Willingness to Work

 

Image Credit: syarifahbrit, freepik.com

In my previous article ‘Effectiveness at Workplace’ I touched upon three critical factors that determine the effectiveness of a person in performing any task at personal level or professional level. Among these three factors, the ‘Willingness to Work’ is considered to be the most important because without willingness, the ability and the environment, process, tools & equipment are of little use. The ability to work can be managed to some extent, as and when needed, but the willingness needs to be ever present. It reflects the attitude of a person towards work.

Every work consists of physical, intellectual and emotional aspects. The emotional aspect is more predominant in willingness to work. This article explores something more about the critical factor ‘Willingness to Work’. The degree of willingness to work itself is determined by some factors internal and some external to the task performer. The internal and external factors have an impact on each other. Presence of strong and positive external factors reinforce an individual's self-esteem and thereby increases the level of willingness to work. A combination of these internal and external factors either enhance the willingness to work or inhibit the willingness to work. At an initial stage an employee may need more external motivation, but a more experienced employee on path to self realisation may get self-motivated easily with little external stimulus. Both these factors - the enhancers and inhibitors are discussed in brief below.

External factors affecting Willingness to Work

Respect and Dignity at workplace:

Employees are not expendable commodities. Everyone wants to be treated with respect and dignity irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, culture, country of origin, race, religion, organisational hierarchy etc. No matter what is the physical work environment and what is the level of compensation, not many would be willing to work in an environment that does not ensure respect and dignity. Treating the employees with respect and dignity without discrimination also has a positive impact on developing a stronger social bond among the employees and at the same time, a feeling of violation of that respect and dignity immediately impacts the willingness of an employee to work. Often the notion of respect and dignity transcends individuals and manifests itself at a homogenous group level based on religion, nationality, ethnicity, disability etc., where a single individual may be willing to perform, but as a group the willingness to work erodes drastically and the individuals comply with the group feeling . The notion of being treated with respect and dignity can be from an individual or an organisation. 

The upholding of respect and dignity involves recognition of the employee’s worth with his/her unique abilities and competencies. The violations or denial of respect and dignity at workplace may manifest itself in several ways such as denial of restroom breaks, inadequate meal breaks, dehumanising a person for simple and innocent actions that might have caused a small loss to the employer, public naming and shaming of an employee, imposing penalties more than an employee can bear etc. Upholding of employee dignity must be unconditional without any bearing on their economic or social status, religion, gender, race, their contributions to the work or organisation in any way.

Human dignity involves looking at employees as more than the position they occupy and what work they do. However, the perception of respect and dignity itself must be construed in a cultural context. What is normal in one culture may be a taboo in another culture. A simple gesture that is insignificant in one culture may be an insult in another culture.

Even in the event of unavoidable decisions leading to cutting down of manpower, the respect and dignity of employees must be visible in the process and outcomes. Implementing redundancy and forcing an affected employee to take up a lower level job is a clear violation of workplace dignity. 

The commitment to respect and dignity of employees should first come from the management and its leaders and visible in its policies and actions.The employee should have faith in the organisation that in case of non-compliance, an established fair mechanism exists for redressal of the wrongdoing. The immediate supervisors and managers at the workplace have a greater responsibility in creating this faith.

Right Compensation:

The quantum of compensation offered is another deciding factor for willingness to work. If the employee perceives the compensation to be non-commensurate with the scarcity of skills and competencies, the risk involved or the industry standards, it can  adversely affect the willingness to work. 

Growth Opportunities:

No one wants to remain stagnant in life. Professional and career growth is the expectation of every employee. There are instances where even when the compensation is above the market average, a person may not be willing to work because of limited growth and career progression opportunities.

Conducive Physical Work Environment:

Does your workplace provide a physical work environment that rouses the enthusiasm of the employee everyday to go to the workplace? Does the employee eagerly look forward to visiting the workplace once again? We have all heard of Google’s work environment, which is the envy of many with all sorts of food, casual work spaces, all types of fitness equipment in a world class gym, flexible work hours, spa, swimming poles etc. The work is also equally demanding, but the environment makes it fun to work. What is best for Google may not be best or affordable for everyone, but It’s clear that the work environment has much to do with the willingness to work. The work environment should be stress free, enabling the employees to focus on their work. A quiet workplace may be good for a short time and focussed work, but a collaborative and interactive workplace may be more beneficial in the long term.

Safe workplace with adequate lighting, ventilation, weather control, ergonomic furniture and noise free workspace is essential to stimulate willingness to work in a corporate setting. The conducive work environment however, goes beyond physical building attributes. It involves a secure workplace free from bullying, workplace abuses, and violence.

Socialising & Professional networking:

Socialising, professional networking, and collaborating with co-employees is another aspect that draws a person to the workplace. Employees look for fulfilment of their professional, social, and economic needs at their workplace. The workplace should promote a teaching-learning atmosphere leading to professional growth and development. Interaction between employees is very important for learning and productivity. That is the reason why several organisations have done away with serving tea/coffee in the offices or providing electric cattle in the office and encourage their employees to go to the pantry or coffee dispenser and prepare their own drinks. The idea is to encourage employees to get up from their chair at least a few times a day and interact with other employees.

Work & Life balance:

As a simplistic concept, all employees live a dual life - one is their personal life as a father, mother, son, daughter etc. and the other an official life as CEO, Manager, technician, recruitment specialist etc. Balancing both these is important because any imbalance leads to stress and reduced level of ability and willingness to work. But we all know, life is not so simple with just dual responsibilities. It is much more complex, which means striking a balance involves juggling between several responsibilities at the same time. A workplace that does not take care of this work-life balancing, contributes to reduced willingness to work.

Job Security:

Employees need to be reassured of secure work and a just, safe & healthy work environment. The fear of job loss reduces the willingness to work drastically. 

Participation & Involvement:

 

Participation and involvement, especially in the decision making process is another aspect that has a great bearing on the effectiveness at the workplace. For the best outcome and implementation of any program in a short period, each contributing employee must feel that it is his own decision as an individual or collectively as a group. The decisions thrust down on employees are more likely to create resentment and unwillingness to work even where the ability exists. A feeling needs to be created that an individual is important to achieve organisational goals and the outcomes. 

Engagement at the Right Level:

Ultimate employee engagement is a state where the employee’s identity is linked with the job performed, that gives the employee total satisfaction with a sense of fulfilment. Right level of employee engagement gives a feeling to the employee that he/she is important to the organisation and the goals of the employee are aligned with that of the organisation and the employee derives satisfaction out of it. The employee engagement is both physical and emotional.

Assigning the right type of work to an employee is important for engagement, however it does not guarantee total engagement. To have a positive impact on willingness to work, the work assigned should provide an employee with  opportunities not only to utilise the competencies and skills to the maximum extent, but also to enhance those skills and competencies. The right position for an employee itself is not fixed. At the entry level, the prime consideration of an employee may be just getting a job in a good organisation but eventually based on the experience, relative competency  levels of other employees, the growth of the organisation, and added skills and competencies of the employee the perception of the right position itself undergoes change. 

Willingness to work may be affected by the social stigma attached to certain low paid jobs that are sometimes also considered as dirty jobs. Although a person has the ability to do the work, due to the social stigma attached, there may not be willingness to work.

The willingness to work may be voluntary or involuntary. To be ethical, the willingness must be voluntary, however there are instances where it is involuntary, in which case the willingness to work becomes transient in nature, which lasts as long as the circumstances that forced involuntary willingness persist. Take for example an organisation that implements redundancy and as part of rehabilitation offers lower grade open positions with lower pay scale to affected employees. At the outset this may look totally unethical, but looking from the company's perspective it may be a step in the right direction to alleviate the hardships of the employee losing the job. From an employee's perspective too, this could be a stop-gap arrangement until a new job is found. 

Equity at workplace:

Equity at the workplace involves fairness and providing a level playing field for everyone without any favouritism. Equity at the workplace must be embedded in the policy and procedures and must be felt by every employee as implemented and complied with. The compensation, benefits, rewards, and development schemes must be equitable. In the event of non-compliance, there must be a fair and transparent mechanism of reporting, investigation and corrective action. The implementation of equity should be system based and not people dependent. Equity starts with job design and recruitment, not after an employee has been recruited. Equity should not be mistaken for identical treatment, rather it involves accommodation of differences.

Empowerment

The empowerment comes from trust and results in delegation. The micro level management comes from managers that do not trust their subordinates and in such a situation the employee is not willing to do more than what he/she has been asked to do and the way it has been asked to be done. It reduces employees' confidence and self esteem. It stifles creativity and improvements. It hinders employee development and growth. In such an environment the willingness to work is affected adversely. On the other hand empowerment comes with trust and that bond of trust between the manager and the employee has a positive impact on the willingness to work. 

Opportunity for horizontal shift:

While vertical movement in an organisation is decided by the management in terms of promotion, very often the employees plan their career for a horizontal job shift by acquiring new knowledge and skills. The policies must be supportive of such career plans and provide opportunity for the employees whenever a vacancy exists. Absence of such a provision can result in reduced willingness to work.

Internal factors affecting Willingness to Work

Internal factors decide the self-motivational level and thereby the willingness to work in a given situation. Some of the main internal factors are discussed briefly below.

Emotional state:

The emotional state of an employee is one of the key internal factors that affects willingness to work. High stress, feeling of insecurity, worries about the current or the future drastically affect the willingness to work.

Some tasks such as patient care, counselling, receptionists, air cabin crew etc. involve emotional work and as part of the profession, these workers are trained to manage their emotions at the workplace. However, it must be remembered that at times, managing the emotions itself can be stressful as faking emotions is not an easy task and has inherent dangers of losing the trust, which is very important for such professions.

Emotional issues at the workplace can affect the ability to be creative, logical or may even degrade the ability to apply the available knowledge effectively in a given context.

Personal values and beliefs:

Personal values and beliefs play an important role in motivating a person to do work. A person with high moral values believes that he/she is duty bound to achieve his best potential and contribute to the society, resulting in greater willingness to work. On the other hand the conflict of interest can reduce the effectiveness at the workplace even when the ability exists and the enablers such as environment, process, facilities, tools & equipment etc. are favourable.

Personality:

People have two types of emotions - one type is relatively stable and the other type is transient, depending on a particular situation. The relatively stable emotions define our personality. Psychologists have identified five main types of personality traits i.e.Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism. The willingness to perform a particular type of work depends on the dominant personality traits. Some are risk taking types and they take up risky jobs more willingly than others. Some are adventurous, they take up adventurous jobs more willingly. As the adventure quotient of the work is reduced, their willingness to work also reduces and they may look for other adventurous work. Some have more social and outgoing personalities and they like to do work involving leadership and having a lot of people around. On the other hand some are very reserved by nature or introverts, they tend to have less willingness to do work involving constant interaction with people. They often prefer to do rule based tasks. 

Fitness to work:

Physical ability and health are important in determining the level of willingness to work. Chronic health conditions can render a worker unwilling to work in a polluted and dusty environment even when the capabilities are present and the compensation is right.

Physical and mental health issues have an immediate detrimental impact on willingness to work. Absenteeism even during minor health issues is a common phenomenon in organisations where the employees experience work related stress. The employees in such situations are always on the lookout to escape the stress, but the personal values or adverse actions from the management prevent them from doing so. In a health issue situation, the employee overcomes the guilt feeling of not attending the work and finds an escape route from his values and beliefs. Unlike the physical health issues where a person tends to remain absent, in case of mental health conditions the person remains present but the output and effectiveness is reduced drastically because the work is carried out with considerably reduced willingness. Depression and anxiety are the two major mental health issues that are found at workplaces, especially where migrant and/or economically weaker workforce is predominant. 

Situational Influence: A person may sometimes display a lack of willingness to work under certain situations. Such influence on willingness to work is very often temporary, lasting until the situation persists. A person requiring his presence at home due to health conditions of one of the family members or due to children’s schooling etc. may be unwilling to take up a job requiring frequent travels. The lack of willingness to work in a riot torn area or in a conflict zone is another example of situational influence. The situational influence is sometimes combined with strategic incompetence. A person who does not want a promotion linked to a transfer that he/she does not like may resort to strategic incompetence, intentionally performing tasks to result in failures to prove that he/she is incompetent to take up higher responsibilities.