Recently I had an intriguing discussion with an experienced senior executive professional from one of the reputed organizations here in Oman who stated that despite that their organization was paying their employees with high salaries yet he noted that some of these employee’s motivation level was low, job satisfaction was poor, and stress level was high. I replied, “Did you also notice that these employees take periodic sick and emergency leaves apart from their official annual leaves?” He said, “Yes!” I then replied “The next action that you would most probably see from these employees is a resignation letter, especially if they get a better offer and/or environment to work for, elsewhere”. While there is no disagreement that a good and competitive salary continue to remain important to individuals, yet, they are definitely not the only thing that motivates employees in organizations today (especially the quality ones that knows he or she can easily attain competitive offers elsewhere).
Not being recognized and valued as a professional is probably the number #1 cause of why talented individuals leave projects, teams, businesses and organizations as a whole. A simple yet honest appreciation in the form of “Thank you” from organizations and its respective managers is required apart from a good salary to maintain the talent. In my article today, I would like to share a few approaches organizations can follow. Yet first, let’s look at what stats in general show.
One of the studies that I came across lately while I was on a vacation reported that employees within an organization that value their work, contribution, deliverables and the likes, demonstrate job satisfaction, great level of well-being and high commitment to their role. A survey by Gallup, one of the reputable organizations world-wide that provides analytics and management consulting to organizations, reported that employees who feel recognized by the organizations they work for are 4.6 times more likely to perform at their best for the respective organizations. Another study I read online reported that 79 percent of employees that resign and leave their organization is due to not being appreciated (and not because of wanting more salary). I in fact know employees that don’t complain about a salary increase yet on their well-being (and stress attained), treatment (and unfairness) and of course no recognition per se.
So what can organizations do in order to maintain quality employees? Apart from compensating them monetarily fairly (closer to what the market pays), they should also create a culture of gratitude where employees feel valued for the kind of contribution they bring to the organization’s table. How? By merely thanking them, be it privately or publicly, in a form of personalized messages (email, sms, instant messaging) or via team meetings, organization’s public events, social media pages and the likes. Furthermore, the organization should strive to celebrate milestones achieved and recognize the employees in question for the same. Salary increase are temporary form of recognition where the impact may not last longer, yet periodic “Thank you’s” especially shared immediately after quality contribution (e.g. good work, timely and successful deliverables, etc) goes a long way to keep the employee happy, satisfied and loyal the organization.
The two letter word “Thank you” presented genuinely in whatever approach I shared in my article today can bring profound results in the form of higher productivity, more contribution and sincere loyalty from the employees towards the success of the organization they work for. Furthermore, the positive impact would also be felt by the customers that the organization depend on. Organizations that follow a balanced approach of offering employees with good salary along with healthy recognition will continue to remain a true “employer of choice” type of an organization. Until we catch up again next week, stay positive, and YES, “Thank you” for being a good reader!
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