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What do employees want the most?
“In 1949 when supervisors and managers were asked about what they thought employees wanted most, they answered: wages, job security, and promotions/growth opportunities, in order of importance. When the employees were surveyed, they answered: full appreciation for work done, being involved, and sympathetic help on personal problems. Wages ranked fifth.” Kenneth Kovach
62 years later we live in the year 2011.
What now do employees want?
What would you prefer? An annual monetary payment or a frequent choice of non-monetary gifts?
Pip Stocks
Zaz Tao 30+
Out.
They want nothing more than to get the hell out of work. Give them enough money and they are gone for good. Nobody wants to be forced to do something and that is what employment is.
Ask any sane slave what they want from their master and they will do a set of quick mental calculations based around: 1) what the master wants to hear and 2) what tiny little concession they might obtain given their assessment of the master's generosity or lack of. The more vicious and intolerant the master is, the more the slave will report they are happy and content with their slavery and how wonderful a master they have.
In 1949, automation was still crude and people were actually needed to perform work. Sixty two years later, people are clinging to employment only where they are less costly than silicon and software. Their real master is this cold, heartless equation that this obsolete economic model is based on. When questioned, they will say how much they love their employment, and later, when safe, they will close their eyes, see themselves homeless and digging sustenance from a garbage dumpster and they will say a little prayer for their next sorry little paycheck.
Play violin, beat the world's chess champion, win at Jeopardy! Really Amy, how long do you think you have before a $2000. shrink-wrapped set of disks will do more than you can?
Audrey Misiano
Deborah Zotian
Amy Meyer
kai zhang
Jim Moonan 30+
I do think many good observations have been made, yet become crowded out by academic and esoteric musings.
(I have an idea I may float to Ted Conversations Community regarding these idea/question/debate forums: those that initiate a discussion also facilitate them and summarize at points during the discussion the
significant points that have been made - maybe after every 10 comments. To be fair, some already do this.
But it may help these discussions to be more instructive if we incorporated facilitation and summarization into them - though the potential for networking alone is worth the price of esotericism!)
We do what we do to make a living. If the work we do brings us nothing else but a paycheck, we find other ways to give meaning to our lives. There are other things that influence what we do to make a living (management, rate of pay,
Amy Meyer
I feel this conversation is quite rooted in reality. Everyone has their opinion on the matter. It is comments like yours that help ground the conversation so thank you!
Marina Theodotou 500+
Chandrasekaran Krishnamurthy
Aley Martin
Amy Meyer
How would you ideally like to be acknowledged?
Claudette Cohen
Tomas Sabaliauskas
Who cares what one prefers. Give them the freedom of choice, while being ready to "push" to the side that is less expensive for you - in case they don't know what they want...?
Kirill Moiseyev
Eve Ash
Amy Meyer
Is a well structured rewards/recognition system imperative for staff retention?
Debra Smith 200+
As to gifts and perks- if they are well targetted and meaningful to the recipient what they mean is that they are cared about and cared for -thus enhancing a sense of belonging.
Amy Meyer
William Edwards
Debra Smith 200+
Deborah Zotian
It does have to be monitored, though. After some time, these things tend to be a pat on head and 'here's your glass of water, now go to bed' kind of thing. I'm not sure how to keep it 'real' but recognition of and by peers is always a boost - even if people won't admit it.
psumo(parris) child of heaven(johnson)
blue collars/laborers may want ; money,time,benefits,praise for good work, support on personal issues, car fare, idea implementation, new responsibility. the list goes on.
white collars may want ego boosts,more responsibility, more work challenges, a raise.......
workers in other countries may want more pay, healthcare,human rights and to not slave the majority of their life awawy in a truly dead end sweatshop job or the like. but that's applicable to all workers. just saying.
heba alshich
second would be my future: can I see myself at that place for 5 years( cz I believe that a person should change every 5 tears in order to get more expeirences)
then after that come the wage if your happy and can picture yourself then it's a matter of finance
SATYAJEET DIKSHIT
Debra Smith 200+
What they hate is being reduced to insignificance.
Revett Eldred 10+
Debra Smith 200+
Just ask two people in a divorce settlement what is fair and you are as likely to get a good definition!
Debra Smith 200+
Love the new picture!
Ahmed Ahmedov
Sargis B.
Scott Butler
I think it's also important to recognize that what leads to satisfaction may be different than what leads to dissatisfaction. We can't simply assume that the absence of a motivator creates dissatisfaction.
Younus Ali
In case of employees' want, I think they need respect in their work domain, and above all a chance to prove themselves in best possible manners, to take challenges and spreading thier point of views of looking at that particular goal, given/assogn to them. Wages can't make them satisfied upto the limits they wish to be, they need good relationships and care in terms of the needs thay can come across while leading a good life. Again good life can't be fullfilled only with money :)
Cheers
Amy Meyer
William Palaia
Ilhyun Jo 10+
Lee Wilkinson 20+
Chris Ke-Sihai 200+
I have a local client who tries to send his staff home at 5pm. He wants them to be happy, fulfilled, and get their work done efficiently. But they all stay in the office for an hour or two extra, telling him that they still have work to do, because nobody wants to be the one who walks out leaving their colleagues still looking busy. In reality, everyone is making work, nobody really needs to be there.
Incentivising those people is really difficult. At the 'average' level (ie not high fliers) people here want security first, high salary second, and promotion/advancement is a very distant third because it entails the dreaded R-word. Nobody wants responsibility.
Being appreciated means being noticed, means being accountable and given responsibility. Being involved means being responsible. Also to be avoided. A lot of people do get sucked into deep involvement with and responsibility for some aspect of a task, but very often it's the bit they feel most comfortable with rather than the most important one. They stay in their comfort zones, or complain about unfair pressure.
In my work, I meet a lot of people who complain about not being valued or appreciated. They're not happy about the hours or being a small cog in an impersonal machine. But these feelings are less important than the accepted values and expectations of others, so their responses to incentives are conditioned by outside forces, not their true feelings.
Is it the same in other countries?
rica monete
Revett Eldred 10+
Bottom line: people don't work for money, but they do quit for money. The more interesting the job, the less likely money is to be a factor in the person's contentedness. People need to feel that they belong, that their work is important to the success of the enterprise no matter how "low" they may be on the totem pole, and that they are being paid fairly and not being taken advantage of. It is the job of the organization's leader to create and defend a culture that nurtures this. The biggest obstacles are always middle managers whose philosophy is "I'm the boss, you do what I say"; that has to be beaten out of them. The org chart for my company showed 250 programmers and analysts on the top line -- above them were our clients, their 'bosses'. Under them were all the middle managers. Their job was to make sure that the people on the top row had everything they needed to do their jobs well and to satisfy the customers. Under the middle managers were four executives; their job was to make sure the middle managers had whatever they needed to do their jobs well. And at the bottom was yrs trly. I used to describe my principal role as Defender of the Culture, because the day we lost the culture of respect for staff would be the day we started the slide to failure.
As has been pointed out, different people are motivated by different things. But a good employer nurtures the innate motivators in people and doesn't try to do everything with external carrots and sticks. I used to ask my managers: How many people do you know who go to work and say: "I think I will do a shitty job today"? Pay staff fairly, listen to them, and then keep out of their way.
Amy Meyer
Congratulations on your successes!
I am not sure if I can 100% agree that people do not work for money. But I do agree that they might quit for money.
Belonging is a very important and I think that an employee will develop a sense of belonging if they are constantly recognised for the work they do. Your company structure would make a great flow chart! It seems you really know what your talking about in your industry of work.
Debra Smith 200+
neha singhal
its really good to hear you with the depth of the employee heart, its true enough people do quite for money. also it inspire me " the day we lost the culture of respect for staff would be the day we started the slide to failure".
I hope boss should feel the same of employee
Younus Ali
You have inspired yet revived what i believe in truely.
Regards
Younus
Christophe Cop 500+
An open door: People are different.
other problems with the question are:
* People don't always know what they want
* People don't always know what another person wants
* Wanting and needing can be totally different.
Putting those remarks aside:
We can assume many people want to do things they are passionate about.
We can assume people need money in order to get a lot of our daily needs
So I assume that if you can do both things at the same time, you must be happier than when the match between those two is less
I think the '49 research is already repeated over and over, and the conclusions probably are still (more or less) the same.
As for me: If I can get my good food & shelter and quality of life without money: fine by me.
Otherwise
"How about you guys let me do what I want and monetize me for it" wold be nice to
Amy Meyer
I enjoyed reading your feedback and have found it to be valuable.
"So I assume that if you can do both things at the same time, you must be happier than when the match between those two is less" - this is essentially what I am trying to achieve in my rewards program.
Thanks :)
Lara Wibbe
But what would you think about a company that offers its employees personalized rewards - things they really want - for their achievements?
Denise Nisbet
Amy Meyer
William Edwards
Lara Wibbe
By saying "it is an interpersonal thing" do you mean it is just between you and your boss? Isn't there a danger of subjectivity?
Salim Solaiman 50+
Amy Meyer
I have always been under the impressions that many people do work for the salary or monetary rewards. I feel in an ideal world, an employee would like to value highly the recognition and participation in decision in the workplace, but when it comes down to reality, they are in need of a salary.
Salim Solaiman 50+
I don't totally disregard the salary. Definitely we work to earn money, but the point is thats not of the prime importance all the timel. Salary does not mean the highest salary of the industry people want , they want a fair compensation. The impact of salary or money is different at different level of hierarchy in th organization. Yes at entry level for a new comer that can be more important than one who is there for longer time and is a bit upper level. You might be aware of the Mashlow's need hierarchy theory that applies.
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm
Moreover every year one or the other big companies are performing Organization Climate Survey to understand what moves people best to give their best and consistantly money matter is not on the top of the list,
Besides the impact of monetary reward or salary increase is the shortest lived one. The moment one get it they feel good than forget. About salary increase , first time when they get the letter of salary increase people feel good but then after they take it as granted. Where as other factors mentioned in my earlier post have much long last impact on people motivation or demotivation.
Comment deleted
Debra Smith 200+
In a different system, if everyone had the sense that the work they were doing was for some important overall goal- and that it was also the company's goal to produce more than just profit- people would be willing to contribute more of themselves for less financial incentive.
When companies are expecting people to work for less and contribute more of themselves in terms of time away from family etc. it is a pretty tough sell if it is just a profit making manoever.
Harald Jezek 50+
Amy Meyer
Do you think people in management positions with a 6 or 7 figure income would be interested in a rewards program that provided them with non-monetary gifts as method to encourage a positive working environment?
eddie barnes
I think this is a relevant video to this topic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
Noah Kane
Amy Meyer
Katherine Malouf
As you said Salim, they all work for these big companies. You need to recognise the inherent subjectivity and the targeted audience in these surveys. (Not saying that it is wrong) It is obvious that salaries would not mean much to these employees especially because they are earning above what most people would.
Don't you think that the billions of people around the world who don't have jobs or earning minimum wage would choose salaries as the most important thing?
But I do think that once you are earning a wage that is suitable for you, then your priorities in the workplace shift and you start to want recognition, non monetary rewards and so on...
Salim Solaiman 50+
Let me clarify myself. Yes many of those surveys are done by big companies. However big companies does not mean they are all big payers. Among them also there are low, median and high payers. So with in those companies also a employee from low paid company does not move only for salary reason. Besides there are also great small companies who run those surveys as well, among them also there are low median & high paid company, and same principle applies. With in even a big high paid companies there are high , median and low paid employee on the basis of their performance after ensuring the minimum wages level.
When the question is about employee , focus was only to the people who are employed already. You are right for the jobless people money will be the first driving factor but once s/he gets the job it may or may not be a driving factor of leaving employer for salary reason only.
UN has come up with a treaty named "Global Compact" , signatories of Global Compact are bound to ensure minimum wages level for employee considering cost of living of the country. Please check the link below for more information
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/aboutthegc/thetenprinciples/principle1.html
Moreover take the example of Japanese Management System. In Japan there are lot of instances because of loss when employer wanted to close down the business , employees came up and told , not to close and told that rather they will take less salary untill the company turns around. Why it happened? It happened, as those companies gives something more than salary to those people which are intangible. Could I answer your question ?
Katherine Malouf
Harald Jezek 50+
Amy Meyer
I think an employee who has a limited potential to earn a greater income, would welcome these gifts warmly.
The gifts might be of a much smaller monetary value, however they will provide the employee with a sense of recognition and a feeling of belonging in the workplace.
Harald Jezek 50+
Yes, for the "regular" employees, these not monetary compensations are certainly welcome. Actually, it's already widely practiced anyway, mostly because there are tax benefits to a company for this kind of compensations.
I'm not sure if those gifts as you call them changes how people feel about their workplace.
A good example how you can make people feel good about their workplace is Google. Look at their work environment. I think you even can bring your pets with you to work. they also give their people some "creative" time where the employees just can toy around with any ideas they might have.
Amy Meyer
I think that if the employee was able to personalise their choice of non-monetary gifts, this might create a bigger sense of belonging in the work place. From what I understand, many companies will themselves decide what gifts to give out rather than seeking out from the employees exactly what it is they want and giving that to them.