Unions And Stress—What Businesses Should Learn

Unions seem to be winning today, with headline-grabbing victories at an Apple store, some Starbucks stores and some Amazon distribution centers. The National Labor Relations Board reports a surge in union organizing petitions. These gains are small relative to the entire non-unionized workforce, but organizers and the Biden administration are hopeful for more wins.

Why are workers joining in union campaigns more now than in past years? The Biden administration’s policies, and especially the National Labor Relations Board’s practices, are frequently mentioned. But that’s a small part of the story. The labor market is tight in virtually all parts of the country and most occupations. The fact that workers have more bargaining power is no surprise in the current environment, but one important question is why workers put effort into organizing a union rather than simply walking across the street to one of the many companies with “Now Hiring” signs on display.

Unionization is often a sign of discontent more than wage/benefit dissatisfaction. And workers have plenty to be discontented about. Demand for goods and services is up, but the working-age population is not. Many workers toil in short-staffed offices and shops. Add to that all the people who changed jobs in the Great Resignation and have not yet come up to speed at their new positions. More experienced workers have to take up the slack created by new employees. A further problem is poor hires. Companies have been so desperate to hire that they may bring in people not well suited to a particular job, or not suited to any job at all. Pressure to get more done is high, and staffing across the country is not adequate.

Stress is the result. And with stress comes anger and frustration. In such a difficult workplace, managerial missteps become major irritations to workers. If a boss shows favoritism, or chews out an employee over something not the person’s fault, or schedules a worker for a difficult shift, then pressure for a union will grow.

How can a business counter this? The best strategy begins well before a union organizer shows up. Unionization occurs most often when employees feel they are treated unfairly. The union will ask for higher wages and benefits, but the trigger is often the sense of unfairness. Better training for first-level managers helps to prevent the sense of mistreatment. In some cases, managers are truly unfair, but in other instances they interact with employees in a clumsy manner. Training can also help first-level managers cope with the stress they themselves face in supervising an over-worked team.

De-stressing workers can relieve some unionization pressure. Workers will often be fine with short-run stress. They may even exult in it. A team that has to overcome a big challenge, such as an unusually short lead time or delivering a result without key staff members, will often rise to the occasion. When the effort is done, they all feel good. They high-five each other and, hopefully, go out to celebrate their success. But what workers can do once is not what they can do every day, week in and week out for an entire year. So when workers have had an unusually difficult time, management needs to help.

Hiring more workers is an obvious item for the list of possible solutions, but most companies have been trying to hire more workers for quite some time. Continuing recruiting efforts is a sensible tactic, but don’t expect better results next month than last month.

Shedding workload should be considered. Few managers want to turn down profitable business, but when accepting too many orders triggers more resignations, the company may be better off with lower sales volume. Turning down orders is the blunt instrument. Raising prices boosts profit margins while reducing the quantity of work to be done. If raising prices does not fit the company’s customer relationships, it may be able to quote longer lead times. Instead of shipping product this week, tell those placing orders that shipments will go out next week. Another option to be considered is suspending sales of lower-margin products or closing lower-performing locations.

A final alternative to consider is paying bonuses for workers stressed by inadequate number of co-workers or by low-performing colleagues. A “hard duty” bonus does not need to continue when the crisis eases, and it can be focused on employees who are stepping up to meet the short-term need.

Unionization occurs most often when employees feel they are treated unfairly. Businesses where employees feel fairly treated and adequately compensated are not likely to demand union representation, and that makes the business manager’s job easier and the company more profitable.