conversation or you might want to change the topic altogether. When you encourage these topics, it spreads rapidly. Tune in with something positive and steer clear of the negativity.
Channelize trust
A couple of professors from York University in Toronto and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver conducted a study involving 88 retail stores in Canada. The study showed, wherever employees felt trusted, they were more likely to rise to managers’ expectations and perform better.
Make employees feel reliable and worthy of your respect—because they are. Instead of thinking that employees must earn your trust, start trusting the employees from the time of hire.
Laud them often
Make sure to acknowledge every employee’s contribution and award them for their achievements. This creates positive impact on every employee and in turn encourages everyone to keep delivering better. Needless to say, acknowledgement and rewards are important tools companies use to uplift staff optimism.
Sans the negativity in the workplace, employees will reward you with greater dedication and a positive outlook for the organisation’s future. Let’s not forget, an employee who enjoys coming to work is a worthy investment.
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Kylee Stone
Kylee Stone supports the professional services team as a CX intern and psychology SME. She leverages her innate creativity with extensive background in psychology to support client experience and organizational functions. Kylee is completing her master’s degree in Industrial-Organizational psychology at the University of Missouri Science and Technology emphasizing in Applied workplace psychology and Statistical Methods.