Julie Winkle Guilioni, writing in smartblogs.com/leadership had an interesting post that I downloaded recently.
Now, after the first of the year, it might be time for you to rethink this topic. Here are her central points about what employees might want:
1. Autonomy: the right do determine what they do and when and where they do it.
2. Career opportunities: Do you have any? Do the employees know about them?
3. Flexible working conditions: with this might come hourly pay, rather than salary
4. Goals: Have you or their direct supervisors set goals for the new year?
5. Learning, development and training: Is it available, do they know about it, and have they used it?
6. Management transparency: May not be an issue, and many employees don’t understand it.
7. Meaning: Do they think their job has meaning, to them?
8. Money: Do they think they’re fairly paid? Do you pay at or above the competition?
9. Benefits: May be important to those with families; are you competitive for your industry? Rise of Obamacare has raised profile of benefit packages.
10. Recognition and appreciation: This is surprisingly important, if done in a public way.
Each employee may want a different mix of the above, plus a few more that Julie’s got in her article. A 360 degree survey to find out what employees think is important will help you get the mix right.
Link to Julie’s article: http://smartblogs.com/leadership/2014/01/16/employee-engagement-one-size-cant-fit all/