After the period of turmoil surrounding the recent pandemic, employees are unhappier than they’ve ever been. Their team commitment is fading. This trend may be linked to general dissatisfaction as reported by Gallup.

Gallup has been tracking satisfaction for over 10 years. The news is not especially good. Employees who say they are extremely satisfied has dropped from 28% to 18%.

The Decline in Team Satisfaction

What has caused this giant decline in satisfaction? Gallup analysts point to several causes. Let’s look at the following factors and how managers can improve the work experience.

• Changes in the workflow process
• Hybrid teams and weaker bonds
• Fear of tech-​based changes

Changes in the workflow process

During the pandemic, businesses experienced supply-​chain issues. Parts that used to be available were backordered. Prices soared. Production schedules slipped.

These problems led to employee stress and weakening team commitment. They also led to customer unhappiness. As Gallup points out, employees who work in customer-​facing roles already encounter plenty of hostility.

When details like missed shipments are added into the mix, customer-​service employees pay the price. Few people enjoy being berated on a daily basis.

What Can Managers Do?

The supply chain may have returned to “normal”, but your employees may still be operating in pandemic mode. If you have not reviewed your team members’ process in a while, ask them to document what they are doing. Then work together to find efficiencies in their process.

They may be able to consolidate tasks. Or even better, some tasks might be discontinued permanently.

Giving employees authority over establishing better workflow patterns will likely improve their team commitment. And they’ll appreciate being empowered to make decisions.

Hybrid Teams Have Led to Weaker Bonds

In the workplace setting, employees have encountered change as well. With a significant number of coworkers either sometimes or never coming into the office, team bonds have weakened. For new employees, the opportunity to connect with coworkers may never happen if they don’t meet in person.

Without the opportunity to run into each other in the break room, some remote workers may rarely connect. In this setting, the spontaneous generation of new ideas fades.

Few employees are willing to interrupt a coworker with an online chat session. They can’t be sure if that employee is working on a detailed project.

This concern partly explains why several businesses, including Amazon, have called employees back into the office.

How Can Managers Help?

Few topics stir as much passion among employees more than the return-​to-​office mandates. Some employees enjoy being in the office. Other employees will quickly leave a job if they find one that gives them the highly valued flexibility to work at home.

Managers need to understand each employee’s typical workplace behavior and what motivates them. It’s easy to think you know what’s happening with an employee based on observation. It’s far more accurate to review the results of psychometric assessments based on a platform like TeamTrait.

Having each team member take these assessments will yield important insights. With TeamTrait, you’ll also know whether an employee is matched properly to their team. Sometimes, a shift to a new manager can greatly improve team commitment.

Technology

Looming technology changes are also generating fear. The idea that AI-​based technology can do everyone’s job has employees looking over their shoulder.

Our research shows that over 9% of U.S. adults are afraid of AI. Even AI experts worry that their layoff notice may appear in their inbox at any moment.

Leaders are well aware of this issue. In our B2B BuyerSCAN survey, 28% of senior leaders noted the impact of AI, and automation, is a concern.

How Can Managers Reduce AI-​induced Anxiety?

It’s human nature to fear what we don’t understand. Managers can be proactive on the topic of AI.

Training employees on using AI as part of their work process will improve their understanding of the technology. Your organization should also create guidelines about how and when to use AI. Because the technology is rapidly changing, you can assign staff members to an AI team.

Ask them to meet regularly to track changes and keep you and coworkers up to date. With that kind of empowerment, their team commitment will improve.

The “Great Detachment,” a phrase coined by Gallup, is real. With better communication and purposeful direction, manager can guide their employees to a meaning work experience.

Photo by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels.