Money isn’t the key to worker happiness
Companies need to understand that rewards and recognition do not necessarily mean cash (which in this troubled financial time they can little afford) it could be something simple as a free lunch for the team that worked on the project, time off in lieu or a fancy certificate – whatever best fits the staff and the organisation.
A recent article on the BBC website caught my attention – Money ‘does not make staff stay’
From the article:
A strong interest in the job and a good work-life balance are more important to workers than the size of their pay packet, a survey suggests […]
“Companies can no longer rely on those established reward-and-recognition policies that fail to resonate with employees,” said Bob Coates, managing director of City and Guilds.
I think I can agree with this in part – an employee will not stay in a job if they are unhappy, overworked or surrounded by horrible/useless/iritating/back-stabbing co-workers however I disagree with the fact that companies can’t rely on reward and recognition.
We recently held a staff survey and one of the things that came out of it was that we’d like to be recognised more by managers and co-workers for work that we do for them. It doesn’t have to be a monetary thank-you, a simple spoken “Thanks” is often enough.
Companies need to understand that rewards and recognition do not necessarily mean cash (which in this troubled financial time they can little afford) it could be something simple as a free lunch for the team that worked on the project, time off in lieu or a fancy certificate – whatever best fits the staff and the organisation.
Mind you, after saying all that, I wouldn’t turn down a nice bonus or a fat pay rise!