“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”

Over the last 20 years, much has been written and discussed about how to retain employees.  However, the past several years have proved to be particularly brutal for sustained employee or employer loyalty.  Unless you’re an employee-owned company (like my best client…hint, hint) or just unusually passionate about creating a unique company culture predicated on something as crazy as cultivating happiness at work, ala Zappos, many companies have been more focused on getting more done with less.  Which, in a nutshell, means that they’re less concerned about employee satisfaction. 

All that being said, I recently read an article that hit me right between the eyes.  It suggested that perhaps employers shouldn’t be so worried about employee retention as much as they should worry about “sustained engagement” of their current staff.  Think about it like this: within fast-changing industries like technology it’s common to expect 3-5 years out of an employee before they move on.  So maybe, just maybe, it’s better to have 2-3 years of intense contribution and engagement from an employee and think less about how long that person is going to stick around for.  Yes, there are exceptions like Zappos and Google, but they are exactly that…exceptions.

I bet you’d like to know the winning formula for creating “sustained employee engagement”, right?  Sorry – there’s no magic wand for creating that type of intense commitment.  However, in my experience, exceptionally motivated and effective employees work within organizations who share a few key traits:

•    The top leadership is not only passionate but they are “realistic optimists”.  As optimists, they expect the best from their staff and trust in their skills.  They expect people to shine and celebrate success when it’s attained.   But as realists, they also expect employees to admit mistakes and learn from them.
•    Employees have the power to make decisions: for customers, each other and the company as a whole.  You’ll find little to no micro-managing here. 
•    People care because they feel personally invested in the company’s success.  They also like to see others succeed within their team and throughout the organization.  They welcome giving credit to others when it’s due. Overall, there is little toleration for a “me-first” attitude.  That mentality works well to gain ratings for “The Apprentice” but it will sabotage most businesses.