Money does not buy happy employees

If money was the only determinant in keeping employees happy and satisfied, giant firms that pay hefty sums in pay packages would never have lost talent to attrition. More and more companies today are waking up to the need of keeping their employees happy. A content workforce is not only loyal to the company, but is also more productive.

If pay packages are not drastically different, a number of professionals prefer to settle for companies that have a good work culture, employee-friendly policies and offer them chances to grow. After all, who doesn’t want a peaceful work life where work-related challenges are plenty and your employer also knows how to take care of you.

Even small gestures of goodwill and concern on a superior’s part can go a long way in buying loyalty from the employee. No wonder, in an age where attrition rates are rising and people are in constant search for greener pastures, more and more companies are devising their policies to better suit the convenience of their employers.

Not just salary A number of companies are also offering flexibility when it comes to work demands so that employees are better able to take care of their families as well. For example, companies today are introducing the concept of paternity leaves for new fathers. Some employers are also recognising the need to offer better options to working mothers. Till a few years back, a 90 day maternity leave was all a woman-turned-mother would get. Many women had to sacrifice their careers to take care of their children. This was also a loss of talent for the companies. Today, the new breed of HR policy makers are offering flexible options, like a few days work-from-home set up for mothers, some offer crèche or baby sitting services for their employees who are mothers.

Rewards and recognition (R&R) is another feature that is fast becoming a part of India’s work culture. Companies today realise that salary is not a sufficient incentive to keep employees happy and motivated, there are a series of other factors that drive the happiness quotient of the workforce.

It is a no brainer that in order to retain employees, organisations must give serious thought to what is driving employee disenchantment and what would drive employee commitment. Today’s managers are dealing with a dynamic and ambitious new generation. There is a renewed focus on human resources and R&R management. Just pushing up salaries is no longer a sustainable long-term action.

It makes an employee happy if her loyalty and dedication is recognised. It makes her all the more happy if it is rewarded occasionally. Today companies are moving beyond age-old HR practices and entering into the new domain of organised R&R culture. The new age creative solutions have made R&R policies more organised and institutionalised. If you are recognising your employee’s contribution, offer them rewards that would thrill them, rather than gifting a notebook and pen bearing the company signature, or a bag or a shield with a company label. A creative, well-planned and sophisticated R&R program can ensure that employees are offered a choice from a menu of rewards to attract and sustain interest.

Focus on happiness At Annectoœ we focus on “increasing the happiness quotient” of organisations and all our services are designed with an aim to ensure that the clients’ employees are the happiest bunch of people. Annectoœ’s services are based on keeping partner organisations’ employees and business associates happy to drive positive behaviour change to improve productivity. The R&R process can actually be a key differentiator for a company.

Today, employees are driven by the desire to reach new horizons and to grow as individual performers while working for a company. Such motivated workers will not be able to stick around in a company that fails to push their learning curve and offer new challenges and paths to growth. Particularly, the young and talented employees of the day look for job options that would give them plenty of exposure in their fields and augment their curriculum vitae.

There are plenty of employees today who have chosen to move from reputed big companies to smaller new ones as the latter offer more exposure and learning and give them ample responsibilities.

So, if you are an employer, you must ensure that each and every employee of yours gets new challenges every day and feel they are growing. Shifting workers between different verticals now and then and occasionally giving them projects that are normally outside their purview will keep their interest levels intact. The day an employee knows that she will not learn anything new in your company, she will decide to move on.

Keeping employees happy is crucial. The next decade of economic growth in India is certain to see the rise of a new more structured rewards and recognition policy.

(The author is the Director and Co-founder of Annectoœ, an R&R solutions provider.)