Patrick Ow shares how the workforce is changing and employees are experiencing discrimination and poor treatment.
32. Employees’ Working Environments Are Harmful
The workplace environment is a very crucial determinant for employee performance, morale, and productivity. An effective workplace creates an environment where performance and results can be achieved by workers. The tasks performed by them are directly affected by the physical environment in which they are in.
The American Working Conditions Survey found that the workplace is very physically and emotionally taxing. More than one-half reported exposure to unpleasant and potentially hazardous working conditions. Nearly one in five are exposed to a hostile or threatening social environment at work.
The study also found that nearly two-thirds of workers experienced at least some degree of mismatch between their desired and actual working conditions.
Research published in the Journal of Accounting and Economics documented significantly higher injury or illness rates in organizations that meet or just beat analyst forecasts when compared to organizations that miss or comfortably beat analyst forecasts. These injuries were associated with increases in employee workloads related to organizations wanting to meet financial targets.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there is a 7% increase in fatal injuries between 2015 and 2016. This is the third consecutive increase in annual workplace fatalities. Work injuries involving transportation incidents remained the most common fatal event in 2016. This accounts for 40%. The second most common is violence and other injuries by persons or animals with an increase of 23%.
33. Employees Are Being Spied on by Their Employers
When employees enter into any form of employment, they sign away some of their personal freedoms. When they are on company time and using their employers’ computers, employers are permitted to read their emails, log their keystrokes, and watch their work. The Guardian reported that journalists at the British newspaper, The Telegraph, found little black boxes installed under their desks.
