20 Signs of an Unhappy Workforce

Interesting post in the ASSIEM blog of 20 signs that signal unhappy workers. I wouldn’t take the list at face value (see my reply to that post below) but it sure is a good starting point for looking at your organization.

• Increase in conflict amongst team members
• Increase in conflict between manager and employees
• Rudeness or unruliness
• Lack of enthusiasm
• Lack of engagement
• De-motivation
• Avoidance of work and/or making decisions
• Emotional distress
• Disorganised work environment
• Decreased productivity
• Not reaching expected targets or project/task delays
• Customer complaints
• Manager morale is low
• Bullying (whether obvious or subtle) – between employees or manager to employee
• Complaints about boredom
• Constantly working through lunch or long hours in the office
• Gossip and grapevine discussions re redundancy, reduced hours, lack of promotion/remuneration etc
• Communication shut down towards the manager
• Negative attitude to new projects or any change required of them
• Increased staff turnover

Here was my reply to that post:

Thanks for a fine list of things to consider. But I do hope that your readers don’t assume that the presence of any of of these items signals unhappy workers. I am quite happy (I work for myself) but I am wildly disorganized and postpone some decisions. You could argue that I am not as organized as I would like, but I am happy and pretty productive. (i.e. in business since 1978, had a few books published, and clients still call me.) Nevertheless, I think the list is well worth our attention. Any one of the items could be the tip of a very big iceberg.

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