Work is WORK

(Excerpt from Gallup State of the Global Workforce Report 2022 – from Jon Clifton, CEO)

The False Workplace Proverb

“Find a job that you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work again in your life.” This quote is often misattributed to Mark Twain or Confucius. But regardless of where it came from, the popular adage has a different problem: It’s not true. “Work,” according to Oxford Languages, is “activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.” Exerting mental or physical effort to achieve anything is rarely done without stress, worry or even pain.”

There are always going to be times when an employee feels stressed or worried. Work is work so it’s natural. The problem is when stress and worry becomes the prevailing emotion associated with the job and the person starts to feel absolutely miserable all the time. If your staff have more reasons to go than to stay, then your bottom line is going to be affected at some stage.

Corporate Engagement

Because of a skills shortage and increasing employees’ expectations, it is now more challenging than ever for businesses to retain top talent. According to a previous Gallup report 81% of businesses agree employee turnover is a “costly problem”. Employee Engagement needs to be viewed with the same urgency as Customer Engagement. Why? Well, it just makes good business sense to look after the people that look after your customers. Businesses with engaged workers have 23% higher profits compared to businesses with miserable workers. Plus, teams with thriving workers see significantly lower absenteeism, staff turnover and accidents as well as higher customer loyalty. Because if your staff are happy then your customers probably are too. The point is wellbeing at work isn’t at odds with anyone’s agenda.

According to 2020 research 63% of companies say retaining employees is actually harder than hiring them but driving employee engagement and wellbeing doesn’t come easy – worldwide, only 21% of employees are engaged at work and only 33% are thriving. When surveyed 39% of Europeans said they felt stress for A LOT of the previous day. Europe actually has the lowest regional percentage of engaged employees at only 14%!

There is a marked difference in employee engagement levels in different regions – workers in the US seem to be more stressed on a daily basis but also happier in their jobs and more hopeful for the future, with an overall engagement rate of 33%.

It could be argued that this is purely down to expectations. Maybe employees in Europe just expect more from their employers and then feel disappointed when its not delivered? Are Europeans more aware of work life balance and wellbeing in the workplace? Do US employees expect to feel stressed and worried on a daily basis or are US employers just doing it better? Anecdotally we hear that (bigger) US companies are offering excellent salary packages and perks as well as high spec workplaces. Are we comparing our workplaces (unfairly)? It’s a difficult one to explain and probably differs by industry and even by company but asking your employees for feedback on a range of topics from their personal health and wellbeing to their feelings about their working environment will give you a better understanding of where you should focus your attention.

So what’s the answer?

Great managers are key. They help staff learn and grow, recognise their teams for doing great work, and make them truly feel cared about and in environments like this, workers thrive.

Great communication is also vital and utilising technology to communicate more effectively and drive employee engagement & wellbeing can make all the difference.  The workplace of the future is interactive and engaging – is yours?

TELL YOUR STAFF EVERYTHING

Identify YOUR pain points

• How do we greet customers and visitors?
• Are we giving staff the right information?
• How do we communicate effectively with a hybrid workforce?
• How efficiently are we using our space in terms of meeting rooms and desks?

The Stacked DaaS Model

Our DaaS model allows you to wrap your hardware, software, and support in one simple monthly payment. Help scale and modernise your digital environment without the need to pay up front.

Unique support model for our DaaS customers.

• In house support center offering immediate remote remediation for all hardware & software issues.
• On site escalation where required by in house qualified engineers.
• Hot swap out for hardware to minimise downtime.
• Enterprise level contract management and ticketing system to support our customers.
• SLA reporting and analytics to measure and deliver on service levels.

Differentiators

Working with Stacked you can expect expert consultancy along with reliable local support. We offer flexible, scalable, and secure solutions designed to support both traditional and hybrid working environments. You will also have the added advantage of working with a company that has robust, established working relationships with the worlds leading manufacturers and suppliers.

Our Digital Communications Solutions

RECEPTION

• Free standing kiosks
• Video walls
• Reception displays
• Visitor management

MEETING

• Room booking
• Interactive whiteboards
• Video conferencing
• Portable conferencing

COMMUNAL

• Hot desking
• Interactive kiosks
• Lift & learn
• Digital signage

FACILITIES

• Menu Boards
• Car park space booking
• Desk booking
• Health & safety displays

Solutions like these are not a magic fix by any means. If your employees are not engaged and morale is low there is likely to be several contributing factors. A wellbeing survey might be in order if your leadership team are struggling to identify the cause.

Communicating effectively with the right information at the right time will definitely help. Research shows that when employees know what’s expected of them and understand how their individual contributions feed into the overall company objectives, they will be more engaged and more content in the workplace.

It helps too if you have an amazing senior leadership team who know how to collaborate and inspire.

Sources:

Gallup State of the Global Workforce Report 2022