Chapter 1
Current global workforce sentiment
Top 6 trends in the global workforce
It’s no surprise that things like the COVID-19 pandemic and current political/socio-economical events have influenced where and how people are working. As predicted, after being forced to adapt at the mercy of COVID, millions adopted the “new norms” of working and settled in more permanently.
Now, though, as recession looms and the future of work becomes increasingly unpredictable, organizations are left with workplaces that hold a lot of fear, exhaustion and tension. Here are six key trends of the state of the global workforce that paint this picture:
“Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first.” - Angela Ahrendts
Top 5 reasons why employees leave their jobs
What's causing burnout?
So, what gives? Are the repercussions of COVID-19 solely to blame? Is the burnout merely a casualty of the economic crisis? The scary truth is that all these factors have led to pandemic-era high records of exhaustion, fear and workplace malaise.
The contact center specifically is suffering, which plays a pivotal role in an organization’s overall health. In fact, 68% of businesses agree that the contact center has become the new empathy channel for customers, and 70% feel that contact center agents are dealing with more emotionally charged situations than ever before.8
The top three things that cause burnout:
Lack of manager-to-employee engagement
Lack of career development
Lack of human-to-human connection
So where do we begin cleaning up this mess?
What inspires engagement and motivation?
Why is it so important that your employees are healthy and engaged? Well, of course for the obvious reasons that you want everyone to feel good and happy going to work every day. But going even further from a wider organizational perspective, there’s evidence that engagement in the workplace is directly tied to the success of your business outcomes.
Gallup’s employee engagement survey shows that when employees are engaged, the results are:
Productivity
Customer ratings
Sales
Profitability
The million-dollar question then is:
What sparks engagement?
A wide culmination of factors make up a motivated and inspired employee, but research suggests the following all support a healthy level of engagement.
“The simple act of paying attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.” - Tom Peters
Creating a motivated and engaged workforce involves providing a sense of purpose, recognizing and appreciating an employee’s contributions, offering growth opportunities, and fostering positive relationships.
By focusing on these aspects, organizations can encourage employees to consistently claim all four of the essential statements that characterize a satisfied employee, illustrated here.10
7 - Flexjobs, “Great Resignation: Survey finds 1 in 3 are considering quitting their jobs,” flexjobs.com.
8 - CallMiner, “How to coach using AI-powered insights across your multi-generational workforce,” callminer.com.
10 - Navalent, “When people thrive in organizations,” navalent.com.
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