Money alone can't buy happy workers
Lack of feedback is why some employees are unhappy
Liang Dingzi
IT'S almost ironic that efficient Singapore should face an
increasing number of "actively disengaged" employees.
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A Gallup poll of 1,006 working Singaporeans aged 18 to 54 shows
this rising by a third, from 9 to 12 per cent last year. Most of
them are unhappy about how they are treated at work.
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The findings are not surprising, in the light of older workers
fearing premature lay-off, younger workers not staying in their
jobs and national leaders expressing concerns about falling
customer service standards.
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Many of them would change their line of work if they could turn
back the clock.
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One word provides the clue to this state of affairs pride, or the
lack of it, on the part of the worker in what he does.
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While the wage packet is a major driver in the choice of work, it
is not the only compensation, as some employers choose to believe,
that workers seek.
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Take the case of a big company that pooh-poohed the entry of a
small competitor. It believed doggedly that no sensible person
would forgo his or her compensation of better pay and attractive
perks to join a fledgling company. But its arrogance was to prove
it wrong. What's worse is that the better workers left, because
they were unhappy where they were.
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According to the poll, 44 per cent of the unhappy workers said they
had not received feedback on their performance in the past six
months, which in turn reflects an employer's lack of interest in
the performance of its workers.
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If employers want to instill pride in work, they have to recognise
the desire and capacity however limited of workers to do
better, before they can expect them to give better results. And
that means regular and timely feedback, if handled correctly, will
provide greater motivation.
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Somehow, most companies in Singapore are shy of face-to-face
appraisals, and the result is either nil feedback or an academic
exercise that benefits neither the company nor the worker.
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In its place, companies prefer a detached, closed-door, one-way
assessment enshrouded in secrecy loosely linked to a
management-driven rewards and punishment scheme.
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No worker likes to be surprised by feedback on something he had
fallen short of, too long ago for him to recall. If there were
lessons to learn from it, precious time would have been lost. Can
you then blame him for continually making the same mistake?
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Sadly, it is often in bad times that an employer scrambles to
complete backdated appraisals out of expedience to get rid of
workers. It makes the bitter pill of retrenchment much more
difficult to swallow.
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As pointed out by the poll, employees want to be treated as more
than just workers they want to be partners in the business and
feel proud that their contributions matter in its success. It's
immaterial at which level of the corporate hierarchy they
function.
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I have seen wheelchair attendants who exude pride in their work
because they earnestly believe that they are doing an important
job.
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On the other hand, some of their supervisors who earn four times
more are disgruntled because they find their bosses disinterested
in what they are doing, their efforts unappreciated.
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The absence of pride underlies the national concern of falling
customer service standards. One can be efficient, but not warm,
friendly and helpful at the same time. The task is then performed
without frills. Such cold efficiency may work well in a backroom
operation or a production line but not in a situation when we
want to impress the customer.
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Bosses should know that happy hands make light work and happy
hearts go the extra mile. Together, they excel.
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The author is a Singaporean freelance writer retired from the
aviation industry.
