The priorities of employees are changing. While bosses in the past could rely on pacifying or even motivating employees with a bonus or a salary increase, the modern workforce has other ideas. Employees today, particularly in the millennial and upcoming generation consider a wide range of engagement factors more important than income alone when accepting a position or deciding to stay with a company. These considerations typically include having a sense of purpose, a strong work/life balance, an inviting and inclusive work environment, and career advancement opportunities. While money will, of course, always be an important aspect of the work experience, here’s what to expect when you only count on money to win over your employees.
Significant Revenue Loses
Throwing money at a problem to win over your employees seems like an easy answer, and in the past it was. Getting employees to work longer and work harder was as simple as naming the right price. But incentivizing employees to work around the clock tends to create more problems than actual solutions. Being constantly on call or working late hours day after day, month after month and even year after year takes a mental, physical and emotional toll, and employees are no longer satisfied. Employees expect their offices to respect their work/life balance and recognize their needs away from and outside of the business. Overly investing in an organization today almost always causes disengagement, regardless of the monetary compensation, and disengagement tends to result in higher stress levels, decreased energy and ultimately, lower productivity.
A recent Gallup study estimated that productivity losses cost the US economy between $450 to $550 billion every year. Looking at it in that light, a single disengaged employee can cost a company up to $3,400 for every $10,000 the organization spends on salaries. It’s a bit frightening how much even one disengaged employee can cost a company, but even worse, disengagement within a company is highly contagious. As employees begin to experience stress, anxiety, and unhappiness, they often reach out to coworkers and colleagues for support, increasing feelings of discontent and irritability. Investing instead in real employee happiness and values will help your workforce stay focused, boost engagement, and improve productivity.
Poor Customer Service
When it comes to bad customer service experiences, there are almost never second chances. In fact, a recent study just noted that a single negative customer service experience can drive away over 82% of customers. Even if you have world-class marketing and branding services to promote a positive image, it is your employees that actually interact with customers. Generously compensated employees still struggle to maintain genuine brand loyalty and customer care when their opinions, values, interests, and concerns are not being recognized. Disguising unhappiness in front of customers only works so well, and instead of helping win over your employees, attempting to soothe issues over problems with money tends to increase resentment in the long run. Some of the world’s best employers use tools like MangoApps to create surveys and polls to gauge employee opinion and give them a voice within the organization. These tools, combined with a caring and considerate management, help companies create long-lasting, authentic and passionate employees.
Burnt Out Employees
Organizations with highly engaged employees typically experience more growth than companies with lower engagement levels, largely due to employee productivity, consistency, and dedication. Overworked and underrepresented employees burn out quickly, decreasing morale, diminishing productivity and escalating employee turnover. Between recruiting costs, onboarding expenses, training programs, and working short-handed, replacing an employee is estimated to cost on average between 20% -30% of the employee’s annual salary. And when employees are burning out left and right, those costs can quickly become alarmingly high. Increasing turnover rates are also bad for an organizations reputation and can make it much more difficult to attract and retain talented and hard-working employees.
So Now What?
If you’ve developed the habit of only increasing wages to incentivize employees it isn’t too late to turn over a new leaf. While most employees today value work that provides freedom and flexibility, remote options, and a healthy work/life balance over wages and compensation, the only want to really know what your employees want is to ask and then be willing to listen. Anonymous survey tools are a fantastic resource for employers and employees to communicate together about their challenges, opinions, interests, and need. As you commit to working with your employees you will be able to build and maintain a brand loyal team dedicated to achieving long-term success.
At MangoApps, we believe open communication is the real way to win over your employees and helps everyone works better together. We build tools designed specifically around everyday organizational needs. Contact us today to learn more about MangoApps, how we help businesses become better, or what our products can do for you.
