Employees are vital in any organisation; they can work hard to achieve the company’s shared mission, create a great company culture, and help drive success for the business.
However, they can also be a real liability. Maybe you’ve noticed that team members just aren’t going above and beyond like they used to, or that absence rates are increasing more than before. Maybe you’ve even heard whispers of the phrase ‘quiet quitting’, a new phenomenon that describes employees mentally checking out of their jobs by doing only their required tasks and nothing more. It’s not looking good for your business.
If your employees’ performance levels have fallen and you’re starting to worry, it’s time to investigate what’s going on. To diagnose the problem of employee underperformance here are some questions to ask.
Are my employees engaged?
If you’re noticing underperformance across the board, employee engagement is something to consider. According to Gallup research, engaged employees are 14% more productive, while turnover rates can be anywhere between 18% and 43% lower in businesses with highly engaged employees.
It’s clear that engagement can have a real impact on employee performance. 69% of business leaders believe that it’s difficult to improve performance without improving employee engagement, according to a study by Harvard Business Review, while more than 90% of leaders felt that engaged employees tended to perform better.
Naturally, employee engagement can be hard to measure precisely because engagement looks different for every employee. Some good ways to evaluate the level of engagement in your organisation include pulse surveys, 1-to-1 check-ins with team members, and anonymous feedback forms. If you can get to the bottom of the factors that have caused your employee engagement levels to fall you can start to address the problems and win back your workforce.
How is employee well-being?
On a related note, employee well-being may be having an impact on their performance. The past few years of pandemic and looming recession have been tumultuous; it’s no surprise that many people’s mental and physical health has taken a hit. Ill health, stress, and burnout can lead to high levels of absenteeism and lowered work performance among employees.
Even if employees are showing up to the office every day, burnout may be damaging their productivity and engagement in their work. It’s an issue that can easily fly under the radar so it’s important for employers to take the time to investigate the causes and how they can help. Whether it’s a change in workload, more paid time off, or greater mental health support available through the organisation, there are many ways that you can help improve employee well-being in your organisation. Even just making sure you have a dedicated chill-out or meditation room in your workplace can make a real difference!
Did my employees receive sufficient onboarding and training?
Poor performance in a role can often be a result of insufficient training and onboarding early in the employee’s time at your company. Only 12% of employees report that their organisation provided them with a good onboarding experience, according to Gallup, meaning that the majority of new hires may find it hard to settle into their new role and the company culture.
Similarly, a lack of effective training can damage employees’ confidence and effectiveness in their roles. If underperformance is common among new employees, even many months into the role, it may be time to re-evaluate the onboarding and training processes to improve them for the future.
Are employees being recognised and rewarded for their work?
Providing recognition for employees can have a real impact on their engagement and productivity levels as well as their likelihood of staying for a long time in your organisation. In fact, research by Gallup found that employees who do not feel adequately recognised are twice as likely to say that they will quit their job in the next year.
While compensation and bonuses are important to show employees that you value their work, recognition and praise can be equally important in motivating them to reach their top performance. The source of the praise is also something to consider: Gallup’s survey found that employees’ most memorable recognition most often came from their manager, followed by the CEO or C-suite leader.
Do my employees have a good work environment?
The physical work environment can have a real and significant impact on work performance. Even the most engaged and motivated employees can see their productivity slashed by a poor work environment, and this is especially true thanks to the rise of remote and hybrid working.
If employees have gone from working full time in the office to four days a week at home, they might not have the right equipment (ergonomic chairs, headsets) or environment (quiet, lack of interruption or distractions) to work effectively at home. In contrast, teams who worked primarily remotely for most of the pandemic and now are expected to return to the office might be struggling to adjust back to the more rigid work environment, the lack of comfort, and their coworkers bickering over the strength of the air conditioning.
Note: the temperature of your working environment is no small factor in productivity. One study of temperature on office workers found that their productivity could be increased by up to 18% by changing the temperature of their environment. This is something to consider this winter with rising energy bills meaning that remote working employees may not be able to keep their homes warm, damaging their well-being and productivity on those days they work from home.
Improvements to the work environment can have a real impact on employee performance. Therefore, employers who are worried about performance should consider whether the office environment is benefitting employees as much as possible: are they comfortable when working in the office? Do employees have everything they need when working from home? Chat with your team and ask them what they need for a better and more productive work environment.
Unlocking your employees’ potential
It’s no secret that happy and engaged employees are the most productive employees who perform well in their roles. The recent buzz around ‘quiet quitting’ and the so-called Great Resignation has led to many employers taking employee engagement and satisfaction more seriously than before. Offering a stable job with a good salary is no longer enough; employees want to feel valued, supported, and motivated in their roles. Moreover, growing research is showing that the physical environment that employees work in can have a real impact on their performance.
If you’re looking for ways to enhance performance in your organisation, why not consider moving to a new office? With the physical office environment playing a major role in employee performance, it’s important to provide your team with a great workspace to allow them to reach their full potential.
To find a new office that will reinvigorate your team and boost business performance, check out Future Squared. As office brokers specialising in flexible workspaces such as coworking spaces, managed offices, and serviced offices, Future Squared can help you find inspiring new spaces all over the UK. Visit their website to find your perfect new office today.