A
survey of 15,000 employees across Europe has found only 15 per cent were ‘why
not’ workers, or those willing to put extra effort into their jobs.
The
majority of workers (65 per cent) were ‘whatevers’ – employees who were
moderately interested in their jobs. But one in five were completely
uninterested, and simply going through the motions, earning themselves the
label ‘why bother’.
Although
the ‘why nots’ were highly motivated, their lack of numbers was a warning for
employers, said the report by professional services firm Towers Perrin.
Alarmingly,
60 per cent of the ‘whatevers’ were thinking of leaving their jobs, while 81
per cent of the ‘why bothers’ were considering moving on.
Matt
Nixon, a principal at Towers Perrin, said poor management was to blame for the
poor results. “The reason for this is that against the backdrop of the recent
slowdown, management has eroded its ability to get the best from people through
a lack of leadership and communication.”
The
most common reasons for the unhappy attitudes were: lack of interest and care
from management; an inability of workers to influence decision-making; senior
management failing to demonstrate its value; and a perceived lack of fairness
in determining pay levels.
Nixon
said managers had to find and focus on the elements in their workplace that
mattered most to workers.
“Otherwise,
there is a danger of staff moving to more inspiring jobs elsewhere, or perhaps
even worse, that they remain, but fail to perform as well as they could.”
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Job
recognition and having a good work-life balance were the top reasons that
workers chose a particular employer.
By
Paul Yandall
