Inspire Success

Are your employees happy.....

As 2011 comes to an end it is good for everyone to look back on the year that was. As a business owner it is very important to learn from the good times during the year, the accomplishments, the growth but also to look at any difficulties and challenges faced in the last 12 months and learn from them. A critical thing to monitor and be involved in is your organisation culture and to have a think about the general “feel” within your organisation as the year ends. As we have discussed in recent newsletters a happy workforce is a productive workforce. The surveys recently completed by fivefootfour and redballoon provide interesting reading on the happiness or unhappiness of Australian employees currently.

According to the fivefootfour survey the Australian workforce is largely unhappy. The report on the Australian workforce released by fivefootfour revealed some interesting results and certainly some food for thought. They wanted to look at how happy Australian employees are in work and the key things that motivate them.

The top 5 findings were:

1. Only 54% of Australian workers are happy at work, 25% feel depressed most of the day once a week.
2. 60% of the Australian workforce is bored.
3. The three big issues behind workforce unhappiness are flexibility, creativity and the misrepresentation of Gen Y.
4. 35% of Gen Y's will be looking for a new job in the next 12 months.
5. The ideal workplace composition consists of a mix of employees motivated by the following 7 drivers:

*Flexibility and balance (27%).
*Knowledge for growth (23%).
*Ambition to progress (16%).
*Creativity and freedom (16%).
*Mentoring and learning (11%).
*Variety and momentum (4%).
*Collaboration and interaction (4%).

Workplaces stressors such as lack of work life balance and a lack of job satisfaction are taking a toll on the health and well being of Australian workers. The report also found that 25% of Australians feel ‘blue’ or depressed most of the day once a week and 49% once or twice a month; 60% of the Australian workforce is bored in their current job; and that creative thinkers are jumping ship.

Trudi Sampola, co-founder of fivefootfour, commented:- “Australian businesses need to get more flexible and start recognising the importance of understanding their employees’ values and motivations on an individual level,” says Trudi. While a flexible and engaging workplace is a priority for many employees, 78% of Australian workers want a job that allows them to think creatively.“Businesses that identify the creative thinkers within the team, and give them the opportunity to integrate this value into their role, will reap the rewards,” says Trudi. 35% of Gen Ys (who make up 23% of the Australian workforce) in the survey said that they are likely to look for a new job in the New Year.

Trudi points out the German workforce have more worklife balance and flexibility and as a result are more productive in her comments -“Germans are very clearly output focused versus placing a currency on the number of hours spent in the workplace. Australia needs to change the workplace game, less emphasis on clocking up the hours and more emphasis on getting the job done,” says Trudi.

The Insync Surveys (http://www.insyncsurveys.com.au ) and RedBalloon 2011 Dream Employers Survey (http://www.redballoon.com.au/corporate/articles/google-wins-again) attracted over 7100 responses from the general public. According to the results from this survey the top three drivers that make a Dream Employer in 2011 are:

• pay, benefits and conditions (38 per cent) - up 11 percentage points from sixth position in 2010
• work-life balance (37 per cent) - up nine percentage points from third position in 2010
• culture (36 per cent) - down three percentage points from second position in 2010

This is a shift from last year when the top motivation was brand or company reputation, dropping from 41 per cent in 2010 to 27 per cent this year.