Importance of Job Satisfaction for Employees
Job satisfaction is the chosen topic for this essay. The topic really matters to employees as well as to employers. Employees are concerned with it because they at some pointy of timer look to settle down with the job. Employees at the maturity level probably after 32 years of age think of a job where they are satisfied with everything they have from pay scale to work environment and the work-life balance. Job satisfaction is also important for employers as this ensure reduced employee turnover and the cost of production. Yes, when employees are not happy they consider switching over to another job and keep on doing this until they attain the maturity level. Cost of production gets hamper because an incrementing employee turnover results in the needs for fresh recruitments. A fresh recruitment involves cost expenditure from advertising the job opening to recruiting the applicants and providing training to selected professionals (Hunsaker et al., 2015). Considering the scenario highlighted so far, the workplace situation in Australia is a matter of concern. With approximately around 50% on a rough note unsatisfied with their job is not but a danger alarm for the employment situation in Australia (Dawson et al., 2014). There can be many reasons for the fact; however, the study focuses just on the “Mental Health Issues” in Australian employees.
Mental health issues- how does it happen and what are all the causes of it, is of primary importance in this study. The consequence of mental health issues is the secondary concern for the current research. Mental illness can be due to various reasons like domestic violence, racist activities at the workplace or in any social gathering place, work pressure, anxiety and others (Fu & Deshpande, 2014). Work pressure is not always bad. Employees actually enjoy it if they have supportive managers, work-life balance and of course a handsome pay scale. However, if one of three or the entire factors is missing then work pressure can be a real burden (Fu & Deshpande, 2014). Racism can be another good reason for employee turnover considering a fact that Australia is a racism prone country. Australia is a country of diverse culture which itself has a historical background behind it. Post World War II, the country had needed to increase its population. Since then, lots of immigrants and refugees have entered this country (Grigg & Manderson, 2015). The indigenous people of Australia may be carrying a feeling of unacceptability for the immigrants. Hence, this may be one of the reasons for racism. Racism if not being handled properly can effectively generate a negative perception of the place is not an ideal for those who face racism. It is nothing but a mental torture (Grigg & Manderson, 2015). Domestic violence is another serious reason for mental illness. A person reaching to the office while carrying something very bad happened at their home may or may not be able to concentrate on work. If such thing happens on a frequent basis then they may be at problems (Deery & Jago, 2015).
Importance of Job Satisfaction for Employers
Anxiety is the other highlighted reason for mental health issues. It speaks of a state where the affected person seems to be hampering the positivity in them. Positivity is an essential character of employee that helps them through unexpected and the odd situations (Rushton et al., 2015). They get surrounded by an ample list of issues when they lack in being positive. Job insecurity is a common symptom of such ailment. The affected person feels like that their job is not secured and can be lost at any point in time. In addition, getting another job is another challenge that they face. They are haunted by a sense of nervousness which does not only hamper their production but, also affect the overall team performance (Rushton et al., 2015). Anxiety does not end here but it is being carried further once they fail to sustain their existing job. Once, they fall across such circumstances they seem to be carrying this further with their every new opportunity. After successive failures, they get haunted by a negative frame of mind which is nothing but the mental illness (Karin Andreassi et al., 2014).
The consequences of mental health issues can be very bad for both employees and the employers. Employees carrying mental health issues tend to have reduced concentration during the job hours. This is threatening for their individual performance as they lose their ability to finish up the task within the assigned deadlines. This also affects the team performance. The overall team production gets hampered. The lasting impact is on employers that may not be able to fill up the gaps created by such performance flaws (Albrecht et al., 2015). Consequently, affected employees may be under screening for performance improvement. If nothing has improved then they may be asked to look for some other option. This just looks a very simple line; however, it is really troubling for the affected employees. A suspension from service with the existing employer may or may not be a worrying factor considering the scenario for it. However, those who really have concerns about their existing job and were also looking to get settled with the job, they may be at serious threats. They may get demoralized and find this difficult to get rid of that. Their inability to get rid of the nervous feeling may be reflected while during the interviews in future (Haar et al., 2014).
Mental Health Issues and Their Causes in the Workplace
Mental health issues if not at all serious like the previous example then at the minimum, this may have an impact on their personal life. They may not feel afresh while returning back to home. Possible causes could be the feedback session with managers, approachability issue being complained from the supervisors and a lack of team spirit (Adriaenssens, De Gucht & Maes, 2015). All three factors are threatening for a prosperous career. Consequently, absenteeism is expected to be high. This may soon give place to separation from service. Hence, employee turnover rate will be high. This is problematic for the affected employees and also for the employers. An incrementing employee turnover means opening doors for recruitment of fresh talents. Hence, a complete cycle of recruitment process consisting of every essential element of it will then be needed to consider. Essential elements include but are not limited to like advertisement of job vacancies in different resources, recruiting expenses and expenses on training (Elnaga & Imran, 2014).
The discussions on the causes of mental illness and its consequences conclude that employee retention will be a key to the betterment of employees and the employers. Managerial position considering the circumstances is a key to revival from incrementing mental illness and the consequent employee turnover. Preventive measures may or may not be feasible for every organization or the managers. The implementation of preventive measures is feasible only with employee retention policy being implemented in the system. If employee retention policy is not implemented or it lacks a support of capable preventive measures then manager’s roles can be tested. Such management may lack at every stage and also struggle to retain its employees (Lu C. et al., 2014). Management that has retention policies implemented in the system may find the recommended preventive measures as effective options. However, preventive measures alone cannot do the repair but, utter contributions from employees will also be of immense importance. Awareness is the only possibilities which managers can make to happen.
Regardless of the organizational size, the first and foremost step will be to communicate the harmfulness or consequences of mental illness at the organizational level. The awareness program needs to be planned prior to implementing it on the organizational system. The planning will include the elements which will be communicated through plans. The human resource management (HRM) will design the best effective program structure to ensure a higher involvement rate (Fu & Deshpande, 2014). The mental health awareness will be delivered through the training program to the managers. Trained managers can only become the effective counselors. The training will primarily focus on changing the manager’s attitudes. Until and unless managers do not feel the importance of educating employees about mental illness, things will not happen. Post training, managers will be monitored to inspect whether they are implementing the awareness program. This can be done through the survey process. The survey will be conducted with employees. They will be asked relevant questions regarding the mental illness. Their responses will help to gather data which will help to analyze how much the training is successful. Additionally, absenteeism report can also be a good resource to understand the improvement if there is any. Necessary amendments in policies covering the range of medical ailments or workplace accidents can be an effective move provided that, mental illness is given the equal priority than the other medical ailments (Hunsaker et al., 2015).
Consequences of Mental Health Issues for Employees and Employers
Managers can also behave responsibly and take an attempt to control the rising cases of mental health issues. Implementation of “Wellness Recovery Action Plans” can also be an important move in regards to employee’s return to the workplace. Employees suffering from mental health issues can be made to realize that their welfare is equally important to their return to work (Deery & Jago, 2015). Establishing a two-way communication between the managers and the employees will also be helpful. Sometimes communication gaps do the damage. Managers should be in regular communication with employees, so that, their views on the job and the management can be understood. Regular meetings should be a good way to such meetings. Employees should be given full freedom to speak about their perception of the management. Managers should also give them proper responses, so that, they feel valued to be a part of such meetings. Any shortcomings of management should be accepted courteously. Employees should be made assured that escalated issue will be taken into serious consideration and necessary damage will be done within a given deadline (Albrecht et al., 2015).
Therefore, the Australia workplace is reported to have a close to 50% unsatisfied employees. Employees are giving up and moving to other options. Most of them are opting to survive with the existing employer due to various personal reasons. Mental illness has become a common challenge for such employees. Consequently, they are unsatisfied with their job and also losing up in confidence due to the mental illness. They are becoming nervous and are not sure of sustaining the existing job. They are not even sure of getting other opportunities as they fear to sit in interviews. They develop negativity in their approach and hence, not being able to hold their nerves during the interview times. It now depends more on managers how they take up this challenge. A lot of initiatives have been recommended in this study. The managers should courteously consider the suggestions and do the needful, so that, employee turnover could be reduced and employee wellbeing could be enhanced.
References:
Adriaenssens, J., De Gucht, V., & Maes, S. (2015). Causes and consequences of occupational stress in emergency nurses, a longitudinal study. Journal of Nursing Management, 23(3), 346-358.
Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015). Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), 7-35.
Dawson, A. J., Stasa, H., Roche, M. A., Homer, C. S., & Duffield, C. (2014). Nursing churn and turnover in Australian hospitals: nurses perceptions and suggestions for supportive strategies. BMC nursing, 13(1), 11-28.
Deery, M., & Jago, L. (2015). Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), 453-472.
Elnaga, A. A., & Imran, A. (2014). The impact of employee empowerment on job satisfaction theoretical study. American Journal of Research Communication, 2(1), 13-26.
Fu, W., & Deshpande, S. P. (2014). The impact of caring climate, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on job performance of employees in a China’s insurance company. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(2), 339-349.
Grigg, K., & Manderson, L. (2015). “Just a Joke”: Young Australian understandings of racism. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 47, 195-208.
Haar, J. M., Russo, M., Suñe, A., & Ollier-Malaterre, A. (2014). Outcomes of work–life balance on job satisfaction, life satisfaction and mental health: A study across seven cultures. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 85(3), 361-373.
Lu, C. Q., Wang, H. J., Lu, J. J., Du, D. Y., & Bakker, A. B. (2014). Does work engagement increase person–job fit? The role of job crafting and job insecurity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84(2), 142-152.
Rushton, C. H., Batcheller, J., Schroeder, K., & Donohue, P. (2015). Burnout and resilience among nurses practicing in high-intensity settings. American Journal of Critical Care, 24(5), 412-420
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