PaperDirect Blog PaperDirect Blog

It’s no secret that happy employees are also more productive employees. And while your business should have incentive and advancement policies in effect to motivate and appease workers, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. No, sooner or later, you’re bound to run into some unhappy employees.

The good news is that unhappy employees can easily be turned around if you recognize it and make an effort to work with them soon enough. The first step in turning around an unhappy worker is first to recognize the signs of one. Here’s a look at five common signs of an unhappy employee and what you can do to turn this person – and their productivity – back in a positive manner for your company:

Sign #1: Low Productivity

Perhaps the biggest tell-tale sign of an unhappy employee is a significant drop in productivity. Studies show that happy employees are more productive and, conversely, unhappy ones are not.

How to help:

Correct this lack of productivity by first learning the root of the worker’s unhappiness.Then, consider one-on-one coaching to get them back on track. Reward this employee with morale-boosting special certificates and praise as they begin to meet – or exceed – goals again.

Sign #2: Excuses

If you’re getting nothing but excuses on why a sale hasn’t closed or why an employee’s work has dropped, you’ve likely got an unhappy employee trying to save face.

How to help:

Try assigning a mentor/coach to this employee to get them back on track.

Sign #3: Impatience

A snippy, impatient employee is likely an unhappy one. while everyone can get stressed at times, make sure this isn’t happening to the same employee each month. If so, there might be a bigger problem.

How to help:

To remedy this, consider assigning this employee a new, more challenging project. A lack of patience could simply mean that an employee is frustrated with their current workload and needs a change.

Sign #4: Tardiness/Sick Days

If you have a worker that’s always late or calling in sick, it’s clear that they don’t want to be at the office.

How to help:

Be careful with this one, as there may be external factors coming into play. So if there’s a problem at home, give the employee time off to sort things out. If it’s an issue of getting to the office on time, consider allowing the worker to telecommute.

Sign #5: Disruptive to Co-Workers

One bad egg can disrupt an entire team. And if your company’s productivity is suffering due to one unhappy employee, it’s important to have a sit-down with the worker immediately to let him or her know that kind of behavior won’t be tolerated.

How to help:

Talk with them one on one. Unfortunately, not every unhappy employee can be turned around and that’s where you might have to make the difficult decision to let a person go. But if you ensure that you take the time to appreciate, reward and work with your employees throughout the course of the year, you’ll find that you’ll have much more happy ones than unhappy ones.

As a manager, you’re aware that making your employees feel valued is simply good business practice. It increases productivity, improves the workplace atmosphere, and reduces employee turnover.

While every employee would welcome a cash bonus or a promotion, these aren’t always within your power to offer, but these aren’t the only ways to show your employee that he or she is valuable. In fact, there are hundreds of creative ways to show employee appreciation. Here are 3 simple ways:

Set up a white board for “kudos”

By hanging a white board in a place where all staff members have easy access to it, you can provide public acknowledgements to staff person or entire teams. This medium also allows spontaneous praise to be offered by one team-member to another, which helps build a spirit of cooperation and unity.

Also, the white-board provides an outlet for some creative playfulness, as thank-yous and compliments can be elaborated with doodles, stars, different-colored inks, and so on.

Trumpet your praise on social media platforms

While businesses are becoming familiar with using their Facebook and Twitter accounts for purposes of marketing, they are only beginning to explore the tremendous potential of these platforms for employee recognition.

If you make a special Twitter or Facebook post to praise an employee for going above and beyond the usual duties, you will be sowing an entire field of good will. Your employee will share this post with friends and family members, and co-workers will be able to “like” or re-tweet it.

One more, your customers will see that your business has a heart, and they’ll feel good about buying your products and services.

Give a custom-made certificate

A formal award certificate, custom-printed with your employee’s name and special achievement, carries with it a unique sense of permanent recognition. PaperDirect allows you to design your certificate online using a wide selection of templates, and receive them fully printed and ready to present.

These types of certificates or awards convey a sense of serious importance, and the staff person who receives one is likely to frame it and keep it as a long-term reminder that he or she is valuable.

Investing the time to give your employees a heart-felt message of appreciation will provide you with high returns in both productivity and good will so show your appreciation today!