Bruce Katcher sees no mystery in the complaints of American workers. He's identified seven major complaints and says they seem to be universal.
If this industrial and organizational psychologist can put his finger on employee dissatisfaction so easily, why can't corporate leaders?
"Either they don't hear their workers' complaints, or they are too consumed with other matters to do anything about them," says Katcher, president of The Discovery Group, a consulting group in Sharon, Mass.
Katcher believes that corporate leaders are more reactive than proactive when it comes to employee relations issues, and that means that they allow workplace frustrations to fester.
You might have heard in your own workplace what Katcher calls the seven major complaints of workers:
There's no job security here.
I don't trust management.
There's too much work to do.
The pay is too low.
Communication is poor.
I don't have enough balance in my life.
I feel underappreciated.
Katcher thinks companies would be better off if they addressed these frustrations in a meaningful way. He fears, though, that they are often out of touch with the realities others face in the workplace.
"It's hard to believe, but when you get to the top of senior management, you are different," he says. "It's a phenomenon that occurs in nearly all companies. It may be because the information you get at the top is filtered or it may come from the bias of being on top.
Management seen as uncaring
"That's why we think of management as being myopic or uncaring. That's why it seems like senior management doesn't have a clue. But you can flip-flop that and say the same thing about the people in the mail room or the clerical staff. It works both ways."
Katcher sees a clear communication issue in most companies and says middle managers -- caught between senior management and workers -- often are to blame. He says American business probably doesn't teach them the communication skills they need for such crucial jobs.
Yet, if Katcher possessed magical power to make one important difference as a chief executive, he says he would concentrate on work-life balance. The lack of that, he says, has a draining effect on today's work force.
"The people who are happiest in our work force are those that work part-time or in off-hours," he says. "Independent contractors and self-employed also are happy.
Give people flexibility
"We see that having control over your work is important to most people. The key seems to be giving people flexibility. If they need an hour off to do something and the company gives them that flexibility, knowing that they will make it up later, that is showing people respect and dignity."
As much as he thinks that's essential, he says communication is the crucial link that provides senior management with an understanding of work force needs.
"In the companies that operate best, we see that senior management has good communication with the people doing the work. We need to look at employees as assets, not liabilities. We need to realize that it's not the machines that do the work but that the people are the machines. People are the revenue producers."
There are built-in corporate blinders, however. Katcher says that the major obstacle is the different perspective top executives have from the people they supervise.
"One of the perks of senior management is that they have this power to work from home if they want or to come in late," Katcher says. "For some reason they don't appreciate how much that means to them and how much it would mean to other workers."
There is a way around this, and that is for senior management to acknowledge the built-in blinders of the job and try to take them off.
We all stand to benefit.
Michael Kinsman: (619) 293-1370; michael.kinsman@uniontrib.com
