Four Factors Plus Recognition
Inspiring employees to stay, or to improve their current performance, does not have to—and should not—involve money. Pay is and always will be an issue, but other things are just as important. There are four factors in engaging employees, according to Rosalind Jefferies, president of Performance Enhancement Group. One is pay and benefits. The three other factors are communication, learning and development, and work environment. Recognition of employees encompasses all of them.
Communication. Employees want and need expectations clarified. Otherwise, they feel as if they are working in the dark. “People want to know what’s expected of them,” said Jefferies. This means making it clear what objectives must be at-tained and what qualifies an employee as a top performer.
Learning and Development. Stagnation can be deadly to businesses; like-wise, job stagnation is deathly boring for employees. When companies have little money to offer their people, creating a career path and learning opportunities can make up the difference. It often becomes a win-win situation, in which employees become more engaged and productive and companies benefit from employees’ increased knowledge and satisfaction.
Work Environment and Managers. Much of the work environment hinges on the managers. They are the supervisors, the ones in close contact with employees, and they are the ones directly responsible for recognizing the quality of employ-ees’ work. “We teach managers all types of things, but not enough about the power of recognition,” said Jefferies. The old saying that “people leave people, not organizations” holds true for a reason: because the individual boss greatly influ-ences employees’ work environments.
