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- 1 How a Weak Negative Culture Erodes a Firm's Competitive Advantage
- 2 The Implications of Staff Demotivation on Customer Service
- 3 The Importance of Dealing With Organizational Stress
- 4 Does Morale in the Workplace Hurt a Business?
A hostile or dysfunctional work atmosphere isn’t just difficult for employees, it also damages the company’s image, impairs employee performance and eats away at the company’s profits. This atmosphere includes everything from how much autonomy employees have to how often they’re acknowledged by their superiors, and both employees and companies suffer if a negative work atmosphere is not addressed and remedied.
Employee Morale
Low morale can “quickly build or break a company’s success,” says Marcus Erb of Great Place to Work Institute. Morale refers to overall employee satisfaction, including how employees feel about their job duties and about their relationships with colleagues and superiors. A work atmosphere filled with negativity can create a breakdown in trust and communication and inhibit the ability of employees to work together. In a workplace with low morale, employees are also less likely to take initiative or share their ideas, depriving the company of a potential source of innovation.
Employee Performance
Job performance naturally drops when employees feel disengaged or unappreciated. Absenteeism and tardiness rates go up, and employees may stop giving their best because they believe it doesn’t matter how hard they work. Angelo Kinicki of Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business says workers lose motivation when they feel a lack of control or input in decision-making or feel they don’t receive enough recognition or reinforcement. In a tense or oppressive work environment, employees may make more mistakes simply because they find it difficult to focus in an unfriendly atmosphere.
Retention
Even in a tight job market, unhappy employees will leave the organization as soon as they can, even if it sometimes means taking a lower-paying or lower-status job. It’s often the highest-performing employees who leave first because they have more opportunities and recognize they’re not getting the treatment they deserve. Research conducted by management consulting firm Gallup in 2011 shows 71 percent of American workers are not engaged in their jobs, with highly educated employees among the most likely to be dissatisfied. As a result, the organization is left with the least qualified employees and may have difficulty attracting more workers because they could be uneasy about working in such an unstable environment. High turnover also can cut into the company’s profitability due to the cost of continually training new employees.
Customer Service
The effects of a negative work environment eventually trickle down to the customer or client. In highly dysfunctional workplaces, the tension is difficult to hide, and customers quickly pick up on the fact that the employees do not like dealing with each other or that they don’t want to be at that job. This can make customers uncomfortable; if they have the choice, they may switch to a business where employees seem happy to be there. Unhappy employees also may provide worse customer service because they aren’t motivated to do their best work and may feel disengaged from their job and job duties or because they’re unconsciously taking out their frustrations on customers rather than on their co-workers.
References (2)
Choose Citation Style
Williams, Ellie. 'How Work Atmosphere Affects the Workplace.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/work-atmosphere-affects-workplace-48091.html. Accessed 30 September 2019.
Williams, Ellie. (n.d.). How Work Atmosphere Affects the Workplace. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/work-atmosphere-affects-workplace-48091.html
Williams, Ellie. 'How Work Atmosphere Affects the Workplace' accessed September 30, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/work-atmosphere-affects-workplace-48091.html
Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.
Related Articles
- 1 How a Weak Negative Culture Erodes a Firm's Competitive Advantage
- 2 The Implications of Staff Demotivation on Customer Service
- 3 The Importance of Dealing With Organizational Stress
- 4 Does Morale in the Workplace Hurt a Business?
A hostile or dysfunctional work atmosphere isn’t just difficult for employees, it also damages the company’s image, impairs employee performance and eats away at the company’s profits. This atmosphere includes everything from how much autonomy employees have to how often they’re acknowledged by their superiors, and both employees and companies suffer if a negative work atmosphere is not addressed and remedied.
Employee Morale
Low morale can “quickly build or break a company’s success,” says Marcus Erb of Great Place to Work Institute. Morale refers to overall employee satisfaction, including how employees feel about their job duties and about their relationships with colleagues and superiors. A work atmosphere filled with negativity can create a breakdown in trust and communication and inhibit the ability of employees to work together. In a workplace with low morale, employees are also less likely to take initiative or share their ideas, depriving the company of a potential source of innovation.
Employee Performance
Job performance naturally drops when employees feel disengaged or unappreciated. Absenteeism and tardiness rates go up, and employees may stop giving their best because they believe it doesn’t matter how hard they work. Angelo Kinicki of Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business says workers lose motivation when they feel a lack of control or input in decision-making or feel they don’t receive enough recognition or reinforcement. In a tense or oppressive work environment, employees may make more mistakes simply because they find it difficult to focus in an unfriendly atmosphere.
Retention
Even in a tight job market, unhappy employees will leave the organization as soon as they can, even if it sometimes means taking a lower-paying or lower-status job. It’s often the highest-performing employees who leave first because they have more opportunities and recognize they’re not getting the treatment they deserve. Research conducted by management consulting firm Gallup in 2011 shows 71 percent of American workers are not engaged in their jobs, with highly educated employees among the most likely to be dissatisfied. As a result, the organization is left with the least qualified employees and may have difficulty attracting more workers because they could be uneasy about working in such an unstable environment. High turnover also can cut into the company’s profitability due to the cost of continually training new employees.
Customer Service
The effects of a negative work environment eventually trickle down to the customer or client. In highly dysfunctional workplaces, the tension is difficult to hide, and customers quickly pick up on the fact that the employees do not like dealing with each other or that they don’t want to be at that job. This can make customers uncomfortable; if they have the choice, they may switch to a business where employees seem happy to be there. Unhappy employees also may provide worse customer service because they aren’t motivated to do their best work and may feel disengaged from their job and job duties or because they’re unconsciously taking out their frustrations on customers rather than on their co-workers.
References (2)
Choose Citation Style
Williams, Ellie. 'How Work Atmosphere Affects the Workplace.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/work-atmosphere-affects-workplace-48091.html. Accessed 30 September 2019.
Williams, Ellie. (n.d.). How Work Atmosphere Affects the Workplace. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/work-atmosphere-affects-workplace-48091.html
Williams, Ellie. 'How Work Atmosphere Affects the Workplace' accessed September 30, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/work-atmosphere-affects-workplace-48091.html
Note: Depending on which text editor you're pasting into, you might have to add the italics to the site name.