Unhappy employees are a problem for business owners. They’re a problem because unhappy employees are disengaged employees, meaning productivity will fall. Of course, if there are issues with your workplace, such as a toxic work environment that doesn’t encourage a healthy work life balance for staff or adds too much work and pressure on to those workers who would happily give their all to the business, reducing employee satisfaction over time – then it’s your responsibility to fix that.
But if your workplace isn’t the issue, and you simply have an unhappy employee, it’s important to do all you can to support them. Failure to do so can lead to the problem affecting other employees, leading to bigger issues for your business.
Below we’ll look at the top signs employees are falling out of love with their job so you can take appropriate action to fix your business approach and culture, or else support disgruntled employees to reduce their job dissatisfaction and improve their work quality and quality of life.
Key Signs That You Have Dissatisfied Employees
Employee engagement is the single most important factor in ensuring business success. If your employees don’t care, then your customers won’t either and you’ll struggle to generate any buzz around your business.
Below are some of the most common signs that employee dissatisfaction is on the rise at your business:
- A dip in work performance
- Poor attendance
- Running late / leaving early
- Negative attitude
- Poor engagement
- Lack of communication
- Visible signs of stress
Now, not all of these will mean that an employee is unhappy at work and is thinking of leaving. It may be that something in their personal life is affecting them at work. Either way, it’s a clear sign to you as an employer that a conversation needs to be had to check in with your employee.
Employee unhappiness can be due to personal issues, but it’s still your duty as a business leader to make them as comfortable as possible at work. A friendly conversation could be all they need to turn things around. But if it turns out they are upset with their current job and role, then you can work with them to try and turn things around.
Let’s explore each of these signs in greater depth below.
Work Performance
One of the more obvious signs that your employees are falling out of love with the work environment they find themselves in is their work performance.
Engaged employees maintain high standards whilst at work. When an individual starts to feel disconnected with their workplace, those standards start to slip, and they can slip far and fast. That could mean missing deadlines, poor quality work, or even just a lack of interest in the tasks they’ve been given.
When work performance changes for an employee, it’s best to nip the problem in the bud as quickly as possible. Pull them to the side for an informal chat and find out what’s wrong. You might be able to re-engage your employees with a simple check in.
Attendance
A key indicator of employee happiness is simply whether or not they show up. Frequent absences can be one of the key warning signs that your employee already has a foot out of the door.
It’s a given in our professional lives that sometimes we just won’t feel like going to work, but not feeling like it because it’s a Monday morning and you slept poorly is different to waking up every day and dreading going to work. Sick days are expected, but if so many are being taken that it will negatively impact their ability to get their work done, this is cause for concern.
Most workplaces will have a system in place for poor attendance, and the first step of this is usually a meeting with the employee to discuss what’s going on it. It could be for a variety of reasons, but it’s good to talk to your employees and find out what’s stopping them from attending work. It could be health, well being, money troubles, or anything else besides. The only way to find out if it’s a lack of interest in work is to ask.
Punctuality
Perhaps the employee you’re concerned about isn’t skipping work entirely, but is just always arriving late or leaving early. If their punctuality is poor, then a chat might be necessary to find out why they’re cutting their hours short, and to remind them about the hours they’re contracted to work.
Additional action might be necessary beyond this if you notice a continued pattern. This could be reduced pay or disciplinary action depending on the situation. Consult with your HR team before taking any unnecessary action, however. Your employees personal circumstances could call for a calmer approach here.
Attitude
A bad attitude could be an indicator that your employee is thinking of leaving their role. If they no longer seem to care about the work they’re doing or the people they work with, then this will show through their attitude.
A motivated employee will take everything in their stride and work hard to let those they work with see that they’re engaged and happy to be there. If an employee starts to display a negative attitude, it could be a sign that they’re no longer as happy at work as they once was.
You might not see this yourself – business leaders rarely do – but their co-workers almost certainly will, because they’ll be listening to their complaints every day. If their fellow employee mentions their poor attitude, then you should be prepared to talk to the disgruntled employee to get to the bottom of their attitude change before their negativity infects others at your workplace, too.
Engagement
What exactly is engagement? It’s a difficult thing to put your finger on, but you’ll know an engaged employee when you see one. They’ll have the following traits and display the following behaviours:
- focus on tasks
- willingness to try something new
- thirsty for knowledge and skills
- they think creatively about problems
- always someone you can rely on
- working longer hours than required (although this should be done sparingly and proper work life balance encouraged at your workplace)
Disengaged employees don’t show any interest in learning more, bettering their professional position or helping others. Team activities will be a no go, and they won’t have any interest in the company or its culture at large.
Communication
Open communication is the cornerstone of any effective business. It’s what helps you resolve issues as a team and offer support to one another during busier periods. Managers know the importance of effective communication, and this should be encouraged for all employees.
It’ll be obvious when an employee changes their communication style and is being deliberately more difficult to communicate with. Perhaps they’ll stop contributing in team meetings when they used to, or stop sitting with their coworkers on lunch. They might even sit with their headphones in at work, actively discouraging connection.
When an employee starts displaying a complete lack of interest in communicating with their team member, they could be pretty far gone in terms of engagement with their job, and a swift intervention could prove necessary if you hope to keep them around.
Stress
You should be clear as an employer about what’s normal for your employees, and if signs of stress start cropping up, you should be prepared to intervene and offer assistance. Some things you should keep an eye out for with your colleagues and employees to determine if they’re stressed include:
| Low energy | When an individual becomes stressed at work they often find themselves feeling drained and exhausted. This can impact their work performance and make them appear as though they’re running on fumes. |
| Fidgety | For some individuals, stress can make them do the exact opposite. Rather than appearing lethargic or tired, they could find themselves being unable to sit still, fidgeting, and feeling as though they have 1001 things to do. |
| Withdrawing from others | A stressed employee will typically withdraw from those around them – skipping lunch with coworkers to sit and complete additional work, or else not participating in conversations as they usually would. If an employee is becoming more withdrawn they might be stressed at work. |
| Disinterest | Disinterest can be another key sign of stress. If things that once interested the individual no longer seem to, then they may be dealing with high amounts of stress. |
| Sighing | It may seem obvious, but sighing is our body’s way of releasing some of its stress. If you notice that an employee is sighing frequently whilst carrying out their work, it’s probably a strong sign that they’re feeling the stress of their workload. |
The good thing about this sign is that stress is often as a result of the type of work your employee is being assigned or the amount. This is something you can help rectify by putting the proper training in place or else passing on their workload to other employees to support. If an employee is simply stressed at work you can usually support them through it and they’ll become a valuable member of the team once more.
How To Help Employees Re-Engage
As a business owner or member of the management team, it’s understandable that you’ll want to support your employees through this rough patch in their time with you. But it’s also important to remember that some employees simply don’t want to re-engage and are simply waiting to move on to a new role.
If you think the employee can find their spark again at your business, then it’s well worth sitting them down and having a chat about some of the signs you’ve noticed that perhaps they aren’t enjoying their role quite as much as they were before.
Sometimes all an employee needs is the opportunity to talk about the issues they’re facing. It can be intimidating for employees to talk to management on their own, but if you approach them with the opportunity, they’ll usually take it gladly.
This gives you both the opportunity to work out a way forward to keep them happy in their role.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes employees will fall out of love with their work and leave. Sometimes they’ll fall back in love with their work again with the proper support. It’s your job to offer that support and work out if your employee could return to their role happily again.
