Are Your Employees Getting What They Value Most?

By Joel Myers

Becoming “Customer-Centric," putting the customer first, has become the Tao of business.  Internally, the same concepts apply in human asset management.  Putting a priority on meeting employees’ needs helps build a high-performance culture.

As the economy starts to heat up, creating competition for talent, employers are looking for ways to attract and retain employees who have needed skills and expertise.  Understanding what employees value most in the workplace allows employers to craft highly successful selection and retention efforts.  Unfortunately, it appears that organizations are struggling to identify and meet employees’ most important expectations.

In a study published in Human Resource Planning, 268 employees from a variety of organizations and occupations were surveyed.  Study participants rated the following needs as most important, in order:

  1. opportunities for promotion and advancement
  2. trust and respect
  3. open and honest communication
  4. fair treatment
  5. challenging and interesting work
  6. competitive salary
  7. health care benefits
  8. competent management
  9. support from management
  10. meaningful work

Study participants were also asked how well their current employers were meeting each of these needs - unfortunately, not very well.  Most of the needs that employers were not meeting were the ones that employees rated as most important.  This suggests that organizations are having difficulty identifying and fulfilling needs that employees value highly.

What does this mean for employers? 

The authors of the study suggest several recommendations: 

At the recruiting stage, give job candidates a realistic preview of the job, organization, and employment relationship.  Avoid over promising and under delivering.  Employees who are given realistic information at the time of hiring are likely to stay with the organization longer than those who experience unmet needs due to unrealistic promises.

Give employees adequate explanations for all changes affecting their job or role in the organization.  In addition, managers and supervisors should seek to understand what employees want and need in the workplace.  Job performance will improve when organizational strategies and initiatives are aligned with employees’ needs and expectations.

While it’s important to offer a competitive pay and benefits package, this isn’t enough to build a motivated, engaged workforce.  Intrinsic needs, such as communication, support, and meaningful work, become more important to employees than pay and have a greater impact on job satisfaction and turnover.  Employers should place equal, if not greater, emphasis on these aspects of the employment relationship.

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