Employee depression killing workplace productivity
Australian employees have lost their passion for the job as well as their belief in themselves and their leaders, a new survey has found.
The 2010 Global Mindset Index, released by global consultancy rogenSi, has found a dramatic erosion of motivation and a loss of mental toughness in the workplace since last year. It found that workforce passion for the job, the largest indicator of self-belief, dropped 18 percent on the previous year.
These results ring alarm bells for organisations, according to rogenSi Director and psychologist Dr Clark Perry.
“Uncertainty and nervousness across the global marketplace are now being internalised and have dramatically affected employees,” said Dr Perry.
“Following the GFC, some organisations have been operating at a frenetic pace and have become blinkered and so focused on trying to achieve outcomes or indeed just survive. The result has been much more demand on employees’ times with little or no reward or recognition for the effort,” added Dr Perry.
The survey also found that Generation Y has been most adversely affected by the GFC, recording an almost 25 percent drop in passion for the job. Young women aged 25-34 years old are also suffering, recording a 23 percent drop in passion for the job as well as a fall in self-belief and mental strength.
Leaders must take action now to avoid mass resignations or poor performance on the job, says Dr Perry.
“For females and Generation Y workers, it would appear that leaders are not doing enough to communicate the organisation’s commitment to them. In addition, they are failing to provide adequate feedback on performance and are neglecting to outline their professional progress within the organisation,” said Dr Perry.
“Disaffected team members will limit Exceptional Performance. It will also become much tougher to retain skilled and capable staff who have years of service and potential ahead of them.”
True at most workplaces. Some people unfortunately have very repetitive jobs to do, so its understandable there motivation is low.
Thankfully, the atmosphere in my workplace is the best i’ve ever experienced.
I agree with Phill, having a great team to work with makes all the difference.
Oh and the boss giving big pay raises every 6 months helps.
Dale
Great post and very sad re how many of these types of articles are around now. Recently received and read a wonderful book called: ‘Engage Me – Inspirational insights for leaders who want to engage’ (their people) by Sivia Damiano of aboutmybrain.com It seems to me that engaged employees are happier and thus more productive.
I am so glad this issue has been raised. I thought it was just me. Things have shifted and I have noticed from the proformance and attendence of staff.
I could not agree more with this post, last week I wrote a blog on the very same topic citing statistics from the Beyond Blue website. I have known there has been a problem in this area for sometime but I was not aware just how bad things really are untill I read the stats, to review my blog and the stats from the Beyond Blue website click on the link below . http://www.rumcharles.com/_blog/Rum_Charles_Blog/post/Depression_and_the_corrosive_effect_of_depression_in_the_workplace/
it seems to be a sad but true accurate description of the current corporate climate. Big business need to reward staff for theior long hours, and boost office moreale by implementing a 2hands corporate massage program.