 Knowing how to help an unhappy employee recover their motivation and positive outlook is a great skill for a manager to have. Unhappy employees firstly tend to be less motivated and produce less. Secondly they can become disgruntled employees causing all sorts of issues. Thirdly unhappy employees make your job of managing the team much harder. And fourth they are much more likely to leave with all the disruption and cost this brings. None of these outcomes is good for you, the team or the business. The good news is many unhappy employees can be moved to a much more positive place with a little work from you. We're going to go through nine signs of an unhappy employee and then five actions to help an unhappy employee. The earlier you can spot an unhappy employee and the earlier you take action the easier it'll be to move them to a much more positive place. The longer you leave the unhappy employee stewing in their unhappiness the worse their behaviour and actions are likely to get. My name is Jess Coles and I've had a 25 year management career in corporate and household names through to SMEs. Keeping everyone in your team happy and motivated makes your workday a lot more enjoyable and has loads of positive benefits for the team and the company. If you're new to this channel enhance.training shares business and people management expertise to help you improve your performance and that of your team and business. And if you like this video please give it a thumbs up and subscribe. Before we dive into the five actions to help an unhappy employee it is really useful to know the typical signs of an unhappy employee so you can spot an unhappy employee as quickly as possible. Every team member will have their own way of showing their unhappiness. Here are nine typical signs of an unmotivated employee. Firstly being unusually quiet. Secondly general disagreement at work. Thirdly complaining a lot more. Fourth their output is noticeably reducing. Fifth they're turning up late so it could be delayed to meetings as well as late to actually coming into work. Sixth there's a noticeable resistance to general requests to do things. Seventh you've noticed more distressed conversations with colleagues are you know the individuals quite upset when they're having those conversations. Eighth an increased number of errors or a general lack of attention in their work. And nine increased requests for praise. If you're having one-on-one meetings each week with your direct reports and you're paying attention to their non-verbal communication you are likely to spot signs of unhappiness very quickly. You can take action quickly to deal with the unhappy employees. Early action massively increases your chances of getting a good outcome. So once you have spotted the signs of an unhappy employee knowing what to do is pretty important. The first action to help an unhappy employee is to find out the reasons for the unhappiness. If you don't know what the problem is it is very hard if not impossible to choose the right solution. As soon as you spot signs of an unhappy employee review actions decisions or lack of actions at work that might be the cause of unhappiness. This gives you a starting point. Some of the obvious work related examples could be firstly someone else got promotion the individual was after. Secondly not getting onto a project or not being offered work which would be developing their skills or moving their career forward. Thirdly it could be missing out on sales targets or getting a bonus. Fourth a breakdown of a relationship or some kind of dispute or conflict with a colleague. Don't assume you know the answers even if it appears obvious. Invite the individual into a meeting room for privacy and then ask them what has made them unhappy. Just a simple step of trying to find out what is making them unhappy shows you care. This is usually enough to get them to open up. Another option is to ask colleagues that they are friendly with if they are aware of any issues. When doing this be discreet when asking these types of questions of other staff members. Keep asking questions until you understand what is causing the employees unhappiness. Always be careful and empathetic when asking questions while not giving up. The second action to help an unhappy employee is to listen and be empathetic. When the unhappy team member starts telling you what the issues are your most important job is to actively listen to what they are saying and be empathetic. You should only speak to encourage them to say more. The best way to do this is to ask open questions and then wait for their response. Don't rush to provide a solution or defender decision or action that you or other managers have taken. Just listen. Letting the unhappy employee vent and say what is bothering them will improve their mindset, especially if you are really listening and taking in what they are saying. Ask as many questions as you need so you really understand the situation the unhappy employee is in. Actively listen to what they are telling you and you'll be in a much better place to help an unhappy employee. The third action to help an unhappy employee is address the issues you can quickly. Once you know what is causing a team member to be unhappy you can take useful action. If the issue is work related then work out what action should be taken by you. Some issues will be within your control to resolve. More are likely to be outside of your control. There are a huge range of reasons, events, decisions and actions that might result in an employee becoming unhappy. What to do about a given one is a judgement on your part based on the particular circumstances. I would suggest that you think carefully about the intended and unintended consequences of taking a particular course of action and what precedence this might set for the wider team. Consistency of decision and actions will help you reduce the chances of making individuals unhappy. So let's touch on a couple of examples. If there is conflict between team members, bullying or negative behaviour then hopefully your actions will be focused on resolving the conflicts or stopping the behaviour as a key way to help an unhappy employee. If a decision was taken for the good of the team or the business which happens to be negatively impacting one person's job then you may not want to change that decision. Your focus might be on what you can do to address the employee's concerns, the loss of work, the loss of prestige or other benefits they use to enjoy. If of course that is appropriate. Work out what is sensible and practical to do. Putting the effort into think about possible solutions and communicating these to the unhappy employee will go a long way to helping the situation. Always report back to the employee what you have done or considered. If change is not possible or not desirable explain the reasons for this very clearly. For issues that are knockwork related your role may be more of a supportive colleague available to listen, to give them time off if they need to seek external help for instance or to help manage their workload to give them at least space to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Take what action you can to deal with the unhappy employees and tell them about the action that you have taken. The fourth action in how to deal with the unhappy employees is to remain persistent in finding a resolution. Remaining persistent to find a resolution is perhaps the hardest stage. It is so easy to stop at a partial resolution or after the employee has let off steam and appears happier. I have regrettably done this myself several times. Try to keep revisiting the issues with the unhappy employee and pushing for a more meaningful resolution. Until you reach the point where the unhappy employee is definitely happy again there will always be a significantly bigger risk of them leaving, of negative behaviour or lower effort levels being put in. Don't accept OK. Look for a good resolution. The extra effort in my view is nearly always rewarded with improved loyalty, effort and appreciation from both the previously unhappy employee and also the remaining members of the team. The fifth action to deal with unhappy employees is to keep records. Keep notes of the meetings you hold, the when and the where and the main points of conversation you have with the unhappy employee. The best and most common scenario is that you never need to look at those notes again. On a few occasions the unhappy employee can become a disgruntled or problematic employee despite your best efforts. This is where your notes become invaluable if you need to run a performance improvement plan or if you need to take more formal action. Invest in keeping notes of the conversations and the actions taken, even at a high level. The extra effort is worth it in the long run. So in summary, spotting the signs of an unhappy employee early is worth its weight in gold from a management perspective. Finding out exactly what the issues are and then taking action to resolve the issues or support the individuals in resolving their personal issues is essential to gain a happy employee. To recap, we've been through nine signs of an unhappy employee and the five actions to help an unhappy employee being firstly find out the reasons for the unhappiness, secondly listen and be empathetic, thirdly address the issues you can quickly, fourth be persistent in finding a resolution and fifth keep records in case the worst happens. If you have any questions on the five actions to help an unhappy employee please leave them in the comment section below and I'll get back to you. Thanks very much for watching and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.