Your people ARE your business. If not for them, you would have nothing. Creating a workplace where your people thrive is paramount not only to the growth of your company but also to its very survival.
A mind shift needs to happen so that we believe that creating an engaging workplace, one where employees enjoy their work, get to share their strengths and passions, and are able to grow and develop, is not just something “good for the employees”. We need to believe that a focus on creating a thriving workplace and the changes you are brave enough to make are a win-win. They are good for you, for them, and for the organization at large and your customers. When your people are thriving, everyone wins.
With everything that we know about what motivates individuals to do their best work, there are still very few organizations making innovative strides to align their organizations with those motivations. According to Dan Pink’s book DRIVE: The Surprising Truth Behind What Motivates Us, individuals are not primarily driven by money, as traditionally believed. Once they are paid at a level they believe is commensurate with their work, financial incentives actually start to work in reverse. His book points to truckloads of research that says what really motivates employees is three things: Mastery – the need to continue to develop and learn, Autonomy – the desire to be self-driven and not micro-managed and Purpose – an alignment with the “what” of what the company is creating. And yet, we still think that if we provide a good salary and benefits that that should be enough. It’s not.
According to a Forbes article entitled “Why Millennials are Ending the 9 to 5”, freelancing and self-employment are on the rise. The article also notes “Millennials are leaving their companies in less than three years. With 87% of companies reporting a cost of between $15,000 and $25,000 to replace each lost Millennial employee, industries need to start paying attention to structural changes.”
Start paying attention to structural changes, huh? I say, start paying attention to the people. You want them to come. You want them to stay. You need them to thrive.
Follow me and my blog as I take you on a journey into workplaces big and small, and what they are doing to start creating the workplaces of the future, today. We’re all in this together, and don’t you want to create a workplace where the next generation can work in an environment where they can shine?
