In his book the “Living Dead”, David Bolchover states that one in 5 employees has had sex in the workplace, and one in 3 has taken a Class A drug at work. Further, one in 6 employees admits to “constantly” surfing the web on matters totally unrelated to work.
Other interesting facts: According to the NBRI, 30% of employees fall asleep or become extremely fatigued during a work month; the average employee spends 4.5 hours a week engaging in water cooler gossip (that’s equivalent to a six week vacation); and social media sites cost US employers upwards of $2.25 billion every year. Why? Because, apparently, employees are bored at work or “disengaged”. Many employees state they do not have anything meaningful to do while at work.
Employee well-being is becoming increasingly important as organisations realise the link between happy healthy staff and their long term success.
If employees feel valued and involved, customers have great experiences dealing with the organisation, and positive results follow.
In September 2011 the NBRI stated that only one in three employees is engaged while at work, and 55% of employees state they will definitely be leaving their present employment in the near future (NBRI).
On average it costs an employer 10% to 30% of an employee’s gross income to replace him/her (NBRI).
So how does an employer engage and retain their employees? We will look at these two important issues over the next few months.
If you have any employment queries that you would like assistance with, please contact us.
This article is intended as a point of reference and should not be relied on as a substitute for professional advice. Specialist advice should always be sought in relation to any particular circumstances and no liability will be accepted for any losses incurred by those relying solely on this article.