Your team members used to put in a thorough shift and go the extra mile for the organization. Suddenly, they become cold and have a lackadaisical attitude to work. Now you observe more frequent outbursts from staff and pick up cues they don’t care anymore. The most likely cause of this behavioral change is employee frustration.
So when you notice the cynicism in the voice of your employee and frequent emotional outbursts, don’t overlook it. You need to identify the cause by interacting with employees. For some, the triggers could be a heavy workload, redundant processes, or a perceived lack of support. Those are red flags you quickly want to nip in the bud and fast too.
Employee frustration occurs when the right equipment or infrastructure needed isn’t available. This results in a drop in productivity and increases stress. Eventually, the staff becomes disconnected from the job. Other causes include a poor working environment and not being heard.
Research shows that 40 percent of employees leave their jobs because they are unhappy. But even more alarming is that 75 percent of the causes of employee turnover are preventable. Employee turnover is something every business will have to face at some point. But you can reduce it by taking proactive measures to combat employee frustrations. Here are a few tips for reducing employee frustrations.
- Set Clear Objectives
One cause of employee frustration is ineffective work processes. Many businesses have processes that take time and don’t yield the desired outcomes. Workplace process ambiguity often leaves many employees stranded and unsure of their roles. You sure don’t want your staff to be among the 50 percent who don’t know their responsibilities in the workplace.
To avoid such a scenario, you need to set clear and SMART objectives. Clear objectives allow employees to track their progress and make corrections where necessary. With SMART goals, employees know how to prioritize their tasks and increase productivity. Seeing how the objective is to improve staff performance, including employees in the goal-setting process is advisable.
Ensure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Put mechanisms in place to measure metrics and KPIs. There should also be an accountability system to ensure that staff work towards the set objectives. This way, your staff know what to do, and collaborative communication is improved.
- Encourage Teamwork
Project managers need to look to improve collaboration on the team constantly. There’s little or no sense of belonging when there’s no teamwork. Employees don’t feel supported and find it difficult to reach out to colleagues for help or insight. This leads to a growing feeling of frustration that affects the project.
First, define roles for all members to improve teamwork. Delegation reduces tension, conflict, and time-wasting. Build trust among team members through bonding activities. Also, encourage frequent and clear communication among team members.
- Encourage Collaboration
Collaboration makes problem-solving easier, from increasing productivity and preventing redundancy to eliminating working in silos. Collaboration is the magnetic force that pulls your workers’ brilliance and produces a beam of light. For you to get this level of magic, communication must be prioritized.
Most organizations have different means of communication—emails, text, ERPs, applications. Keeping up with these communication channels can be daunting with tight deadlines and a full workload, and this can cause frustration for other team members. This breach in communication slows down work processes and doesn’t take advantage of unified communication analytics.
Use an online platform like the unified communication system to improve workflows. One of the major benefits of unified communications analytics is that it improves customer experience and reduces costs. It provides insights such as engagement analytics and performance reporting. You can leverage employee strengths and encourage brainstorming sessions to improve collaboration.
- Lack of Recognition
Employee recognition gives a sense of fulfillment, increases loyalty and productivity. It is a powerful tool for motivation and can help reduce turnover. When employees feel that their contributions to the workplace aren’t recognized, they get frustrated. Project managers need to devise a means to recognize employee efforts.
Excellence always shines through irrespective of the condition. To ensure uniformity in recognizing and rewarding top performers, put it to vote. Public recognition of their work would serve as a healthy motivation for the employee and the team. Then offer incentives: flexible work schedule, monetary rewards, or holiday rewards.
Keep Your Team Happy
Employees react to frustrations differently—push through, align with the status quo, or leave. Few would push through the challenges and achieve results. Others would break down and result in mediocrity, while some would leave. Your best bet as a business owner is to reduce frustrations and turnover as much as possible. Setting clear objectives, encouraging collaboration, and recognizing staff efforts will eliminate employee frustrations.
