Motivation, Retention and Money
by Miki SaxonAlthough “money can’t buy happiness” may be debatable, it’s a fact that it can’t buy a strong, motivated workforce. For over 30 years I’ve been telling managers that people who join [the company] for money, will leave for more money.
Having listened to thousands of candidates during more than 20 years of headhunting, about 85% have the same top three desires—although not necessarily in the same order:
- To make a difference.
- To be treated fairly.
- To matter [to boss and colleagues].
My clients know this and their interaction with their people shows it—and they don’t have to be high-level execs for it to be valuable. Nii (I love coaching Nii:) is project manager at TeraTech, a small custom software company:
Hi folks;
I just delivered the project a day ahead of the projected delivery date in spite of the tight deadline.
The first phase of the project has been a huge success thanks to the development.
Amy:
You did an excellent job gathering requirements and the prototype you developed was very professional and easy to use for development. Thanks.
Ajay:
You completed almost 80% of the development tasks including the database design. At one point you spent most part of the night in the office just to make sure that tasks were completed in order to meet the deadline. You were willing to take on additional tasks assigned to you. Thanks.
David:
I liked your enthusiasm when the project started. When I asked you to set up the development site, you jumped on it and finished it even though I could tell it was well pass the time for you to leave for home. Come tomorrow, you and Ajay will be at [the client] to install the website. Thanks.
Pete:
The simplicity of your architecture was a major reason this project was done in record time and well within the budget. You served as a valuable resource helping other team members think through issues and come up with solutions. Forgive me but I lost count of the number of days you also had to stay up late to complete tasks. Hope you understand because I’m not that good with numbers. :-) Thanks.
Frank, Cecile:
Your testing was awesome. You can count on me to be knocking on your cubicles to help with projects. I hope you enjoyed riding through the application and have learnt a lot as a result.
Thanks to you Michael and Beth for your various contributions.
I will need the help of all of you again for the phase 2.
Thanks once again.
Nii
This kind of public communication (the email was sent via a list that goes to everybody in the company) goes a long way to making people feel valued and that they really are making a difference.
Not a big deal, you say, but how many managers take the time to do it, and how many include everybody? Too many managers only take time to thank their “stars” or senior people; almost none take time to thank “the rest.”
In 1978 when I was headhunting for MRI in San Francisco our receptionist quit with no notice. Back then phones were our life blood (no voicemail); she answered six incoming lines transferring calls and taking messages (using a pen and message pad) for 15 headhunters. So while the boss interviewed we fell back on temps—who didn’t last more than a day or so because they couldn’t handle the call volume, couldn’t handle the egos, or we couldn’t read the messages—and everyone complained long and loudly.
Finally we got a temp who could not only deal with us, the phones and write legibly, but thought it was fun (unfortunately she didn’t want to work permenently for anybody). Sure, people stopped complaining, but few of them thought to say anything to the temp�because she was just a temp!
Not me, I brought her a giant bouquet of flowers and a colleague brought her champagne. The others didn’t notice, except for a one who noticed, but couldn’t understand why we spent the money for a temp. Talk about ego and blinders!
