There’s a good chance that your employees aren’t very happy with your business’s processes, according to a just-released study from Nintex, a workflow and content automation company. And that perception could cause many of them to seek employment elsewhere.
The Relationship Between Business Processes and Employee Morale
The study, called the “Definitive Guide to America’s Most Broken Processes,” found that about a third of employees at U.S. businesses with at least 1,000 employees are looking for new jobs. And 86 percent of workers cited their employers’ broken processes as an important factor behind their decisions. Overall, 67 percent of employees believe that their employers’ broken processes prevent them from reaching their full potential.
More specifically, the types of processes that employees are likely to perceive as broken include tech troubleshooting, access to tools and documents that help with job performance, performance reviews, promotions and employee onboarding.
While those particular findings come from employees of larger businesses, it can still offer some valuable insights to small business owners. Small and large businesses alike can have broken processes. If your employees are forced to wait forever to get IT help or spend all day doing mindless busy work that doesn’t utilize their skills or advance their careers in any way, it can contribute to poor employee morale.
Nintex CEO John Burton said in a statement, “Broken processes within American enterprises like trouble contacting IT and inconsistent performance reviews are taking a serious toll on employee morale and increasingly becoming a top concern for C-suite leaders. Given the Nintex study findings, it’s clear that automating the long tail of business processes can no longer be postponed. By automating processes, business leaders can ensure a strong foundation for positively improving employee retention and productivity.”
So for businesses looking to create happy workplaces and keep their employees around long-term, fixing these processes is a must. One option is to automate where possible, instead of relying on employees to spend their own time on tedious tasks. It’s also a good idea to get input from employees to find the specific areas where they are dissatisfied.
You can find more information about Nintex’s findings in the company’s new downloadable ebook.
Photo via Shutterstock
This is one of those catch-22 situations. The process gets put in place because an employee (or multiple employees) handled a situation poorly. It’s intended to help prevent the mistake, but in the future may unintentionally cause another problem or issue. Then another process has to be created/updated. They’re like scar tissue from one person not thinking or acting appropriately.
Yes, great point. In some cases, it seems like they’ll need to be constantly updated. It might be a lot of work, but worth it if it helps you avoid these issues.
You will not know about the real needs of your employees. Even if you ask, they will not tell you. They will stay if it is in alignment with their goals to work with you. If not, they will look elsewhere.
In some cases I think asking about their needs can definitely bring about helpful insights. But you might need to dig deeper in other cases.