Employee dissatisfaction is getting wildly out of hand. Right Management conducted a survey in which they gathered responses from 411 workers in the US and Canada. The survey found that a mere 19% were satisfied with their jobs and another 16% said they were “somewhat satisfied”. The rest were either “somewhat unsatisfied” or “completely unsatisfied.” These numbers are dismal and your organization might be in the same state. So what’s going on here?

BURNOUT

Burnout, stress and frustration have gone on too long in the corporate world as the norm at work. No one complains, nothing gets done and employees and business suffer. Poor pay and increasing workload was the leading factor in why 8 out of 10 US workers are stressed about their jobs, revealed by a Harris Interactive Annual Workplace Stress Study of over 1,000 employed Americans.

Burnout leads to turnover and turnover leads to monetary losses for the company. What most companies perceive they are saving in lower labor costs, they are probably paying for in turnover. A study from the Center for American Progress reveals that for all US jobs earning less than $50,000 per year (40%), the average cost of replacing an employee amounts to 20% of the person’s annual salary.

While it would be fantastic to simply pay more, those decisions are quite often out of direct leadership’s hands. Forbes contributor, Nicole Marie Richardson, defines 10 ways to reduce office stress. Among them: encourage frequent breaks, smile often and don’t sweat the small stuff.

BOSS PROBLEMS

We’ve all had at least one bad boss. Employer/employee relationship issues are the number one reason that employees voluntarily leave a position. Seventy-five percent of people voluntarily leaving their job are doing so because of their boss, not their position. It’s old news that employees quit bosses, not jobs. There’s nothing new here, except for the solution.

Smart leaders are doing away with traditional yearly employee feedback surveys. They are now switching to a more targeted and frequent way of soliciting and implementing feedback. These companies are collecting feedback on a monthly basis, but it works both ways; a Towers Watson study shows that 43% of engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week. This strategy makes the process far less painstaking. Instead of a huge yearly process, it is broken down into multiple surveys that are quick to take, organize and implement. Additionally, this method allows the information gathered to be acted upon in a timely manner. Yearly surveys are so ineffective because nothing is acted upon when the issue actually occurs.

DISENGAGEMENT

A Gallup poll uncovered that 70% of US workers are not engaged at work. Disengaged workers are less productive, less creative and they affect those engaged workers around them negatively. It also affects the bottom line; companies with engaged employees outperform those without by 202%.

Dale Carnegie, a leader in employee engagement, offers 5 tips to get your workforce engaged:

• Senior leadership must articulate a clear vision to all employees.

• Employees should be encouraged to communicate openly and influence the company’s vision through their input.

• Direct managers should foster healthy relationships with their employees.

• Senior Leadership should continuously demonstrate that employees have an impact on their work environment.

• Managers should show employees that they are valued as true contributors, giving them a sense of empowerment.

Whether it’s burnout, boss problems or disengagement, the numbers are saying that a majority of employees are having these issues. Just one of these workplace dissatisfiers could be enough to kill a career. Do your company numbers match the statistics found in this post? If so, you’re in the majority and this is one time that you don’t want to be.

Bio: Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is a community builder and seasoned marketer in the HR and Recruiting industry. She leads Red Branch Media, a full-service marketing and advertising agency serving the HR and Recruiting sectors. A consistent advocate of next generation marketing techniques, Hogan has built successful online communities, deployed brand strategies in both the B2B and B2C sectors, and been a prolific contributor of thought leadership in the recruitment and talent space.

You can read more of her work on Marenated.com, HRExaminer.com, Recruiter.com, Inc.com, Forbes, Entrepreneur and the Glassdoor and Peoplefluent blogs. Follow her on twitter @marenhogan — she’s funnier there.