Employers are struggling to motivate employees because of a lack of resources, recognition and direction from senior colleagues, suggests research.
Inefficient communication is also a factor in holding people back, suggests the report from software company Mindjet. More than half of British office workers care about their employer succeeding in 2013, but only 49 per cent take their own role in this success seriously. And although a third (33 per cent) think they need to change their everyday working practices to be more successful, 24 per cent say they “haven’t got round to it” and 19 per cent feel too demotivated to succeed, finds the survey of 2,000 UK office workers.
A quarter of workers feel that their efforts are not being sufficiently recognised. Some feel they have to flag up any work they do so colleagues realise they are busy, or stay late at work regardless of workload. More than a quarter (27 per cent) report feeling stressed working in such conditions.
Line managers are also struggling to bridge the gap between wanting to do well and having the motivation to do so. Just under a third (30 per cent) say their team needs to improve, but that they’re struggling to motivate them.
Reaching targets was low on the list of feelgood factors at work, according to a separate survey (see News, page 12).
David Megginson, emeritus professor of HRD from Sheffield Business School, will be delivering a keynote on goals in coaching at Coaching at Work’s annual conference on 2 July.
Coaching at Work, volume 8, issue 2