What Employees Want From Jobs
photo by jspace3
Thanks to Lijit I can see what folks are searching for when they arrive. “What Employees Want From Their Jobs” has been hitting the top of the charts frequently lately so here goes:
It depends.
Horrible answer, but people are all working for different reasons. The best employers try to get to the bottom of what indviduals want rather than looking at their workforce as a single entity. I’d recommend you start by asking them. Ask them repeatedly and don’t accept their first few answers. Most people haven’t actually thought much about this. Press them. Then ask again.
So contrary to what I just said, I’m going to try drawing some broad generalities as a starting point.
- Control of their destiny. One needs to know what constitutes excellent performance and what it will take to get a raise, promotion or more responsibility. Further they must have the leeway to perform excellently. When politics, bureaucracy and subjectivity take the control out of their hands rewards are perceived as arbitrary. Randomness isn’t exactly inspirational.
- Trust. Be an ‘insider.’ Trust in your people to hold sensitive information close to the vest. Bring them into the fold. Being on the ‘inside’ and breaking down the ‘us vs. them’ barriers is a great way to establish allegiance. In particular, give them the information that impacts how they do their job or could fundamentally change their world. Poor communication begets poor action. It fosters resentment and ultimately makes you look bad anyway.
- Compensation fairness. It’s usually not about how much one is making as it is about the perceived fairness of what they earn relative to others. Often salaries are a function of what gets negotiated initially. And new employees are often ‘valued’ more than existing ones (3% annual raises don’t add up as quickly as job-hopping). Assume the information will leak. Admins and communal printers are quite efficient at identifying inequity.
- A challenge. More often than not, people want a chance to grow. They want to stretch themselves, learn and try new things. Find ways to give them the chance to fail but give them the support to maximize the chance they won’t.
- Important work and a chance to shine. Not everyone likes the spotlight, but everyone likes to feel like they’ve done a great job on something that really matters. Ensure people understand how what they’re working on helps the company accomplish the big goals and then find ways to get them the credit they deserve in a way that suits their personality.
A job is a lot more than a paycheck, a bowl of M&Ms and health insurance. Intrinsic rewards are far more meaningful and lasting. If you see your team as more than cogs in the wheel and want to build a sustainable business then focus on what those intrinsic rewards are for each individual.
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Great post. The three things that have always made me happy at work:
1) Empowerment – I can actually do things (that matter) and it has impact on the organization.
2) Recognition – I love it when I work really hard and do a good job and it gets noticed. It can be $ based, a company wide announcement, but the absolute best is a hand written sincere note from someone higher up. "We noticed, we appreciate it, good work."
3) Transparency – You can always tell when bad things are brewing, if your honest with people they will be happier, honestly we can take bad news.
I totally agree with compensation fairness. This is the one place where ostrich syndrome is good. If I'm happy with all of the above and I'm making X, finding out someone who does less, cares less, etc is making X+10k will hurt morale. It's silly, but like you said it's "perceived fairness".
Your comment is better and more succinct than the original post. Thank you. I love the hand written note. There is sincerity in that small amount of extra effort that you just can't get in our more modern forms of communication.
Now that you mentioned it, or blogged it, I ask myself what do I really want from my job.
And I'm drawing a blank. The generalities you listed sound all good and true but I guess there are people like me who just do things for the sake of doing them.
Don't get me wrong, I need the money to support the family. But if I have no responsibility whatsoever, I would gladly try different jobs, just so that I could experience them and not because I'm looking for something in a particular job.
I hope I'm making sense. LOL
Jay, thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. You are definitely making sense. We're all motivated by different things and you clearly have a great sense of adventure.
I had two reasons for writing this post.
1. As you point out, a lot of people don't actually think about what they want out of a job, but following some bad experiences they often know what they don't want. The more we think about this the more likely many of us will be to find jobs where we have our needs met by the work itself. For example, if you're motivated by new experiences you could even job hop within the company to try on new hats.
2. The workplace is changing. After years of 'people are our most important asset' it's starting to come true in some places (see what Zappos is doing). I wanted to get some starting points on 'paper' to help managers take those first steps to creating a work place that utilizes what everyone has to offer.
Jay, thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. You are definitely making sense. We're all motivated by different things and you clearly have a great sense of adventure.
I had two reasons for writing this post.
1. As you point out, a lot of people don't actually think about what they want out of a job, but following some bad experiences they often know what they don't want. The more we think about this the more likely many of us will be to find jobs where we have our needs met by the work itself. For example, if you're motivated by new experiences you could even job hop within the company to try on new hats.
2. The workplace is changing. After years of just saying 'people are our most important asset' it's starting to come true in some places (see what Zappos is doing). I wanted to get some starting points on 'paper' to help managers take those first steps to creating a work place that utilizes what everyone has to offer.
I love that line about "creating a workplace that utilizes what everyone has to offer". Hopefully, more companies would be able to realize that and act on it.
By the way, you're welcome and thank you too for this very thought-provoking entry.
A place where my ideas are welcomed, my contributions are rewarded and my loyalty recognized.
Thank you Mark, it's great to have a fellow Coloradan stopping though.
I love Cave Creek's line about helping people find the culture and people that fit them personally as well as professionally. I believe so strongly that that is far more a key to our success than the skills we possess. Keep beating that drum – we'll get there one of these days.