When discussing employee staffing issues during consultations, wages and long-term employment are inevitably part of the conversation. After decades of advisement, it is no longer a surprise to me about the disconnect between what executives think is most important to the employees versus what employees actually feel is most important. Below is a graphic chart that visually represents the employee’s point of view versus the employer’s point of view for ranking what is most important to the employee. [For graph, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
This information has been verified by numerous surveys by different HR groups. When asked to rank on a scale of one to ten, ten being the most important, the question is simply what do you feel is most important to employees to keep them motivated and satisfied with the company.
The graph is structured so you can see, from left to right, what is most important from the employee’s perspective. But, as the color bars show, there is a significant disconnect from the employer’s perspective of what they believe is most important.
Much of this disconnect stems from willful blindness. Too many executives refuse to understand, or they do understand but are unwilling to acknowledge the truth about what is most important to the employees.
First, the big one is employee wages. Survey after survey by HR groups of employee satisfaction surveys all state that, when it comes to keeping an employee motivated and satisfied with the company, wages always come up 4th or 5th in a ten-question survey. However, the key to this ranking of salaries is that the company must pay market wages for the work. If the employees can find the same job for higher salaries somewhere else, wages become the number one issue. If your company has a high employee turnover rate and open positions, can you guess how the wage rates are affecting your company? Also, if the employees do not feel good about the working environment, then higher wages become a way to bribe them to stay with the company.
Second, what is most important to the employees is appreciation of their work and the fact that they all want to feel part of the processes that help the company make more informed decisions. Numbers one and two, appreciation of work well done and feeling part of the decision process, always land in top positions in surveys of this type. These aspects that are important to the employees are the very definition of good manager and employee communication. Surprisingly, these two aspects of good communication are the easiest to resolve, but they must be part of the company’s culture. But did you notice how low executives rate these two as most important to the employees? Having the employee as part of the decision process is the last important thing for managers. So many executives have a clear disconnect regarding employee engagement or worse, they pretend they care, but it is superficial. Letting employees know they are doing a good job and bringing them into the decision process cannot be faked or disregarded.
Of course, there are variations of the ranking depending on gender and individual needs and desires. Some seek promotions and leadership positions, while others need stability and longevity without the pressure of leadership roles. Good managers must understand the differences in motivation depending on various employee skills and desires. Volumes of books can be read about this topic, but the main points should be self-evident and should be worth serious consideration.
Net profits will always be negatively impacted if your company struggles with open positions and high employee turnover. There is much more to discuss to motivate and create employee satisfaction properly. Without fail, every company that TDC has seen with the best employee practices, and therefore satisfaction, always had higher than average net profits. Unsurprisingly, these companies with great employee practices have very low turnover or open positions. Hopefully, your company has more than superficial employee satisfaction practices.
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