Job satisfaction usually involves finding a balance between meeting their needs and their interests in the workplace. Sometimes this takes a long time to achieve, particularly for employees who start out at the bottom of the corporate ladder and must work their way to a job that suits them well. An employee feels confident at work if she feels that her skills are being well-used and that her work is appreciated. That is why when changes are implemented in the workplace, employee resistance is a natural consequence. They may feel as if their vision of workplace satisfaction is being scrapped.
Change in the workplace makes an employee feel as if the time he has spent developing skill for accomplishing the tasks necessary to the job are being tossed aside in favor of something new and unproven. Being able to satisfy job requirements alone is not enough of a reward to provide true workplace satisfaction. Most employees want to feel that they are making a real contribution to the corporation, the workplace, and customers or clients. Change can make even non-jaded employees feel as if the change is yet another plan to get more work out of the same employee base. Therefore, good leadership development in the workplace requires that leaders handle change carefully.
Workplace changes make team building efforts even more important. Tempering employee anxiety over changes requires several things:
· adequate training in advance of scheduled changes
· allowing individual workers to learn at their own pace
· the option for supplementary learning for those who want or need it
· a supportive, encouraging, and non-judgmental learning environment
Handled with sensitivity and understanding, workplace changes can ultimately improve employee morale and minimize employees' feelings of lack of control over their tasks. Handled with insensitivity, or implemented as if by fiat, change in the workplace can drastically lower morale and lengthen the time it takes for employees to effectively incorporate new methods into their daily work routine.
