“Cancers" of the workplace – An Executive Access Survey

One hindrance that Human Resource professionals face today is the high attrition rate in the Corporate Sector. Employees at work are getting increasingly de-motivated, thus resulting in higher attrition rate in organizations. Executive Access recently concluded a survey to find out the key de-motivating factors commonly experienced by employees in their jobs .

Of the list, Emotional Discontent caused through various factors proves to be a critical concern area and has an impact on the current state of attrition in the Corporate Sector.

Politics / back biting, lack of empowerment and disregard of values top the list of de-motivators amongst employees in organizations. These findings emerged through responses of 458 respondents across verticals and at all levels in the management (top, middle, junior). The cities covered were primarily the metros - Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Bangalore.

Organizations are thriving to provide a job environment that encourages employee accomplishment. Despite all sincere efforts, de-motivation amongst employees is at its peak. If issues like back biting & politics of workplace, lack of empowerment etc. go unchecked, it will spread like cancer and prove fatal for the organizations in the long run .

The worst form of workplace cancer is politics and back biting. Since this is a major form of communication in a social or professional setting, therefore, employees engage themselves into it knowingly or unknowingly. Office politics and back biting is counter productive to the growth of an organization, especially when it is about ones’ own self or ones’ colleagues. 28% felt that it is most destructive and de-motivating in organizations.

Another important factor- Empowerment is the most sought after phenomenon by employees. Through this, the co-workers are encouraged and authorized to take initiatives and decisions in their functions. Many times the senior does not transfer or authorize control to the subordinates in the decision making process. This lack of involvement in the decision making process can be extremely discouraging for the team members, thus leading to discontent and de-motivation. In the survey, interestingly, 28% have responded to lack of empowerment as one the highest factors leading to de-motivation in organizations.

The third criterion leading to de-motivation at workplace is Disregard of values. A value is a belief of a person either for or against an issue in which they have an emotional investment.

What are our workplace values? Work place values can be categorized in the Human resources context in the following:

• Integrity
• Achievement & Accomplishment
• Financial Stability
• Personal Growth, Learning, and Self-Actualization
• Belonging/Caring
• Helping/Contributing
• Inner Harmony, Peace of Mind
• Fun

Workplace values that are close to one-self have a direct impact on the satisfaction in a job. Therefore, it is imperative to find an employer whose core values reflect your own. This was highlighted through the survey findings, wherein 22% responded to disregard of values as amongst the key de-motivating factors in a job.

Besides these, the other de-motivators at workplace are public scolding, constant supervision and disregard of ideas. These contribute to discontent amongst the employees.

“ De-motivation is the main reason why someone would want to leave a job “says Ronesh Puri, Managing Director, Executive Access. “ It is also in the company’s interest to retain its talent. If not so, then a person who is good in a job will get good offers from elsewhere. ”

To sum up, we need to ponder whether these workplace "cancers" and attrition are proportional to each other?