Employees Who Feel Helpless are the Unhappiest

A study conducted by the School of Management at the University of Minnesota has confirmed what top managers have suspected for some time- that those workers who feel helpless to change their jobs in a company are those who are more likely to become disenchanted with the firm.

Their dissatisfaction quickly surfaces in a number of ways, including health problems, tardiness, longer-than-necessary breaks, absenteeism, and the like.

According to Joseph G. Rosse, a professor of industrial relations at University of Minnesota, these workers are likely to report such maladies as physical and mental exhaustion, headaches, problems with sleeping, depression, neck and lower back pain and other unspecified ailments.

Rosse's Research indicates a need on the part of managers to become more sensitive to the plight of lower-echelon employees. If on-linework is tedious and boring, at least set up a sort of incentive plan where these workers can be promoted to higher levels and theoretically to more interesting kinds of work.

Source: Alexander Hamilton Institute.