Recent reports suggest that stress levels among UK employees have reached an all-time high, perhaps driven by uncertain politics, turbulent economics, environmental concerns and a frantic pace of life. The knock-on effects of stress at work, quite apart from the effects on personal well-being, include reduced focus, dwindling performance and lack of engagement.

Employee engagement has a direct effect on business performance. Businesses with engagement scores in the top 25% have twice the annual net profit of those in the bottom 25%, nearly 20% higher productivity, and 40% lower staff turnover. Higher levels of engagement logically point to a happier and more fulfilling working environment, boosting employee well-being, motivation and productivity.

Stress occurs when pressures rise, time runs out, and daily frustrations become too much. Of course, it would be a gross oversimplification to suggest that simply changing your company’s software system can eliminate stress altogether – but there’s plenty to suggest it could help.

What makes you stressed?

Many factors commonly provoke stress, frustration and lowered productivity at work. They often boil down to three broad areas:

  • Things not working as they should, from printers, gadgets or mobile phones to largerscale sales or lead generation processes; things not working properly are bad for stress levels.
  • Things taking longer than they should. Writing reports, finding information, checking customer records, deliveries, stocktaking – when you need things done fast, the stress and frustration of delay is a big problem.
  • There’s simply too much to do. In any business there are always a hundred or more things to do, and never enough time to do them. The issue is compounded by a constant influx of new queries or complaints, staff absence and performance pressure.

You can start to see how changes to focused operational business systems, the microprocesses that make up the different areas of your business, can have a bigger impact on overall performance. Making every process as efficient as possible, information readily available and performance instantly and accurately measurable is beneficial to everyone.

Imagine the time a credit controller could save having a customer’s history, credit-worthiness and transaction records immediately to hand. No manual checks, no cross-referencing between different accounts and trading systems, just instant, accurate, exportable information, with built-in credit and margin alerts so everyone in the sales team knows who is on hold or needs extra checks.

Reduced stress and frustration facilitate engagement. An engaged employee takes pride in their work, looks forward to coming to work and does their best for the good of the business. They will be motivated, confident and driven, with good relationships in the workplace and a positive, can-do attitude.

Factors influencing engagement

There are many factors that influence staff engagement. Some of the key ones are:

  • Purpose. Employees should understand and share the purpose of the organisation, and have a clear understanding of the expectations, objectives and targets at stake.
  • Recognition. Reward comes in many forms – salary, bonus, perks etc, but recognition, acknowledgement and appreciation are hugely important motivators for staff.
  • Leadership. The number one reason for people leaving jobs in the UK is bad relationships with their boss. Good work relationships are enormously important for an employee’s happiness and engagement, as is being inspired by a leader who visibly works to the same shared goals, purpose and values.
  • Empowerment. People who feel trusted to make decisions, with the appropriate level of support, will usually be far more motivated than those who are micromanaged at every step.
  • Development. Keeping staff interested in their own career development and daily work performance is key to prevent boredom setting in, so it’s important for leaders to identify, monitor and reward performance, set new challenges and drive skill development.
  • Communication. Clear communication ensures people know what’s expected of them, and also helps to motivate challenge, sharing of ideas and taking an active role in the business.

How can software help?

You’d be surprised how much of an impact the software your employees use every day can have.

Clear targets and performance monitoring: Good software helps employees to see exactly what their targets are, how they’re performing against them, how that makes a difference to the wider company, and can even offer intelligent assistance in getting there.

Transparent achievement tracking: Senior managers can see the performance of individuals and the company as a whole, making it easier to recognise contributions, and staff can track their own performance too.

Reduced frustration at time-wasting. Every quicker action or keystroke makes for a more productive, motivated workforce. Time savings from features like integrated stock-scanning or real-time, multi-site stock management lead to higher productivity, accuracy and business performance – and happier people.

More opportunities (in every area): Accurate long-term stock predictions enable better negotiation power with suppliers, meaning lower prices and better customer service for your own customers. Waste reduction, process efficiencies, margin protection, order frequency analysis, problem product alerts, better stock management, streamlined logistics, upselling, risk management… the opportunities are endless.

More time to work on development: It’s easy to get lost in the day to day busy-ness of business, but with more time comes more creativity, more innovation, better strategy, and more breakthrough moments.

Intelligent analysis to back up proposals and aid decision-making. You never know where the next big idea will come from; empowering people with the tools to present compelling business cases not only helps decision-making; it’s incredibly motivating and could be business-boosting too!

Flexible working. Remote working, flexible hours and job sharing are growing trends, so using a cloud system accessible from anywhere, whether working from home or out visiting customers, helps keep people connected and enables them to work in a way that suits their circumstances without compromising business performance.

Software isn’t the only answer to the ongoing challenge of keeping employees motivated and engaged. But thinking about how much time they spend using it, how many areas of the business it impacts, it should be no surprise that simple, helpful software that improves daily efficiency and fits in with people’s lives is going to make a big difference every day.