Is Your Team Running on Empty
The other day while I was coming through the city my gas light came on. I know how far I can push my car before it’s really out of gas and since I was unfamiliar with the area I decided to keep going. As I drove I thought, I really don’t want to have to exit and get back on the highway, I’ll just get gas by my house. As I was reaching my exit though I could feel my car working a little harder to accelerate and I worried I might not make it off the highway, let alone to the gas station. Had I pushed my car too far? Had my laziness just cost me extra time and money?
This got me thinking about how we manage our teams. Do we see that gas light coming on, people getting worn out, feeling overworked, putting in extra hours, but we decide to keep going? Are we asking them to work just a little harder because we are too lazy to hire? Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think anyone would say they’re being lazy about hiring, but that might be what it translates into.
We don’t hire yet because it’s not financially feasible. We want to finish out this quarter. We don’t have the time or capacity to train someone new right now. It’s expensive to hire. It impacts the bottom line.
But is our laziness costing us extra time and money? According to the Fourth Annual HR Trends Report by isolved 65% of employees in 2023 said they suffered burnout in the workplace and 51% (more than half) rate their workplace as fair or average. If your employee burns out that could mean that you’re being forced to replace them. Forced to find time to recruit and train a new employee (with one less person carrying the load in the meantime). Forced to bear the expense of hiring. Research by SHRM suggests that costs associated with replacing an employee can be as high as 50-60% and overall costs can range anywhere from 90-200% - that will really impact the bottom line!
It’s not just the impact to your workforce that matters though. According to an article by PR Newswire, 90% of employees say that the experience they have as an employee influences the experience they provide customers. Which means our laziness is directly impacting our bottom line, even more significantly than we might have thought.
So what can we do to try to minimize employee burnout and improve the employee experience?
Isolved found that employees know what they want to minimize burnout:
49% said provide mental health days
39% said provide resources on how to avoid the risk of burnout
35% said put a policy in place regarding responding to work after hours
27% said provide wellness resources
23% said provide tools that allow me to manage my own performance
Employees are no longer working to advance their employer or to simply earn a paycheck. Employee experience is the emphasis of 2024 and isolved’s report identified other employee needs to consider:
88% of employees now want a job they find personally fulfilling
53% of employees want their employer to provide more opportunities to develop their skills
52% of employees want a more flexible work environment
19% of employees would like improved internal communications
18% of employees want to be paid fair market value for their work
Managing the gas tank of each of our employees might seem like a daunting task but not doing so will eventually leave you stranded on the side of the road. Establishing practices and programs to develop employee skills, providing benefits your employees value, and keeping track of salary related market trends can be a lot for anyone but they are a necessary part of doing business.
Fortunately, FranPartners is here to come alongside you! Whether you’re a new business owner wanting to establish good practices from the beginning, or an existing business owner who needs to evaluate their current practices and determine where and what changes need to be made, we’re here to help. Schedule a Consultation with us today to discuss how we can help!