We’ve all heard the rumblings about how job burnout is pushing many employees to look for new jobs. But some disturbing new research indicates the problem may go deeper than people simply feeling overworked.
Bottom line: Many workers have lost trust in their employers.
That’s the over-arching message in the results of a Deloitte survey, which indicated that 34% of employees plan to look for a new job when the economy improves.
Why are they planning to leave? Almost half (48%) of those hoping to jump ship say they no longer trust the company they work for. And 46% cited a “lack of transparency” in communications from management.
Finally, 40% said they’d been treated unfairly or unethically by their employers. (For a look at the full Deloitte survey, go here.)
Overwork still big factor
In the meantime, of course, the burnout issue isn’t going away. Another survey, this one from office design firm Regus, says 40% of U.S. professionals are actually considering quitting their jobs after their summer vacation.
Among their reasons:
- lack of communication and involvement by top management — 40%
- lack of promotion despite good work results — 37%
- overwork — 34%, and
- lack of belief in their co-workers’ competence — 28%.
Communications disconnect
Not a big surprise to hear that many workers are feeling overworked and underappreciated — that’s an inevitable consequence of the kind of belt-tightening many organizations have had to go through over the past two or three years.
But losing trust in their employers? That’s a far more unsettling issue.
There’s clearly a communications disconnect here. Certainly no successful company consciously sends out the message that management can’t be trusted.
So it’s probably time to take a good hard look at the quantity and quality of the information you’re disseminating to employees on all levels.
Management may well think it’s doing an adequate job of keeping workers in the loop — and reassuring employees it’s doing all it can to make sure everybody will keep their jobs.
But in the end, perception is everything. And it sure seems that for a substantial number of employees, the message just isn’t getting through.