Challenges for workers

101. Employees are managed by incompetent managers

Organisations are selecting managers and leaders on confidence rather than competence, charisma rather than humility, and narcissism rather than integrity.

These flawed criteria selections explain not only why many managers and leaders are incompetent when it comes to managing people but also why they are male — as men generally have more of these toxic traits than women.

In America, 75% of employees report that their direct line manager is the worst part of their job and 65% would happily take a pay cut if they could replace their manager with someone better.

102. Employers promote incompetent people managers

A study found that just promoting sales performers exclusive to people managers can decrease team performance by 30%.

This is where the Peter Principle comes. The principle states that employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence at some stage of their career.

Performers who get promoted as people managers for the first time have fallen flat as they were unable to transfer their non-managerial technical skills to manage people. When management requires skills that are different from those required for lower-level work, the best technical workers may not be the best people managers.

ResumeLab found that just 21.7% of employees believed they are more qualified than their manager and 61% thought they could handle their manager’s daily responsibilities.

103. Employers can’t incentivise non-managerial performers

Organisations can only justify paying more money to an employee if they are promoted as people managers or take up managerial positions.

When employers promote employees based on managerial performance, they will likely pass over higher-performing non-managerial employees. Therefore, non-managerial employees will never get any pay increases even when they have been performing well in their current roles.

But if employers promote lower-level employees to higher levels, the Peter Principle may kick in. Top non-managerial performers could be promoted to their level of incompetence when they are in managerial positions.

When this occurs, it can be assumed, rightly or wrongly, that the top non-managerial performer was set up for failure in a managerial position.

Ultimately, they will struggle to perform their higher-level job and may leave the organisation altogether.

104. Employees are disadvantaged by pay scales

With the diversity of skills, experience, and personalities in workplaces, employers should be stepping away from the one-size-fits-all pay scales and financially incentivise both managerial and non-managerial employees to do their best. It is not an either-or selection, but rather a customised approach.

Non-managerial employees can still be eligible for increased salaries when they perform well or meet performance targets. Doing what they do best, they don’t have to manage people or be people managers to get an increase in their salaries.

105. Employees are not empowered to perform their work

Employers do not empower employees to speak up, give feedback, disagree, and surface problems, pain-points and constructive criticism.

When empowerment does not occur in workplaces, both employees and the business cannot course-correct, overcome challenges, grow, evolve, achieve peak performance, reach their highest potential and truly thrive.

106.   Employees are not given enough work data

Many employers fail to provide their employees with enough data to make decisions.

In a data-driven business, employees need access to the right data at the right time to help them do their jobs, but there appears to be a data gap.

A survey showed that only 32% of the BI and analytics professionals said their employers made data available to up to 50% of employees, while just under a fifth (19%) gave no more than a quarter of their employees access to data. Only 14% said their employers gave up to 75% of staff access to corporate data.

The survey also found that in 79% of organisations, employees needed to ask business analysts for help when making data-driven decisions. Just 7% of the organisations surveyed offered self-service BI and analytics tools for their staff.

The limited availability of data to employees has a negative impact on productivity.

107. Employees don’t get regular feedback and catch-ups

Employees can work without getting any regular feedback from their managers. It’s all about work and nothing else.

Without valuable performance feedback, employees may not know how they are progressing and how to improve themselves.

108. Employees are guinea pigs for management fads

Management fads come (and go) – total quality management, business process re-engineering, matrix management, six sigma, management by objectives, etc.

Even an open sitting or office plan is now considered dead.

Employees must put up with these ‘trial and error’ management fads imposed upon them by their managers. They are forced to participate in these fads. This creates uncertainty and stress for employees.

109. Employees are product testers for the employers

Employers are getting their employees involved in its user or product testing. For example, Airbus uses its best employees as product testers for its new plane.

Some employers may be making employees participate in product testing as part of their on-boarding process. These employees may be forced to sign up for their employer’s testing programs just to get a job in that organisation.

Employee testers may see providing feedback as additional work beyond their job description. They may not provide much feedback because they may feel like their opinions aren’t heard within the organisation.

110. Employees receive poor communication

Employers do a very bad job of fostering communication. A study found that only 15% of employees say their companies are doing a very good job fostering communication. Twenty-three percent say their managers are simply not good at communicating.

More importantly, 81% of employees would rather join a company that values open communication than one that offers great perks such as top-flight health plans, free food, and gym memberships.