What Employees Want....

Quint Studer wrote in Hardwiring Excellence that employees want to find PURPOSE, to have WORTHWHILE WORK, and to MAKE A DIFFERENCE.  In prior blogs, I have connected how different job roles are all critical to the provision of healthcare.  Healthcare is a team sport.  If any team member is removed, the absence is missed quickly.  I have recently dealt with some issues where some of my employees are not feeling valued by other team members.  That is really sad.  Every member of the team has value and should be reminded of their importance. 



The Gallup organization provided a list of what employees wanted in a workplace. 

1. to know what is expected of them
2. to have the materials and equipment to do their jobs correctly
3. to have the opportunity to do their best every day
4. to receive recognition or praise for doing good work
5. to have a supervisor or someone at work that cares about them as a person
6. to have someone at work that encourages their development
7. to have their opinion count
8. to have the mission/purpose of the company make them feel their job is important
9. to have my co-workers committed to doing quality work
10. to have a best friend at work
11. to have someone at work talk to them about their progress every 6 months
12. to have opportunities at work to learn and grow

Notice that in this list, pay did not make it into the top 12.  It's not that pay is not important.  Employees are just telling us as leaders that there are so many other things within our control that are important besides compensation.  Good supervision means paying attention to these things not just waiting for the organization to adjust pay levels.

I have never believed that anyone comes to work to do a bad job.  If there are performance problems with an employee, it exists because that behavior has worked for them in the past.  For it to change, someone must address it.  For most employees, to have them experience worthwhile work, making a difference, and purpose in their work, it starts with excellent leadership incorporating concepts from the Gallup list above.