VIDEO: 7 Warning Signs of Employee unhappiness | How to Spot Them and Improve Workplace Morale

Hello, I’m Justin Fraction and welcome to TechnologyAdvice. This video is going to be a bit different. Some of us are like Barbara from Abbott Elementary. I do my work, I go home. And between you and I, that’s okay, if you do your job. But the last thing you probably want as an employer is someone who isn’t just doing their job and going home but instead, they’re unhappy. Sometimes it’s easy to spot that in an employee and sometimes you just need to look for the warning signs.

So here are 7 Warning Signs of an Unhappy Employee. As a note, this video and this advice is coming from a place of genuine kindness we’re assuming that the employee is not a person that you should have never hired in the first place. Occasionally things happen in our personal lives, occasionally things happen at work, and we're all human so here are some ways to deal with it. #1 Voicing Concerns This one seems obvious but for some reason, not everyone takes this seriously.

The sheer fact that your employee is taking the time out of their day to talk to you about something that’s bothering them is cause enough to seriously listen to what they’re saying. Listening like the sun in the sky. And not just listen but listen and also pay attention and don’t be dismissive. That makes no one feel good at work or outside of it. If it’s about pay, mistreatment, lack of motivation, or a personal issue, it is part of your job in management or HR to listen.

This shouldn’t be an “Effie we all got pain!” moment. Also, keep your ears open in case it’s an issue of legality under the Civil Rights or Americans with Disabilities Act. Many years ago I once dealt with someone who was causing issues. I reported them to my boss and HR. They did nothing. Then more people did. Then they had to do something. Taking my report seriously the first time would have protected those people and saved so much time and yes, there were incidents going way back even before I got there so ... yeah.

And by the way, that place is no longer in business. Number 2: Exhaustion I’m not talking about someone seeming exhausted at a meeting because it’s the day after the Super Bowl. It happens sometimes. You should always strive to be professional, but your workers like you are human and no human is perfect except for Beyonce. You should first identify if it’s a personal stress like a new baby at home, a sick parent, a heavy workload because someone is out or a role hasn’t been filled, etc.

If so, try and accommodate that. You don’t want your employees to get burned out. By the way, if that’s happening, if that's happening to one employee it's usually happening to more of them. It’s important to promote a healthy work-life balance and to actively work to give and stress that to your employees. Offer paid time off to them. I don’t mean fake paid time off where you grant their request for time off with a side eye but actual paid time off.

Or that time off that they give you and when you're on vacation they call you to check their hard dri--and no. Let them have actual time off and if you see them doing that tell them don't, rest. Number 3: Work Quality Change So your employee starts missing deadlines, their work isn’t good, they’re putting things off until the last minute, etc. but before this they were fantastic! Or if the reverse was true and an, “ehhhh” employee starts suddenly becoming more productive and efficient.

The first might mean that they’re unmotivated and unhappy. The second thing might mean that they’re preparing to leave and tying up loose ends. So make sure that you’re providing career development for the employee. Help them set goals. Give them training courses. Help them get into mentorship programs. Re-motivate them. Numero Quatro: Attitude Change Humans are creatures of habit and mostly pretty predictable so you should notice when someone starts seeming inconsistent.

If someone nice suddenly seems standoffish then there’s probably a problem. If someone who talks is suddenly quiet. There’s also probably a problem there too. In my experience as someone who has had people directly reporting to me, I care about harmony between employees because a disharmonious work situation brings everyone down. It bleeds into the work product. It can even bleed into their lives outside of work and ain’t nobody got time for that.

The best thing you can do is give them space to be genuinely open with you period. You can be friends with your employees if you both understand that there are times when you’re going to be the boss and then there are times when you’re going to be the friend. So talk to them and foster an environment where they can talk to you. Find out if it’s a workload issue, a personal issue, or an interpersonal issue with another employee. Give them access to people who can help them if you can’t.

Number 5: Poor Attendance If someone is always late, absent, needs time off, or leaves early that could indicate that they’re uninterested in their position or looking for another one. (It could also mean there’s an issue at home but we covered that in No. 2.) Again, talk to your employee. If you can't do it personally then give everyone a survey. Find out if something is going on with their position that’s causing the issue. Help them with career development.

Give them a challenge and a reward even if that’s career advancement to a position that they do want. I once worked in an office that was haunted and there was a person that would type, like in the evening. Like if you stayed late it would, *typewriter noises* and nobody knew where it came from and I thought I was crazy and then I might be crazy you never know. But I wasn't the only one that heard it. Like our bosses were all like, "Did you hear the typist?" Like, I'm like, what?

I'm not, what? "Everyone hears the typist." So I came on time, I just would not stay late. Number 6: Inappropriate Behavior Again, this is coming from a place of love so we’re assuming there’s a reason why this is happening that is not indicating that you should have never hired the person in the first place. First, investigate by talking to people involved with whatever the incident is. Then, talk to the employee and keep them engaged with you. What you do want to do is to make sure that you’re checking in with them and everyone else.

That whole checking-in process is good because it encourages conversation and maybe you'll find out something you didn't know that leads you to the root of the problem. And again you may think, "I don't have time for this." And again, if you are in charge of a group of people or you're managing or in HR, that is your job. Dealing with people. Finally Number 7: Life Events Deaths, relocations, marriages, divorces, adoption, surrogacy, births, or health issues can shift an employee’s personal and financial priorities.

See the category was life events and then I just kept going on the teleprompter, so, yeah. So offer them support in the form of time away from work, flex hours, financial support by hooking them up with someone who can help them, counseling, or work duty reevaluation. If you can help your employee through their major life event then there’s a good chance that they will stick with the company when things settle down in their personal lives. I worked with a really great woman, her son passed away, she didn't tell us at first but then she was not on time for work and we understood that because we were all cool with her and she said you know, "Now I have to take care of my grandkids and get them off to school and I'm not used it anymore." And she's still there.

This was like 15 years ago which is hard to believe because I'm only 22. So for more TechnologyAdvice visit our website here. Look at that. Isn’t it great! Click that link. If you’d like to subscribe you can do so right here and finally if you would like to see more cool videos we made a playlist just for you. We'lll see you next time ... when I'll still be 22.