No workplace is perfect. It can be hard to accept that fact as someone genuinely doing their best to lead a team and bring everyone together. Maybe you’ve followed all the rational guides that teach you how to motivate, how to go through problems, how to delegate, and most importantly, how to stamp our any ill-behavior like discrimination or harassment.
But it’s also true that even if the bigger issues are dealt with, the unpredictability of human personalities can sometimes find issues to worry about. That doesn’t always mean they’re spurious either. It just means that even if the systems are all in place and you’ve followed the best sense, issues can still take you by surprise.
Now, you must never think that just because a common staff complaints about something, it means they’re always 100% in the right and you can never redirect the issue or disagree with it. Sometimes, leadership guides can give that impression. It also doesn’t mean you should just dismiss complaints out of hand, especially if they come up a fair amount or if someone tells you in earnest. Always lean more to the side of listening and adapting more than anything else.
To illustrate when that’s most appropriate, below we’re going to discuss six common staff complaints, and how to pre-empt them.
Top 6 Common Staff Complaints To Pre-Empt Them
1. Unfulfilling Work
Work that feels completely purposeless tends to drain people faster than anything else, because in such roles the hours start to drag and the days blur together without much sense of progress. Sometimes it isn’t the role itself that’s the problem but the way it has been allowed to stagnate, as though there’s no room for growth or change amd no one cares. Nobody likes to feel as though they’re just turning up to push paper around without any real understanding that the effort matters.
You need a culture change here, starting by giving employees the chance to try out new projects, share their ideas, or at the very least get a nod for the small contributions they make. It’s simple, when people sense their curiosity and skills are being noticed, the work feels a little less dull and a little more worthwhile.
2. Low Compensation
Compensation sits at the center of workplace complaints more often than leaders like to admit, because people compare and people talk, not just about their salaries but their entire work experience. However, if staff discover they are underpaid compared to peers elsewhere, frustration is the obvious reaction. The pay packet is also tied to respect in people’s minds, and if they feel short-changed, they’ll start to wonder how valued they truly are.
Not every business has the funds for sweeping pay rises, but if the budget is stretched, explaining that while still looking for ways to soften the impact through benefits or perks can ease that issue. A few extra days of leave, flexible scheduling, or training opportunities paid for by the company are not the same as a higher salary, but they’re a good place to show that there’s still an effort to reward loyalty and contribution and continually staying with the company.
3. Team Stress
The truth is that a single overloaded employee can unintentionally push pressure onto colleagues, and before long the whole team is carrying more than it should. A ruinous sense of permanent urgency, where every deadline feels frustrating and barely met, easily leaves people tired and short-tempered.
If you notice this, keep an eye on who’s drowning and who seems to coast through their days, and you’ll notice patterns pretty quickly if you pay attention. Some people will take on everything thrown at them because they hate saying no, but some might genuinely have too much on their plate through no fault of their own. Build some wiggle room into your timelines because things always take longer than expected, and make sure people know they can speak up when they’re hitting their limit.
4. Understaffing
When any business operates with too few people for too long, all common staff complaints carry an unsustainable burden. This complaint often comes with requests for additional hires, but it might also suggest very inefficient processes or poor task allocation.
To fix it, look at how work flows through your team and see where things get stuck or duplicated unnecessarily. Sometimes what feels like an understaffing problem is really a workflow problem that could be fixed without hiring anyone new. Train people on tasks outside their usual scope so you’re not completely screwed when someone goes on vacation or gets sick. If you can’t hire full-time people right now, temporary help for specific projects can be a good stepping stone.
5. Poor Training Development
People want to grow in their roles, and when they feel unprepared for new responsibilities, they’re going to be irritated. This complaint often comes up during performance reviews or when new software, processes, or industry standards get introduced without the right support. Common staff Complaints start feeling set up to fail, and that makes them want to leave.
So you should pair new hires up with someone who knows the ropes and can answer their random questions but not for making them feel stupid. Set aside money for conferences, courses, or certifications that people want to pursue, not just what you think they need. Write down how things get done so people aren’t constantly interrupting each other with the same basic questions, and you’ll have fixed some core issues.
6. Less Brand Cohesion
Teams that don’t have a purpose or shared values often struggle with priorities and mixed messages, and that causes people to feel annoyed. Your standards can also slip, such as no one cleaning the office when you really need to request a customized cleaning plan for it to work and help staff feel proud of their surroundings.
Get everyone in the same room when you can, and talk about where the company is heading and why certain decisions get made. Make sure your department heads aren’t telling their teams completely different things about the same issues either, to cover for themselves or just because you haven’t bried them. Then you can keep your core values and goals written down somewhere everyone can see them, and reference them when making big decisions.
With this advice, you’ll be certain to pre-empt common staff complaints effectively.
