Assuring Employees “Tick” and “Hum”

By John A. Haas
Management Strategies Group

Every manager knows how expensive and time-consuming it is to hire new and especially replace high-performing employees. While in today’s uncertain economic climate employees may be staying put, there are many signs that pressure and stress are building in a downsized environment in which there are fewer people to do more work (see my article “Are They Ready to Bolt?” in the Spring 2004 issue).

Employees have learned, however reluctantly, that they can’t count on long-term employment. Increasingly, they are taking greater control over their own careers, based on where they’ve been, their aspirations and their personally-defined “pursuit of happiness.” They recognize that their careers are really a series of cumulative work experiences over which they can exercise considerable control

What Employees Seek

What make employees “tick” in today’s workforce include the following:

• Money: to “get stuff” and enjoy life
• Personal growth: skills, experience, knowledge, responsibilities
• A learning environment: access to training and development opportunities
• A vibrant work context: job responsibilities, leadership structure, co-workers and a comfortable work culture
• Empowerment: freedom to act with guidance and leadership
• A work/life balance
• Evidence that their work is important and contributes to organization success
• Recognition for contributions

What Energizes Employees

Companies want employees to not only stay, but thrive. Among things that make employees “hum” include:

• A clear sense of where the organization is headed, and how their own job and unit contribute
• Feeling part of a high-performing team
• Supportive and empowering leadership
• Credible, relevant and achievable individual and unit goals that they helped identify
• Confidence that they have the support and capability to achieve their goals through their own efforts
• Confidence that they will receive rewards and recognition in relation to results achieved
• Constructive feedback about their strengths and areas to improve
• Attention to career development planning and commensurate growth opportunities

Employees with these expectations and desires are precisely the kinds of people dynamic, thriving organizations should want. Creating a culture that meets these needs should be a “no brainer.”

Summer 2005 -Volume 15, Number 3

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