IES Blog

Workplace performance suffers as value decreases

Posted on March 8th, 2012 Read time: 1 minutes

As part of HR administration's role at a company, they should strive to ensure a healthy workplace environment. Increased workplace stress can lead to a host of negative results, such as poor mental and physical health and high turnover, according to a recent survey from the American Psychological Association (APA). Specifically, 93 percent of those surveyed who reported feeling valued at work said they were motivated to perform at their best on the job.

In terms of turnover, just 21 percent of valued respondents said they intend to look for a new job in the next year, compared to 50 percent of those who don't feel appreciated.

Among the stressors that can contribute to feeling devalued, low salaries ranked the highest (46 percent), followed by lack of growth opportunities (41 percent), too heavy a workload (41 percent), long hours (37 percent) and unclear job expectations (35 percent).

Jeffery Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, tells CNN that work stress and absence of job control can lead to a "host of diseases and pathologies," such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders and alcoholism, among others.

Some companies do understand the link between employee well-being and organizational performance, however, and those businesses reported a turnover rate of just 11 percent in 2011, compared to the national average of 36 percent.

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