Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Easy come, easy go

What marks a good company? Is it the amount of money that can be made at an organization? Is it the employee happiness? "A happy worker is a productive worker"...is that always the case?

I wonder these things because my job has what I perceive to be a high attrition rate. What keeps an employee in their desks, working diligently? At the end of the day, it's got to be more then a paycheck (unless in dire straights, of course). The opening offer might be lucrative with pay, bonus, stock options, health benefits etc, but over time what I think drives most employees is sense of worth. Unless someone is bogged down by financial obligations so much that their main priority is putting food on the table, most want to work towards some career goal. How does one reward an employee other than money? Sometimes it seems that some companies don't understand how important recognition can be, though recognition without tangible award might be an empty pat on the back. What I see often is that employees in a company often offer new insights based on their unique experiences coming in, but often when these ideas are pitched forward they are either dismissed or worse. Worse would be assimilated as to someone else's ideas, and not given any credit or recognition at all. Not only does that make the creativity process for that person less likely, but it also harms the company as a whole by not foresting the creativity of its employees. Why bring up an idea if it will just be stolen by (and credited to) an associate?

Reason I bring this up is because moral is a direct connection to people's shelf life at an organization. Why stay at a company when you feel like your time might be better used somewhere else? A company has to find a good balance between too strict and too lax an employment policy. So when people who are new hires leave it makes little impact, but when many experienced people leave for new (read: better?) opportunities, what are those who stay supposed to think? "Maybe if I work really hard and become that good...I can leave and ditch this place too? Wait, why do I need to wait that long?" After those long standing members leave the company has to trudge on and downplay their impact, because the company has to save face in some sort. Can't imply that there are better/higher paying opportunities out there, because what is the incentive to stay at company X...

But just as they are often better companies out there, there are often (in this economy always) people out there who are willing to do you job for just a little less...

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