Do You Know What Your Employees Want?
Written on January 4, 2013 at 6:24 pm, by Donna
If you aren't giving your employees what they want then you run the risk of having higher turnover and lower employee engagement, both of which can cost your company plenty. According to a study by the Labor Relations Institute of New York, when managers were asked what is most important to their employees they selected, in order, the following as what employees most value:
1. Good wages
2. Job security
3. Promotion and growth opportunities
4. Good working conditions
5. Interesting work
6. Personal loyalty to workers
7. Tactful discipline
8. Appreciation for work done
9. Sympathetic help with personal problems
10. Feeling “in” on things
Do you think they got it right? Well, when employees were asked to rank the same characteristics, the list came out like this:
1. Appreciation for work done
2. Feeling “in” on things
3. Sympathetic help with personal problems 4. Job security
5. Good wages
6. Interesting work
7. Personal loyalty to workers
8. Promotion and growth opportunities
9. Good working conditions
10.Tactful discipline
If you really want committed and motivated employees, you have to provide fair pay, decent benefits and job security. But that's not enough, employees want to be able to make a real contribution to the company and then be recognized for it. In order to do this they need to know what is currently happening in the company and where the company is going in the future, what is expected of them in their role and how they can add the most value through their work. They need to be challenged and appreciated. They need to feel good about their company, their boss and their surroundings. Employers who take all of these things into consideration will mitigate their losses through employee turnover and increase productivity through employee engagement.