There is no escaping the fact: the mental health of French employees is getting worse. What are the causes behind this phenomenon, how should suffering be expressed in the workplace and what can employers do to boost employee motivation and eliminate psychological distress? Here are some ideas for bringing some positivity back into the workplace.
The mental health of French employees is getting worse
According to a recent study, 44% of employees have stated that they are in a situation of psychological distress. The primary victims of this workplace mental health issue are under 29s, women and managers. A three percentage point rise compared to June 2022 has sounded the alert regarding working conditions, given that 74% of those questioned confirmed that their work is either totally or at least partially responsible for their psychological suffering.
Heavy workloads, bad management, communication issues or a generalised increase in stress are leading more and more employees down into depression or burnout. The situation is such that, according to a survey by moka.care and JobTeaser, the psycho-social risks of a company's working environment are now one of the main factors examined by young professionals before they apply for a position.
Suffering in the workplace can take on many different forms. One of these is quiet quitting. This is a current trend that concerns a large number of employees. They restrict themselves to the exact tasks listed on their job description without investing any further in the company. Feeling that the employer has not kept the promises made when they first employed them, they feel abandoned and have lost their initial motivation. Productivity is kept to the strict minimum and general company performance inevitably drops off.
As the natural successor to quiet quitting, “resenteeism” has become a notable trend in the United States. The term comes from the verb to resent and the phenomenon concerns employees who did not benefit from the Great Resignation or Big Quit wave in America and now find themselves trapped by the reversal of economic trends. Stuck in jobs where they feel they are badly paid, suffering from a lack of respect and pervaded by a deep-seated the fear of being laid off, they have developed a genuine feeling of resentment towards their employers. The difference with quiet quitting is that resenteeism expresses itself quite noisily, with outspoken statements and open conflict which can profoundly affect general morale among staff.
Motivation, an essential part of job satisfaction
To be happy at work, the employee needs to be driven by the desire to get involved with the company. If all of the conditions are not present to ensure the consolidation and growth of their commitment and their desire to meet their objectives, the employee will gradually loose interest in their job and their daily working lives will become a painful experience. How can we maintain and boost motivation?
Motivation comes from meeting four types of essential needs, as identified in the Maslow pyramid: physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and accomplishment. This is clearly true for life in general but it must also be respected in the workplace. In other words, employees must get satisfactory pay, be able to work in suitable conditions, have rights to social advantages, feel they are part of a team, enjoy good working relations, have job satisfaction, get constructive feedback from their superiors and have responsibilities, career development opportunities and objectives to meet.
If all or part of these needs are not met then motivation will fail. In the worst cases this can become a form of profound psychological distress. And above all else, they must receive fair pay and feel that they are in charge of their own career, that they are recognised for their true value and that they are working in a healthy and calm environment. But beware; wages are not the ultimate remedy to suffering in the workplace.
Salaries are not the only cure for suffering in the workplace, but they can be a part of the solution
Unless all of the conditions required to protect the mental health of employees are present, simply increasing wages will never be enough. Basic wages and incentive compensation alone will not resolve a toxic company environment and avoid employee suffering. Employers must take other factors into account if they want to guarantee the peace of mind and job satisfaction of their employees.
Bad management is one of the main sources of suffering and demoralisation in the workplace. If they want to avoid unhealthy company environments and improve the mental health of their employees, businesses must reinvent the role of the manager and place it at the heart of their HR policy. More than ever, young professionals are calling out for caring management and calm, easy communication with superiors.
Heavy workloads are one of the main subjects raised by employees suffering from resenteeism, along with the obligation to take on the work of those colleagues that have already resigned their posts. Employers must make an effort to allow their employees to find a life-work balance that works for them. This could involve reviewing working conditions for example, allowing greater flexibility regarding working hours and work from home. Encouraging employee autonomy and trust are essential for them to feel valued and recognised.
Incentive compensation, a motivation lever for employees
Even if quiet quitters and resenteeism are generally indicators of bad management rather than an issue with the wage structure, there are many employees whose commitment will be vastly increased by incentive compensation. Incentive compensation can undoubtedly re-ignite the motivation of employees to commit to their company, provided it is introduced before the demotivation takes root and is based on correctly calibrated objectives.
Réenchanter le quotidien au travail est possible. Ceux qui ne sont pas encore dans une démarche de démission silencieuse et qui attendent de l’employeur qu’il insuffle un nouveau souffle à leur métier peuvent être remotivés par la perspective de primes sur objectifs. En lui attribuant des objectifs à atteindre, l’employeur exprime la confiance qu’il place dans son collaborateur et son souhait de l’accompagner dans son évolution professionnelle.
Employees can be fully integrated into the company’s global performance if they are set realistic objectives associated with pertinent performance indicators founded on a restricted number of the company’s strategic pillars. They will then find themselves at the heart of the company’s objectives and will recover a sense of commitment to a mission that goes far beyond simply increasing their income. They will find their job suddenly becomes just as new and exciting as it was when they first started, provided that they feel that they can really show their talents and skills and get a fair wage in return.
Suffering in the workplace is not the end of the world. The phenomena of profound demoralisation and psychological distress can be avoided by building up a benevolent and coherent HR policy and company environment. Finally if working conditions are essential to job satisfaction, incentive compensation can contribute to boosting employee commitment and involvement in the company’s missions and objectives.
