Why do people hate work?

The way we work now will not work. Even if you are fortunate enough to get a job, it may not be exciting to go to the office in the morning, because you do not feel valued in the office and you find it difficult to accomplish the most important job in the office with all kinds of distractions Do not think you are doing something different. When you get home, it feels almost exhausted, but you still need to reply to the email until you go to bed.

This feeling is more and more common, not just for mid-level managers, but also for business executives.

Luke Kissam is chief executive of a multibillion-dollar chemical company. "I feel like I'm always dragged to another thing no matter what I do," he said. "It looks like I'm always in a circle - my company, my family, myself. I can not really Go and focus on what's going on.

Kissam is not a case. A report released by Gallup in 2013 shows that only 30% of employees in the United States feel invested in their work. And in nearly 142 countries worldwide, only 13% of workers feel committed to their jobs. In short, work is a bothering, discouraging experience for most of us, and in a sense this situation is getting worse.

The need for work time for people is constantly outgrowing our ability to consume our energy, which is what we need to be able to exert our skills and talents in our lives. The intensified competition, tendentious workforce in the latter part of the economic recovery have further aggravated the pressure. The rise of digital technology may be the biggest factor, and we are exposed to an unprecedented flood of information, forcing everyone to read the news, regardless of day and night to respond.

In collaboration with the Harvard Business Review, I conducted a survey last fall to understand how and when the most influential people are spending their time at work, covering a range of white-collar employees in different companies and industries, More than 12,000 people interviewed. In addition, we surveyed a manufacturing company with 6,000 employees and a financial company with 2,500 employees. The findings of the three groups are strikingly similar.

The results show that employee satisfaction and productivity are among the highest when the four core needs of employees are met: physical, that is, having the opportunity to recover or recharge at work; emotionally That is, to feel the value of their contribution is recognized, psychologically, that is, to have the opportunity to focus on their most important work and to decide on their own when and where to complete their work; mentally, that is, Do more of what they do best and enjoy most, and at the same time feel that their work is for a nobler purpose.

The more efficient leaders and businesses support their employees in these core needs, the more committed employees are to work, the higher their loyalty, job satisfaction, and positive energy at work, while the employee's The lower the pressure level. When an employee has a need to be met, all of the work performance indicators increase as compared to employees whose needs have not been met. The more demand is met, the better.

Job involvement - There are also a variety of other definitions of "engagement, contribution, passion, passion, focus on effectiveness and energy" - nowadays it has been widely calculated using company performance. In a meta-analysis done in 2012 by 263 research institutes in 192 countries, Gallup found that employees in the top ten rankings, with companies in the top quartile and those in the bottom quartile Compared to 22% above profitability, 10% higher customer satisfaction, 28% less security guards and 48% less security incidents.

A 2012 workforce study of 32,000 by Towers Watson, a consultancy, showed that the traditional definition of job involvement - the idea that employees voluntarily make extra work-is no longer able to meet the highest level of performance requirements. The results show that willingness does not amount to ensuring that it is achievable. In simple terms, the feelings of people at work profoundly affect their work effectiveness. Our findings show exactly what impact the company has on employees' core needs.

Rest: Employees who take a break every 90 minutes increase their level of concentration by 30% compared to those who do not rest at all or only take a day off. In addition, compared with the latter, the former has 50% higher ability of creative thinking and 46% higher health and happiness. For more than forty hours, the longer people work - the more sustained the job - the worse they feel and the more they become less engaged. In contrast, almost 100% of the sense of engagement brought about by the boss's request to rest restores the likelihood of the employee staying with a company and double the health and wellbeing of the employee.

Value: Feeling the impact that getting a boss's attention has on one employee has a significant impact, and none of the other bosses' behaviors give them more trust and sense of security. Those who think their boss supports them are 1.3 times more likely to stay with one company than others and 67% more than their peers.

Focus: Only 20% of respondents think they can focus on one job at the same time at work, and those who can do it are more than 50% more engaged. Similarly, only one-third of respondents said they can effectively arrange the order of work, but those who can do that are able to focus on one job at a time that is 1.6 times more effective.

Goals: The number of employees who will seek meaning out of their work is more than three times the number of employees who may choose to stay in the company - and this is the most dramatic contrast among all the indicators in this survey. The job satisfaction of this part of the employees is 1.7 times higher than that of the previous job, and the work input is 1.4 times higher.

We often ask experienced leaders a simple question: If your employees feel more energetic, more valuable, focused, and determined, will their performance be better? The answers are almost always "yes, This is not surprising. Then we ask, "So how much do you invest in meeting their needs?" Then it's usually an awkward silence.

How do we explain this weird absence?

The most obvious answer is that systematic investment in employees, aside from paying them salaries, does not seem to be necessary, and until recently has been. For a long time, employees were meeting their job requirements, so employers also did not have the pressure to deal with the complex needs of their employees. However, employers are constantly aware that the constant pressure of increasing job demands, largely due to the proliferation of digital technologies, really has to be seriously addressed.

However, the power of inertia is still the biggest obstacle to meeting employee needs. A few years ago, I had a trial with 150 accountants at the busiest tax filing period in their firm. From historical experience, the working hours of employees during this time are very long and compared and evaluated based on the hours of their work.

Conscious of the value of intermittent rest, we persuaded the firm to allow an ancestral accountant to work in different ways - for a 10 to 15 minute break during a highly focused and undisturbed 90-minute period, and at An hour-long rest in the late afternoon is often the most frustrating part of the staff. The test team's employees are also allowed to get off work immediately after a certain amount of work has been done.

With more focused attention, these employees did more work over time, worked out earlier in the evening than other colleagues and had a lower overall stress index throughout the busy tax filing season . The error rate is much lower than the others. Executives were informed of the results of the trial, but the accounting firm did not eventually make any changes to the system. "We just do not know what other ways we can do to evaluate their work, except for working hours," one executive said to me. Recently, we received the firm's call. "Can you come again?" One partner said. "Our people are nearly killed by the tax season."

Part of the challenge employers face is trust. For example, our research shows that employees have a deep desire to be flexible about their place of work and time - investing even more when employees have more choices. But many employers fear that employees will not get out of their sight once they have left their eyes - ironically, this idea has also led to employees' distrust of employers and a negative impact on job involvement.

A truly people-centric company puts employees first-and even above the customer-because they realize that employees are the key to long-term value creation.

Pain is a very effective driver. Often, companies that seek help often lose their most valuable employees, or are CEOs aware that they are exhausted or that a young, rising executive suddenly dies of a heart attack - the past six months We have heard that this kind of thing has been more than six or seven times.

In a data-driven world, the most persuasive point about change is the constant fact that those employees need to meet demand in exchange for their productivity, loyalty and performance. The easiest way for a company to meet this challenge is to ask a basic question: "How can my staff be more energetic, feel better treated, feel more focused and more inspired?" Sometimes it's complete No cost, for example, to force any meeting for no more than 90 minutes, or to set a limit on the time employees reply to e-mail. Other simple measures, such as providing fitness equipment or a sleeping room, provide healthy, high-quality food for free (or at a discounted price) just as many Silicon Valley technology companies do. Sleeping room, providing healthy, high quality free

Public recognition of rewards can also be very rewarding for those leaders and managers who show compassion, caring and humanitarianism, especially uncontrollable out-of-control anger or other self-descent identity. Uncontrolled emotions may bring results in the short term, but they create an atmosphere of pernicious fear over time - and the cost of damage is enormous. In addition, our research shows that as employees' work results in a positive change in the world, they will be more involved.

Whether good or bad, the leader's energy is contagious. Our joint research with the Harvard Business Review shows that when bosses openly encourage employees to work in more sustainable ways - especially when they themselves are role models for sustainable work practices - their employee engagement is high Out of 55%, focus increased by 53%, loyalty is higher.

Kissam at the beginning of the article has already started to change a year ago. He arranges rest periods in his daily work - going outside the office - more devoted himself to his family time. Now he spends at least a day a week thinking and making long-term plans. He also sent handwritten thank-you note to people inside and outside the company. Kissam rethinks the company's handling of meetings, e-mail, flexible work arrangements. In 2013, there will be 1,000 managers under his management who will start a project to help them better meet their own needs and the needs of their subordinates.

"I can see the program is working," Kissalon said. "Our safety record has been greatly improved this year as our employees are more focused. Companies trust them to do their jobs well Instead of telling them what to do, companies value and thank them for their work, and we are financially well-behaved. A year later earnings data will be reflected. It's a good change, and now we're putting ourselves in our workforce and seeing the same change. "