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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Employee Hacks and Habits
The American workplace is increasingly creeping into every facet of employee’s lives, which makes it nearly impossible to decompress everyday. Because of the increased demands on time, employees become distracted and have turned to using hacks to cope with stress.
Bridge by Instructure conducted a survey of more than 1,000 office employees across the country to assess their habits in the workplace.
Distracted Working Can Be Costly
- Employees spend up to 77 minutes per day watching non-work-related TV or online videos while at work.
- This results in companies losing more than $8,800 per year per employee.
- This could cost a company with 5,000 employees as much as $44 million per year.
Vicious Cycle: Many Companies Create a Culture of Busyness and Burnout
Though employees are distracted at work, their company culture often doesn’t encourage an adequate work-life balance to help them unwind.
- Only ⅓ of respondents are encouraged by their employer to take PTO.
- Only 11% are encouraged to take mental health days.
- 78% said working more was an important factor in being promoted.
- ½ stated that socializing outside of work was also a factor in being promoted.
- 53% said that engaging in workplace politics was a moderately important factor in being promoted.
Employee Engagement Is a Problem
Today’s employees are overworked, overstressed, and under-rested. Many experience an element of burnout or disengagement with their work as a result. Our results unveil an opportunity for companies to improve career paths and identify areas for growth.
- 45% are somewhat satisfied with their current role.
- 44% are somewhat satisfied with their current job in comparison to opportunities available at their company.
- 25% have 1:1 meetings with their manager bi-annually or less.
Employees Develop Bad Habits to Deal with Stress
Employees may turn to substances as part of the way they manage stressors in the office.
- 34% of respondents said their job has increased reliance on caffeine.
- 9% said they increased their sugar intake.
- 7% stated they rely on anti-anxiety medication.
Good Coping Mechanisms
Many employees have adopted healthier alternatives to deal with work-related stress.
- 30% use yoga, excercise, or meditation to relieve stress.
- 44% leave their computers at work during non-work hours.
- 21% leave their work device in another room.
How Can We Help Employees?
Companies can help their employees become less distracted and more productive, less reliant on unhealthy substances, and more able to disconnect by creating a culture that encourages a work-life balance.
As a company, you can improve communication by having frequent 1:1 meetings with employees to help them map out their career aspirations, which will improve employee satisfaction and engagement. Creating a culture where your people aren’t dealing with excessive stress and have opportunities to unplug will improve employee well-being, and eliminate potential revenue losses by ensuring employees are ready to focus when it’s time to work.
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Turnover is a big, expensive bummer
Employee performance trends that can’t wait until the annual review
25%
of annual turnover is voluntary
And it's linked directly to manager-employee relationships
An estimated
75%
of voluntary turnover is influenced by a manager's behavior
1 in 5
employees are not confident
their manager will provide
regular, constructive feedback.
Employees, managers, and HR teams agree annual reviews need a rethink of their own
Who thinks annual reviews are accurate?
So, what's a company to do?
Empower managers and employees with the tools they need for continuous feedback.
All you need is Bridge Perform to:
Engage employees regularly and strengthen worker - manager relationships
The 1:1 tool allows managers and employees to create monthly agendas and maintain an open dialogue year-round.
Give employees tools to highlight their wins (even if their managers change)
The employee journey tracker provides full timeline of achievements and goals.

Demonstrate an investment in employee development
You can enable employees to easily see progress and track goals.
Provide team snapshots that quickly illustrate problem areas
Data insights allow you to identify team members that need additional 1:1s or training.

Turnover will never go away completely. But letting a year go by between employee reviews is too little, too late.
With Bridge Perform, you can empower everyone on your team to be more engaged, while reducing turnover. Trust us, no one will miss the annual review.
3 pieces of talent data you aren’t tracking
(but really need to)
How can you drive improvement and identify red flags before they become five-alarm fires?
Keep close tabs on these 3 tidbits of talent data:
#1: Peer assessments
Yes, what other people think matters

Is your team underperforming or excelling in key job skills? Peers are your eyes and ears, and can provide valuable insight into what’s really going on with your team. Empower them to conduct peer assessments so you’ll know exactly where workers stand (and where they need a little support).

#2: 1:1 Frequency
More is more when it comes to employee check-ins

So much happens between annual reviews, so it’s no surprise more companies are using monthly check-ins instead — and reaping the rewards of a more engaged workforce. A human capital management solution like Bridge Perform makes it easy for managers and leaders to better manage their monthly or weekly 1:1s, so meetings (and morale) don’t slip.

#3: Link between employee and company goals:
Connect the dots, for the win

Successful organizations not only align individual performance goals to the company mission, they make it easy for employees and managers to see the big picture. Regularly show (and tell) workers how their efforts impact the overall success and vision of the company.

Make talent easier to manage by tracking (and reacting to) the metrics that really matter — like all the above and then some.
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