The State of Employee Engagement in IT - Dissatisfactions

We now live in the Information Age and Many of today's most intriguing and significant breakthroughs are digital. (Latif, N.Z.A. and Arif, L.S.M., 2018). As a result, IT personnel are among our most valued resources. (Sun, L. and Bunchapattanasakda, C., 2019). And how can we encourage these workers to innovate? We need them to be invested and motivated at work, with a work environment that encourages employee involvement and supports the creativity needed to build our technology. (Sun, L. and Bunchapattanasakda, C., 2019).

Unfortunately, there are several areas of job dissatisfaction among IT employees.The following are the main areas of concern:

An unpleasant workplace experience: Dissatisfaction is dragging the workplace down. (Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011).

Feeling trapped: A solid 50% of non-IT employees feel their advancement and career path are apparent to them. Employees in IT, on the other hand, perceive little chance for professional progress, either because there aren't any or because they don't have management's backing to pursue them. (Tinypulse, 2019)

Unthankful work: Only a small percentage of IT personnel feel highly appreciated at work. (Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011).  Furthermore, there is a strong link between an employee's sense of worth at work and their chance of reapplying for the job. (Wang, H.J., Chen, X. and Lu, C.Q., 2020). 

Alignment with the company: Many IT personnel are unaware of their company's vision, purpose, and cultural values. Worse, some of them are aware of the firm values but disagree with them, or at least with how they are implemented. (Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011).

Connections with coworkers: Job discontent leads to poor teamwork, and some IT personnel claim they do not have solid working relationships. (Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011). 

According to (Tinypulse, 2019), a research with 5000 employees has found the presentages of dissatisfied employees in the IT industry. 

Figure 1

(Source: Tinypulse 2019)

All of these impediments prevent IT personnel from performing the best work. (Latif, N.Z.A. and Arif, L.S.M., 2018). This is bad news for everyone whose job depends on innovation, not just the IT industry.(Pongton, P. and Suntrayuth, S., 2019). Should be paying attention if the firm benefits from newer and improved technology. (Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011). 

But if the company pay attention to what these disgruntled employees are saying, can figure out what techniques the managers will need to save the employees' engagement. (Pongton, P. and Suntrayuth, S., 2019).

Unhappiness is relatively common
Happiness on the job is the cornerstone of workplace contentment. (Tinypulse, 2019). After all, job satisfaction may influence everything from work quality to job retention. In fact, others argue that happiness causes involvement rather than the other way around. (Wang, H.J., Chen, X. and Lu, C.Q., 2020). 
It shows that workers' creativity and invention are boosted when they are engaged. (Tinypulse, 2019). The computer industry cannot prosper without the innovation and enthusiasm that it requires from its employees. (Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011). 

Leadership Development Problems
Knowing where you're heading at work is one of the most important problems for employees.(Tinypulse, 2019). The largest generation in the workforce, would consider searching for a new job if they didn't have prospects for professional advancement.(Wang, H.J., Chen, X. and Lu, C.Q., 2020). 

This should cause concern among managers. (Sageer, A., Rafat, S. and Agarwal, P., 2012). How can managers expect people to be engaged and motivated if they don't know where they're going?

The similar divide applies when it comes to IT personnel perceptions of the professional development possibilities. (Sageer, A., Rafat, S. and Agarwal, P., 2012). IT personnel were consistently less likely to report that their companies supported the career explorations and that they had great prospects for progression. (Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011). 

However, There are some areas should concentrate to reduce the employee dissatisfaction in the IT industry:

Encourage professional development: Making sure the staff happy in the employment and guide where they're heading the company and managers should discuss growth with staff on a regular basis. (Bauman, C.W. and Skitka, L.J., 2012).

Create the ideal team: Before hiring someone to the company it is essential to figure out how they'll fit in with the current team. (Pongton, P. and Suntrayuth, S., 2019).  It is practical to determine the type of culture to foster and employ accordingly. (Sageer, A., Rafat, S. and Agarwal, P., 2012).

Put good feedback first: If the employee feels undervalued at work is leading to disengagement and attrition. (Sageer, A., Rafat, S. and Agarwal, P., 2012). Managers should simply talk to staff when they're doing something wrong and praise them on a daily basis. (Pongton, P. and Suntrayuth, S., 2019).

Align personnel with the mission of the company: By clearly defining the values and selecting individuals who suit with the values, company can ensure that the employees are on board with the company's larger mission. (Gregory, K., 2011.).

At the organisation I am currently working there are two reasons employees feel they are lack of opportunities for career growth. The opportunities for growth is not clear and less information and less support from managers. According to our own study, 75% of employees in the workforce would consider searching for a new job if they didn't have prospects for professional advancement. This is arisen as a leadership problem and a personal development matter as well. To overcome this problem, the top level management decided to re-allocate the existing employees and put them in separate ideal teams. Addition to that managers started to give positive feedbacks in daily basis to reduce employee stress. At the end of the day, employees started to think positively on the individual work and aligned with the company goals.

Employees' work has a direct impact on others, therefore disengagement and dissatisfaction here has a effect across the IT Industry. Leaders must make combating IT employees' workplace discontent a priority in order to promote the innovation and productivity that required to bring the employee satisfaction in to an excellent level in the IT industry.

References:

Bauman, C.W. and Skitka, L.J., 2012. Corporate social responsibility as a source of employee satisfaction. Research in organizational Behavior, 32, pp.63-86.Goldberg, D. and Zaman, N., 2018. Text analytics for employee dissatisfaction in human resources management.

Gregory, K., 2011. The importance of employee satisfaction. The Journal of the Division of Business & Information Management, 5, pp.29-37.

Latif, N.Z.A. and Arif, L.S.M., 2018. Employee engagement and employee voice. Development, 7, pp.508-515.

Pongton, P. and Suntrayuth, S., 2019. Communication satisfaction, employee engagement, job satisfaction, and job performance in higher education institutions. ABAC Journal, 39(3), pp.90-110.

Sageer, A., Rafat, S. and Agarwal, P., 2012. Identification of variables affecting employee satisfaction and their impact on the organization. IOSR Journal of business and management, 5(1), pp.32-39.

Sun, L. and Bunchapattanasakda, C., 2019. Employee engagement: A literature review. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 9(1), pp.63-80.

Tinypulse (2019). Four Big Bad Trends That Are Hitting This Workforce Hard. [online] https://www.tinypulse.com/. Available at: https://www.tinypulse.com/resources/the-state-of-employee-engagement-in-tech.

Wang, H.J., Chen, X. and Lu, C.Q., 2020. When career dissatisfaction leads to employee job crafting: The role of job social support and occupational self-efficacy. Career Development International.

Wu, L.C. and Wu, M., 2011. Employee dissatisfaction with organizational change: An Empirical study of a technology services company. African Journal of Business Management, 5(4), pp.1304-1311.

Comments

  1. Dear Pavani, Very Correct. In addition to manager role in employee engagement there is a role for employees as well to paly inside the company to achieve high employee engagement. Below points explained the role of employees in employee engagement. (Ryba, 2012).

    *Provide honest, candid, and actionable feedback about what is and isn’t working. (Ryba, 2012).
    *Brainstorm new and creative solutions that address their concerns. (Ryba, 2012).
    *Own their performance and development. (Ryba, 2012).
    *Engage in meaningful relationships with their teams and managers. (Ryba, 2012).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dulanjana, Thank you and I agree with your comment. First, it implies that effective engagement efforts necessitate political savvy and commitment from HR. This is because they necessitate a compelling business case that focuses on performance rather than just engagement, as well as an evidence-based design and execution approach. The prevalent practice of transforming HRM into a 'business partner' function looks to amplify this potential. Second, a purposeful approach to employee engagement entails HR scrutinizing the employment relationship in order to solve fundamental concerns such as employee voice, job design, and managerial agency. Wang, H.J., Chen, X. and Lu, C.Q., (2020).

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  2. Agreed Pavani, based on evidence-based research, experts agree that the costs of employee dissatisfaction are real. One place to start is by calculating turnover and its associated costs. According to Georgr, (2011) Employee dissatisfaction statistics demonstrate the critical importance of reducing disengagement, however, strategies can be implemented by each employee and leader to stem the tide of employee dissatisfaction.

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    Replies
    1. Employee engagement has become a hot topic among consulting companies and the popular business press in recent years. Employee involvement, on the other hand, has received little scholarly attention, and little is understood about its causes and repercussions. The goal of this study was to put a social exchange theory-based model of the causes and effects of job and organization engagements to the test. Sun, L. and Bunchapattanasakda, C., (2019).

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  3. Hi Pavani, as you have very correctly mentioned employee dissatisfaction has become a main pain point in many of the industries. Hence, organizations have to be more focus on this subject. As per Nankervis (2020) Ethics and values are important in all aspects of management but are especially crucial in the design
    and implementation of HR strategies, plans and processes. Equity, fairness, professionalism and
    respect for employees ensure employee satisfaction and contribute to business success.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Shiran, I agree with your comment. When it comes to IT industry, it is needed them to be invested and motivated at work, with a work environment that encourages employee involvement and supports the creativity needed to build our technology. (Sun, L. and Bunchapattanasakda, C., 2019).

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