Busy engineers get stressed. Manufacturing facilities work to tight deadlines with a lot of people involved in meeting them. Managers fire-fight their way out of recurring problems, the root cause of which eludes them. Suspicions arise as to what's going wrong; people get blamed. Tension mounts. Scuttlebutt goes against the management, and before you know it the workplace is riddled with an atmosphere you don't want on a daily basis.
Nevertheless, "I haven't got time," is the No.1 reason why people rebuke what it would take to set things straight. But the longer a company leaves its culture to fend for itself, the more likely you are to hear it said that "nothing's going to change around here."
"It’s not surprising that this results-focused industry isn’t alone in feeling the external pressures affecting their workforce, and the importance of understanding, supporting and prioritising employees’ mental wellbeing. The need, in a post-pandemic world, to support employees with their mental health has never been stronger. Greater wellbeing means a happier, healthier and more productive workforce. The engineering industry at large has taken progressive steps towards talking more openly and making positive changes to the way mental health is approached - but there’s always more that can be done."
So says the author linked here, indicating that while decision makers are coming alive to the fact that personnel welfare is a profit-related issue, well-proportioned action is a giant step, largely yet to be taken.
Employees put on a brave face as people tend to do, but the thoughts they harbour have much more of an impact on the bottom line than the mechanised process. Operations rely wholly upon the people there to perform well - that fire you keep fighting fuels attitudinal dysfunction. With that out in the open, honesty brings clarity and the mission can take a more closely-aligned trajectory.
But first you have to reach the point of demonstrable inclusion. On working with WorldLine, Phil Cross of UE Group said, "The engagement and understanding of our business goals has increased immeasurably due in no small part to the wider team appreciating the opportunity to participate in our vision for the future."
So just how much is lost by harbouring negativity? Can we put a figure on that?
Based on findings from Assessment surveys, 4 key problems are most commonly identified; here's a ballpark estimate of costs from each of them (drawn from internet data and calculated for SMEs with an estimated £5-8m turnover & a headcount of 50 people):
Low morale is estimated to cost £1m per year for a company employing 200 people. The means by which this happens are varied, so keeping track of it is extremely hard. But some organisations have taken a punt to come up with a round Million in telling the story of larger enterprises - two examples are linked below. One quarter of this figure:
(And leaving even less room for doubt;)
Silo mentality (“that’s not my job” and role-prejudiced decision-making) typically loses 30% of annual revenue. Areas affected include housekeeping, communication, production flow, quality control, customer relations and employee retention. This article details the many ways in which silo mentality has such an expensive effect ; let's be cautious here in echoing those findings on the Net by estimating a loss of
Employee turnover: the lowest possible sum is £15,000 per person needing to be replaced based on minimum wage, including procurement, onboarding, training, development and colleague support. Most sources average each person lost at
Communication issues; In 2021 the Society of Human Resource Management estimated poor communication systems cost small businesses in the USA an average of $420,000 per year. That translates in British pounds to around:
£300,000
Total estimated cost on an annual basis;
£830,000
Let's say your company is much healthier than these cold statistics would suggest, and you're only losing half that amount. That's still £415,000 every year!
People are the lifeblood of every company, of any persuasion, while industry has a long history of draconian attitudes towards the workforce which increasingly hits profitability as times change towards people-centric priorities. In light of these findings, perhaps it would be good to have a conversation, so that you can explore how to convert the high price of negativity into profitable engagement, cost-effectively...
kathy@worldlinetraining.com is here to help you move into excellence - because she wants to see British engineering bring itself out of ancient history and do well with what it has.
Go to our Page for more articles and useful advisories on LinkedIn to help your journey progress unhindered. Can you really afford to do nothing? Do something constructive today.
#culturalintelligence #negativity #communication #change #costofdisengagement #lowmorale #silomentality #staffturnover #workingenvironment #mentalhealth
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