Paper Example on Types of Financial Stress Individual Level - Employee Satisfaction and Engagement

Introduction

Managing change in times of financial stress in an organization can be a challenging task in every organization. The main types of financial stress at the individual level include the lack of money to meet employee needs, poor pay, and workplace stress. It affects employee performance, morale, and productivity, hence the need for the employer to take measures to reduce the impacts of stress at an individual level. A successful and productive organization whose members are satisfied and engaged are more likely to adapt to and manage change better than that whose members are stressed and disgruntled. One of the ways through which an organization can successfully wade through the change during these turbulent times is to ensure employee satisfaction and engagement.

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Employee Satisfaction

Employee satisfaction refers to a collection of environmental, physiological, and psychological conditions in the workplace that make employees feel contented and happy with their jobs (Raziq & Maulabakhsh, 2015). During financial stress and change in an organization, one of the most common ways of ensuring successful change implementation is through employee satisfaction as it motivates workers to continue working towards the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Employee satisfaction with their jobs also helps improve their general morale, productivity, and performance, hence creating a positive environment for implementing change and increased profitability and retention. One way of ensuring employee satisfaction is by listening to their worries and concerns in the workplace. Listening to employees and catering for their social and economic needs makes them feel part and parcel of the organization and hence enabling them to stay on as the organization and individuals undergo financial stress. The other way of achieving employee satisfaction is by respecting employees. According employees respect helps them feel that they are wanted and are part of the change process.

Moreover, according to Raziq and Maulabakhsh (2015), an organization can boost employee satisfaction levels by creating an enabling or conducive working environment within the workplace. When there is a positive environment in the workplace, employees are more likely to feel as being part of the change process and hence increasing their productivity and performance (Raziq & Maulabakhsh, 2015). Negative organization climate and dysfunctional employee attitudes can have hamper organizational change process, hence the need to ensure that workers are well motivated through positive workplace environment.

Employees should also be constantly encouraged to boost their morale and satisfaction during times of financial stress. Satisfying the needs of employees through a good working environment is one way through which an organization can help ensure that employees are motivated and stress-free. Additionally, employee satisfaction may be achieved through financial and moral support. Even during financial stress, an organization should ensure that its employees' financial needs are taken care of through motivation and rewards. The organization should take reasonable steps to ensure that its workers do not feel neglected during financial stress.

Employee Engagement

Another way of managing stress at the individual level when implementing change in an organization is employee engagement. Employee engagement refers to an employee's level of positive behavior, involvement, and commitment towards an organization and the values it stands for and promotes (Bhavani, Sharavan, & Arpitha, 2015). Engaging employees makes them feel passionate about their roles and responsibilities, hence achieving positive performance and productivity. Another importance of employee engagement is that it makes workers feel respected, trusted, wanted, self-confident, and secure. It also gives them a feeling that their work is meaningful and that they are an important part of the organization. One way of ensuring that employees are engaged in an organization is by listening to them. Listening to employees helps in managing stress in that it makes them feel respected and valued. This approach helps give them a sense of entitlement and independence in the performance of their responsbilitues.

Individual stress which may be an obstacle to organizational change may also be managed by ensuring that every employee's need is taken care of and that there is a culture of commitment to the organizational goals and objectives. Where employees are made aware of what is expected of them, they are more likely to work harder towards the achievement of the set goals, hence resulting in an organization's performance and productivity. A positive organizational culture affectes the ability of an individual to adapt to change in that it creates an enabling environment in which employees know exactly what is expected of them. Additionally, the establishment of frequent performance reviews and high levels of expectations can help enhance employee cooperation and participation in the activities of an organization even during financial stress (Osborne & Hammoud, 2017). According to Osborne and Hammoud (2017), leadership is also another strategy that can be used to improve employee engagement since leaders also play a crucial role in ensuring that employees are engaged. Based on the self-determination theory, the level of an employee's engagement depends on their ability to control their personal goals and behaviors. Hence, the personal behavioral state of an employee greatly determines their level of engagement since it is an important driver of motivation

Conclusion

In summary, as has been shown, managing change in times of financial stress can be a challenging adventure for many organizations. Hence, since it is employees who drive change, it is necessary to ensure that they are well motivated and fully engaged since this improves their motivation, morale, productivity, and performance. Employee satisfaction and engagement may be done by creating a psychologically safe environment, incentivizing workers, listening to and encouraging employees, creating a positive organizational culture, and involving them in the decision making process.

References

Bhavani, S.A., Sharavan, Arpitha. (2015) A Study Effectiveness of employee engagement inautomobile industry. International Journal Economics & Management Science, 4 (10), 1-5

Osborne, S., & Hammoud, M.S. (2017). Effective employee engagement in the workplace. International Journal of Applied Management and Technology, 16 (1), 50-67

Raziq, A., & Maulabakhsh, R. (2015). Impact of working environment on job satisfaction. Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, 717-725