The past years have been marked by a severe upheaval in the world of work. Most companies have long since understood that offers such as fruit baskets, fitness club memberships or Friday drinks are no longer sufficient to sustainably improve the working climate. Employees are increasingly moving into the center and new concepts are being developed that are oriented toward the real needs of people.
Despite all this, HR managers are confronted with the problem that employees are dissatisfied, less willing to perform and increasingly harder to retain in the company.
We present essential starting points to strengthen employees from within and explain a key factor that can counteract this dilemma.
A look at the market
Globalization, technological change, pressure to innovate and the Corona crisis… All these factors have led to more and more modern, agile working environments emerging. Rigid processes and structures are gradually being dissolved, remote work is firmly established in many companies. In Germany, for example, the proportion of remote work offers in job advertisements has more than quadrupled since 2018.1 In addition, employees are increasingly granted personal responsibility and flexibility, which is why flexible working time models are becoming more and more the norm.
Only 15 % of employed people in this country show a high emotional attachment to their employers2 and around 55 % of Germans are dissatisfied with their workplace.3 A look at the data situation also highlights the increasing problem surrounding mental health: work absences due to mental illnesses were around 41 % higher in 2021 than ten years earlier.4
The dilemma
Why are the transformation of the world of work and the satisfaction of people in their jobs developing in opposite directions? What can HR, personnel managers and leaders do to create a good working environment for their employees, in which performing the job ideally contributes positively to overall life satisfaction and personal development?
The alarming study results do not mean that measures already taken toward a new world of work are not helping. From our conversations with HR managers, three problem areas emerge for us that may be a possible explanation for this dissatisfaction:
1. The changed mindset of people. The awareness of oneself, what I need and the resulting new demands on working conditions as well as the importance of mental health have changed. The question “How am I actually doing?” plays an increasingly important role and the answers in surveys turn out to be significantly more reflective and worse.
2. The overload with the transformation and the leadership gap. Relationships within the company are becoming more complex and the changed corporate structures are difficult for many employees to comprehend. This requires transformational leadership qualities that need to be developed. Otherwise, uncertainties, fears and unclear responsibilities promote dissatisfaction and potential for conflict within the team.
3. The home office problem. Employees find it difficult to separate private life and work and the work overload caused by the “always on” mentality leads to overload. In addition, there is the lack of real social contacts and insufficient culture building, which cause a poorer sense of belonging.
What is really needed?
From positive psychology we know that people are truly well above all through social relationships. And a system is only as good as the sum of its relationships. So it is about improving every relationship within the company: between the employees, between the managers as well as between employees and managers. And the better these relationships are, the better the system functions. Whether it is individual teams, departments or the entire company. However, this aspect is still neglected by many companies or is not practiced in the sense of promoting genuine exchange.
What can we do for this – Communication as a key factor
Genuine exchange arises through good communication. The theoretical models of Habermas and Luhmann already indicate that a system only emerges through good communication. Thus communication becomes the key factor for social relationships. However, communication is not systematically promoted in subject-specific areas. It takes place beyond the professional level, during the lunch break and in the corridors.
However, good communication does not arise on its own. In addition to establishing suitable communication platforms and formats, this topic must be actively driven forward and employees must be supported in it. Skills such as conflict competence and emotional intelligence must be promoted through targeted measures. Employees must be trained to give and receive feedback in order to make topics discussable and encourage people to enter into relationships with one another.
While others strive for wellness offers or freedoms in work design, they miss the real needs that a person carries deep within. If the focus is placed more on social relationships, a genuine basic need is fulfilled and a real competitive advantage is created.
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Quellen
1) Cf. Human Resources Manager, 2022, available at: https://www.humanresourcesmanager.de/recruiting/remote-work-das-arbeitsmodell-der-zukunft/
2) Cf. Personalwirtschaft, 2017, available at: https://www.personalwirtschaft.de/news/hr-organisation/jeder-siebte-in-deutschland-hat-innerlich-gekuendigt-101733/
3) Cf. Business Insider, 2022, available at: https://www.businessinsider.de/leben/burnout-ueber-die-haelfte-der-deutschen-will-einen-neuen-job-a/
4) Cf. DAK-Gesundheit: Psychreport, 2022, available at: https://www.dak.de/dak/bundesthemen/psychreport-2022-2533048.html#/