Recognising the Symptoms of A Dissatisfied Employee & How to Turn Things Around
Some economists approach the Great Resignation mainly as a consequence of the global pandemic. Without minimizing the effects of a public health emergency on individuals’ decision to leave jobs, we cannot allow the obvious explanation to obscure the underlying reality that it was in large part employees who were already dissatisfied with their positions that chose to leave.
Corporate culture traditionally teaches us to focus on specific behaviours without encouraging an exploration of context. Lacking nuance, organisations have in the past responded to resignations with replacement and considered the immediate problem solved. With the Great Resignation, though, companies struggle to find the talent that made that method possible and easy. Now it costs energy, time, and even reputation to respond adequately to loss of staff, which makes this point in history a critical time for companies to step back and take a broader view. Comparable to parenting advice to focus on behaviours without addressing underlying issues, corporate reaction to dissatisfied employees has traditionally failed to distinguish between fleeting behaviours and those that signify more important issues, become ingrained, and have broader, longer-lasting effects. It’s more about a quick cure than thoughtful prevention and efforts to build a healthy environment.
Managers and corporate leaders can overcome this quick-fix mentality by learning to read common clues to why their employees are dissatisfied enough to resign. Beyond standard considerations (inadequate pay, unsafe working conditions, measly benefits), employees’ decisions to stay or to go are influenced by the corporate culture in which they function. Human Resources professionals and management can help their firms as well as their employees by developing a more effective radar for dissatisfaction signals and deeper, human-centric analysis of their meaning. The common scenarios discussed below are meant to help managers train themselves to actively seek a better understanding of the people in their organisations, why they are dissatisfied, and why they leave. Communication, as always, is key.
Symptom 1. Expectations and Performance
Often, a new employee begins a job intent on making a splash, motivated partly by a desire to impress the new boss but also because she is highly motivated and inherently conscientious. She gives 150% effort, far exceeding the requirements and expectations for the position she has taken. Gradually, she may realize that her “above and beyond” performance is taken for granted. Without recognition, she may slowly back down to a more sustainable (and appropriate) 100% effort level, still easily meeting the requirements of the position. At some point, the manager and employee meet to discuss the reasons for an apparent drop-off in her productivity and contribution.
This is where the disconnect shows. Management tends to begin this conversation by questioning the employee’s commitment to the company, possibly accusing her of lacking necessary focus, and doubting her ability to progress within the company. This stance acts as the beginning of a downward spiral in which trust, motivation, and reward are on the table. On both sides, misunderstanding and expectations get tangled, with neither party satisfied and no constructive plan for nurturing a rewarding relationship between the firm and the employee going forward.
Fundamentally, the manager sees a staff member not meeting the impossibly high bar she has set for herself rather than judging her performance against the expectations communicated upon hiring or the specific job description. The employee, on the other hand, may well feel overlooked and diminished because her over-achievement has been ignored, sapping her initial level of motivation. There may also be issues with colleagues; she may be a victim of exploitative femininity; there may be external factors affecting her job. By beginning the conversation with accusations, though, the manager has blocked honest conversation regarding the root of what he sees as a problem. He does not acknowledge the employee’s performance level as a manifestation of her dissatisfaction and a clear symptom of a situation that requires further exploration.
A different framework for this conversation would be more productive. The manager must make clear that he is not accusing the employee of delivering less than she should, but rather less than she normally does (that being the enhanced performance to which he has become accustomed) and make a conscious attempt to elicit the employee’s views, challenges, and perceptions. Lacking this broader perspective, a manager may succeed through perceived threat or his conscientious employee’s sense of guilt or shame in extracting a return to above-standard performance, but the employee’s dissatisfaction, unaddressed, will continue to grow and eventually lead to resignation.
Symptom 2. Stretch Assignments
Another scenario in which clues to employee dissatisfaction are missed or misunderstood surrounds stretch assignments. The disconnect is understandable, but damaging nonetheless. On occasion, managers suggest that an employee participate in a project that is outside her normal duties and requires skills that may be new to her. In the manager’s mind this stretch assignment is considered a boost to help the employee reach the next stage in her career. He may see it as an opportunity for her to shine, potentially paving the way toward promotional opportunities, and be confused or even angered by the employee’s lack of enthusiasm toward the assignment. She hasn’t volunteered or agreed to engage in the new project. She may have expressed lukewarm appreciation for the offer but taken no action. To the manager, this is read as lack of interest in advancement, unwillingness to step up, a vague assessment of laziness, or lack of gratitude or commitment to the firm.
In actuality, her behaviour is likely a symptom of underlying dissatisfaction with her position or the organisation itself. She doesn’t feel that these extra activities are worth it, for a number of reasons. She may feel that her current performance justifies a promotion but that she’s been consistently overlooked. If she feels she has done her current job to the best of her capabilities without recognition, the prospect of additional work is not particularly appealing. She may simply not understand that the offer of a stretch assignment is itself a form of recognition and that its purpose is to take a step on the promotional path. Her response could rest upon a basic calculation of risk, reward and sacrifice. Especially for Black women in the workplace, who are most apt to be overlooked for plum assignments and promotions, a stretch assignment may just feel like exploitation: more work without additional compensation.
A better framework for managers offering or making stretch assignments would involve clear, realistic context and mindful communication. Any conversation about an additional work assignment has to make sense to the person to whom it is offered. A manager who takes the time to explain that the assignment is a way to boost an employee’s skills and visibility, with potentially increased chances of success and promotion, is much more likely to be greeted with an open mind. A manager who finds himself unable to make the context and purpose of an assignment both clear and importantly, believable, is on notice that his employee is dissatisfied. He must then act accordingly, because ignoring symptoms will only allow the disease to take hold and he risks ongoing and worsening staffing situations as dissatisfied colleagues resign.
Symptom 3. Roles and Boundaries
This clue to an employee’s dissatisfaction relates to the others we’ve discussed but is particularly challenging for many managers to identify and interpret. In this scenario, a manager is hearing from the employee’s colleagues that she is difficult to work with, overly passionate, maybe snippy or aggrieved. This atmosphere indicates a heightened need to more clearly define workplace roles and also cries out for analysis of why a certain employee feels the need to establish firmer boundaries, realizing that her behaviour may be a symptom of dissatisfaction and even part of her exit strategy.
Rather than assigning surface-level qualifiers (“team player” or “diva” or “uninspired worker”) to staff members, it’s important for managers to think critically about workers’ different reactions to the same situation. Quibbling over roles, assignments, and the division of tasks is a clue to the relative satisfaction (or lack thereof) among employees.
A focus on the behaviour distracts from the symptom. Underlying each behaviour are employee needs: for a sense of security, greater clarity, and consistent direction. In many cases, the solution to a situation is uncomfortable but not particularly difficult. When a manager overcomes the initial awkwardness and initiates honest conversations, he can begin to understand and address retention issues. Rather than watching waves of employees resign and struggling to replace them, managers who meet employees where they are, detect signals of dissatisfaction early, and attempt to gain a clearer understanding of exactly why employees are unhappy can begin to stem the tide. Not every issue will be simple to resolve, but with thought, communication, and analysis, the weaknesses in a corporate culture will become more apparent, and the work of creating a healthier workplace can begin.
