Blog Layout

Your Employees Want Much More Than a Paycheck

Cathie Leimbach • September 21, 2021

Most managers are facing similar challenges in the workplace. These include:

  • Increased absenteeism
  • Lower productivity
  • High turnover
  • Unresolved conflicts among team members
  • Unproductive meetings
  • Unmet deadlines
  • Decreased quality and customer service

 

Research shows that these issues are costing organizations between 450 Billion and 500 Billion Dollars annually. These patterns occur because 65% of employees are disengaged, showing up (or not), uninvested in their job, their team, or the company that employees them. 

 

If it feels discouraging, you are not alone. The way to turn these negative trends around is found in another interesting statistic. 70% of the variance in the overall employee engagement score is because of their manager. 

 

Your employees want much more than a paycheck. They want their job to have an impact, connect to a purpose in their work beyond just the job, and feel that they are providing value. A survey by the Energy Project reaching more than 12,000 employees from various industries found that 50% lack a level of meaning and significance at work. 

 

Your employees also want to understand how their job connects to their purpose and mission. If members of your team feel recognized and appreciated, they will open up about what they want from their work. Their manager is the one person who can connect their purpose to its goals and objectives.  And then support them, so they bring their best selves to work every day.

 

Effective management increases employee engagement. It starts with ensuring that every person the manager supervises understands why and how their job is vital to the organization.

 

Managers are one of the most important assets a company has in reaching its goals and fulfilling its mission.  Here are the actions each manager can learn to implement consistently to make a difference with engagement and productivity:

  • Understand and explain how each employee's job:

- is essential to the organization

- contributes to the work group's success

- connects to the organization's mission

  • Schedule routine conversations with each employee to discuss job importance
  • Explain job importance with new full time and temporary hires
  • Take the time to understand each employee's work and integrate their input into decisions that will impact their job – they know their job and how to do it efficiently and better than anyone else
  • Spend one-on-one time with each direct report to understand their personal goals and mission. Support them to link these to their job responsibilities and the organizational mission
  • Explain the reasons why changes are being made to processes or procedures
  • Express appreciation for good work and continue to keep the company's mission front and center for each employee

 

When managers are trained in these management practices and implement them, the employees they lead are more engaged, clear about how they are contributing to the company, and enthusiastic because they can see the connection between their values and personal mission and the work they are doing.

 

This win-win scenario is worth the investment of time and resources for additional management training.  It will lead to more productivity, decreased turnover and absenteeism, better morale, improved quality work, happier customers, and increased profit.

The Perils of a Bad Boss

By Cathie Leimbach • April 1, 2025
Bad bosses aren't just a nuisance – they're an epidemic. A staggering 70% of employees report that problematic managers are commonplace in today's workforce. This reality has serious consequences for both workers and companies alike. What drives employees to pack up their desks? Unethical behavior tops the list, with 62% of workers citing it as a reason to quit. Following closely behind are hypercritical managers (54%) and those who burden their teams with unrealistic expectations or excessive workloads (54%). While some managerial shortcomings are merely frustrating rather than deal-breakers, they still damage workplace morale. Disorganized bosses frustrate 33% of employees, micromanagers irritate 29%, and unapproachable or inflexible leadership styles bother 27%. Perhaps most concerning is the communication breakdown: 72% of employees wish they could openly discuss workplace concerns with their managers, but 59% fear retaliation if they speak up. How might these issues be affecting your organization? High turnover rates don't just disrupt workflow – they devastate your bottom line. Between recruitment costs, training expenses, lost productivity, and institutional knowledge walking out the door, each departed employee can cost between 50-200% of their annual salary.  Ready to understand what turnover is truly costing your company? Click Here for access to a free Cost of Turnover Calculator.

Achieving Commitment in Team Decisions

By Cathie Leimbach • March 25, 2025
When leaders make decisions or teams vote on changes, not everyone automatically supports them. However, getting everyone's commitment can be crucial for team or organizational success. Two key factors create real commitment: clarity and emotional buy-in. Clarity means removing all confusion about what's changing and why. Everyone needs to understand exactly what they're being asked to do. Emotional buy-in happens when people want to support the change rather than just following orders. To build both clarity and buy-in, talk openly with your whole team. Encourage questions about how changes will work and when things will happen. Listen to concerns instead of ignoring them. Remember that feelings—whether worry, resistance, or excitement—strongly affect how people respond. Don’t be surprised when change doesn’t happen. Use a team engagement process that helps leaders understand and increase each team member’s readiness.  Good leaders know they can't force real commitment. Instead, they build it by including team members in conversations about why and how to make changes work. This turns "their decision" into "our project," creating the team commitment needed for successful change.
More Posts
Share by: