Purpose:
Employees work to provide for themselves alright, but in the hindsight, they look for a greater purpose. They want to see their contributions to be a part of something more meaningful.
Alexander Hiam, the Massachusetts-based author of ‘Business Innovation for Dummies’ said, “What people want most is the chance to make a difference.”
Goals:
Employees respect organisations that provide them with an understanding of their roles and the goals they are expected to reach. They expect goals tailored to suit them, goals that are measurable and obtainable.
Once the goals are decided and fixed teams get together to achieve them and this helps the employees grow camaraderie. Most of the performance problems come from a lack of clear premeditated goals.
Responsibility:
It is often perceived that employees shy away from responsibility, but this is far from reality. Often leaders are skeptical about delegating responsibility but employees crave for trust from their leaders.
Handing over a chunk of responsibility to your employees builds better work relations and they feel more integrated into the organisational structures. Delegating responsibility over time nurtures loyal employees.
Autonomy:
Believing in your employees and giving them freedom over how they work can significantly shoot up productivity.
“Let people figure out the best paths to the goal, rather than breathe down their necks all the time.” — Daniel Pink
Flexibility:
In addition to letting them decide on how they work, give them the option to be flexible with their working hours and try a hand at permitting them to work remotely. In a post-COVID-19 world, a lot of job offers might hinge on this commitment.
This emphasizes that you trust your employees enough and helps in making your employees feel supported, understood and encouraged.
Appreciation and Recognition:
Encouraging, appreciating and giving them their due recognition helps foster a healthy and distinct work culture. The better people feel about what they do, the more they want to do it well. Recognize them for progress and the goals they have achieved.
Companies should become creative in appreciating their employees and make sure that these work to nurture a healthy competitive spirit. When consulting with clients always find ways to do individual and team recognition at meetings.
Transparency:
Publishing each department’s goals and work in weekly newsletters or discussing them in weekly briefings makes employees cognizant of what fellow employees are working on. The younger workforce seeks transparency and it is essential to have communication channels open between a manager and their employees.
Having platforms to communicate openly develops a healthy work culture whilst significantly reducing gossips and boosting their productivity.
Open-Mindedness:
When employees approach managers with their ideas, they needed to be treated with equal parts sensitivity and honesty. Being sensitive is the key really, the more an employee gets shot down for his ideas the less likely he/she will be to make suggestions in the future.
Even when it comes to employee activism at workplaces, managers should make sure that their demands and ideas and heard without judgement.
Space to Innovate:
Employees need to be given a chance to come up with innovative ideas, something unique and exciting! A company can have brainstorming sessions and allow employees to team up different people to come up with conducive and creative ideas.
Google came up with a 20% creative time policy wherein employees are expected to work on any innovative ideas they have that are company-related. Merely asking for ideas will not do the job.
Compensation:
At last, yes, money is important. A tool for employees to provide for themselves and their families. But this has to be exercised in a different way. It is important to pay your employees enough to take the issue of money off the table.
Bay Crest Consulting believes it makes sense for firms to pay employees marginally above average and let them focus on their work, instead of trying to bring in results with performance based pay.
“Don’t pay people a measly base salary and very high commissions and bonuses in hopes that the fear of not having enough food on their tables will inspire them to do extraordinary things.”
– Jeff Gunther, CEO of the Charlottesville, VA-based software company Meddius
Focusing on what your employees want and creating an employee-centered workspace works miracles for an organization. You’ll end up making employees that value your trust and remain loyal to the company. Making your workspace as human and empathetic as possible is the way to go in the 21st century post-COVID-19 Artificial Intelligence-powered world.
References:
- The Top 10 Things Employees Want From Their Job, Challenge Consulting
- 10 Things Employees Want Most, INC
- What Employees Really Want At Work, Forbes
- 12 Things Employees Want at Work, LinkedIn
- The 17 Things Employees Care About Most At Work, INC
Recent Comments