Common Workplace Challenges and Solutions

Common Workplace Challenges and
Solutions
There are many challenges that come with working in an office. From the
sometimes overwhelming feeling of being overworked to the hidden stressors
such as having to be “on” all day, it’s not always easy for employees. However,
there are ways to overcome these obstacles and get more out of your workday.
In this article, we’ll explore some common workplace challenges and share ideas
for how you can turn them into solutions.
10 Workplace Challenges and Solutions

If you look at most challenges in the workplace, they’re not unique to any one
business. This is good news because it means there’s plenty of advice out there to
help you find a solution!
1. Insufficient Training
A lack of training leads to a number of workplace issues. The most obvious one is
that employees aren’t able to do their jobs as well as they would like, but it goes
deeper than this.
Poor training is a leadership challenge in the workplace that can also lead to
increased frustration because employees don’t know what it takes to improve
their performance or excel in their roles. If left unchecked, this can lead to
employee burnout, which can be very damaging for the employee and the
business. Eventually, this may turn into the biggest challenge at work.
Solution:
It’s important to see training as an investment. When you make training a big
part of your culture, it will come back to you in improved efficiency and
productivity.
Make sure it’s an open process by involving your employees in the conversation.
Ask them what skills they think they need to work on.
2. Schedule Inflexibility
People lead complicated lives that don’t always fit with the Monday to Friday, 9-5
work schedule. While some businesses need their employees to work a fixed
schedule, there are many that don’t.
Scheduling inflexibility can lead to higher stress levels, and affect your workers’
ability to do their best work.
Solution:
Flexible schedules might seem complicated, but with the right scheduling
software, they’re actually easy to manage. You can still keep track of your
employees’ time (if you feel it’s necessary), and you can give your staff greater
responsibility for their schedules.
The easiest way to do this is with employee scheduling software from ZoomShift.

This will allow you to effortlessly create schedules (including rotating
shifts and split shifts) and track your employees’ time, but most importantly, it
provides flexibility.
Employees can easily request time off, trade shifts, and track their PTO, all of
which gives them a great sense of flexibility.
3. Poor Work-Life Balance
If you have a work-life balance problem, it is the biggest challenge at work. We all
know balancing work-life balance is tricky. From the CEO down to the new entry-
level employee, we can all find it tricky to get this right.
As a business owner and manager, important thing to remember is that more

time spent at work doesn’t necessarily mean you get more work done, and it
certainly doesn’t guarantee quality. If you’re expecting your employees to spend
all their hours at work and rarely grant time off, then it’s going to start to affect
their health and their performance.
Solution:
Work-life balance starts with culture. If you’re conveying a message that the way
to success is to spend as much time as possible in the office, then it’s not
surprising that people are going to lack a proper work-life balance (even if your
scheduling is flexible).
Celebrate time off and the idea that rest and relaxation are essential to peak
performance. Invest in employee wellbeing, and encourage people to switch off
when they leave the office (don’t expect people to constantly reply to emails and
messages outside of office hours).
4. Lack of Motivation
Motivation isn’t something you can just magic up. There will always be some days
where your employees feel motivated and others where they don’t.
What is a problem when there’s a persistent lack of motivation across your entire
workforce?
Motivation is a common workplace challenge, and thankfully there are lots of

solutions to it.
Solution:
Communicate with your staff! A great place to start is by asking what factors they
find most motivating. Create a list of factors such as pay, time off, goals, and
bonuses, and ask them to rank them in order of importance.
This will help you understand what gets the most out of your employees,
allowing you to implement new motivation techniques.
5. Lack of Communication
A lack of communication is a common problem in the workplace. But without

communication, it’s difficult for employees to know what’s expected of them. It
also means that other problems go unreported, rather than getting fixed, they
begin to stack up.
Poor communication will hurt productivity and lead to more errors, so it’s
important that businesses find ways to improve in this area.
Solution:
Encouraging open communication should be one of the main roles of a manager.

It’s about putting systems in place that allows messages to travel freely from top-
to-bottom, and bottom to top.
Sometimes this can be as simple as finding the right platform to communicate

on. For example, you might be doing everything through email, when instead,
what you need is something more instant like Slack.
6. Trust Issues
When it comes to workplace challenges and solutions, trust issues can be one of
the most difficult to solve. This is because trust is generally eroded over a period
of time, and it takes time to win it back.
If employees feel like their employers can’t be trusted, or that they’re not trusted
to do their job, then it’s a recipe for unhappiness.
Solution:
One of the easiest ways for trust to break down is through a lack of
communication. People can’t read minds, so when they’re not getting the
information they need, they start to fill in the blanks themselves, and often not in
a good way.
Sometimes businesses have to deliver bad news, but if you’re open and honest
about it, it’s going to help build trust.
One way to get people to communicate and trust each other again is to
encourage team-building activities.
7. Little Recognition
It’s natural that people want to be recognized for the hard work they do. It’s easy
to get into the mindset that an employee’s pay is their recognition, but often it’s
the small details that really matter.
When someone does great work, it’s an excellent opportunity to boost morale
and build trust, so don’t miss out on it.
Solution:
Create employee rewards like employee of the month, and keep track of

milestones like birthdays and work anniversaries. Demonstrate that your
employees are valuable to your company, and recognition shouldn’t be a
problem at work.
8. Staff Conflict/ Bullying
Staff conflicts happen, it’s a part of life, and it’s a part of the business. People
have different opinions, and that’s a great thing, but it’s how communication is
handled that matters.
When differences of opinion spill over into outright conflict, and even bullying, it
can be terrible for employee morale, performance, productivity, mood, and
everything else.
Solution:
You can overcome this common workplace challenge by creating an open
environment where employees can express themselves in a structured way. By
promoting teamwork, encouraging feedback, addressing negative attitudes, and
asking about the biggest challenges at work, you can create a more harmonious
environment.
9. No Potential Growth
Everybody has goals. As much as your employees might enjoy their jobs, they
also want to progress their careers and take on new challenges in the workplace.
If your business doesn’t appear to offer these opportunities, then it’s going to be
a top issues in the workplace.
Solution:
Set a career progression map that shows your employees the opportunities that
are available. Discuss what criteria need to be met for raises, and help your staff
plan their career trajectory.
The other important aspect is to follow through with what you talk about. Show
that you promote from within and offer raises to high-performing employees.
10. Lack of Technology
It can be endlessly frustrating when you don’t have the right tools to do your job.
Choosing the right technology can be difficult, particularly for small business
owners who have limited resources. However, there’s some technology that pays
for itself in the long run, and without it, you just can’t keep up with the
competition.
Solution:
One of the best things you can do is create a technology plan. This looks at your
current and future needs to decide which technology is a priority and which can
wait.
Make sure to get feedback from your employees, as they’re the ones that will be
working with the technology on a daily basis. Ask them what problems have you
faced during the work and what technology can help resolve that.
You’ll find that technology like ZoomShift can save employees precious time,

freeing them up to spend more time on the most important tasks.
ZoomShift can help you streamline your employee scheduling and keep a track of
who is working when and where. Track your employee’s time and attendance
with ease, eliminate costly time tracking errors, calculate work hours, and run
payroll in minutes, not hours. On top of all, your team can effectively
communicate with one another from a single platform.
Start your 14 days free trial with no credit card required. You get full access to
employee scheduling, time tracking, timesheet, team communication, and
everything else required to manage a team.
Final Thoughts
Leadership challenges in the workplace are a part of the business. There are
always going to be new workplace issues, but the important thing is that you can
work through them in a logical, timely way.
These are some of the most common workplace challenges and solutions. As you
can see, they’re very solvable. Often, the key is communication, and with the right
technology, you can normally find a simple solution.
If you have any unique challenges at work examples, please comment below. We
shall try to address them with the best possible solution to resolve your
workplace issues.

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Common Workplace Challenges and

10 Workplace Challenges and Solutions

The easiest way to do this is with employee scheduling software from ZoomShift.

3. Poor Work-Life Balance

As a business owner and manager, important thing to remember is that more

Motivation is a common workplace challenge, and thankfully there are lots of

A lack of communication is a common problem in the workplace. But without

Encouraging open communication should be one of the main roles of a manager.

Sometimes this can be as simple as finding the right platform to communicate

Create employee rewards like employee of the month, and keep track of

8. Staff Conflict/ Bullying

10. Lack of Technology

You’ll find that technology like ZoomShift can save employees precious time,

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