What Employees Want From a Job

How Jobs Fulfill Employees

A few years ago I started a job where there was a break room stocked with video games, constantly stocked free snacks and refreshments, weekly parties with food and beer and every worker there was miserable.

There’s a common misconception that employees want a bunch of fun and flare at their work, but that is far from the top of their list.

If you’re looking to make a culture at your business that employees want to work  with,,, keep these things in mind.

Meaningful Work

While all of these points are important, this one is by far the most important.

Employees need to find their work important and meaningful, or else they simply will not care. They will do the bare minimum to keep their job, but will put zero passion into their work.

Your business needs to have a culture that tells its employees that there are no small jobs, and that everything employees do benefits the company as a whole. Employees also need to know why their business is important and that it accomplishes great things.

A great way to bolster that feeling is for your company to engage in charitable acts throughout the year.

Finally, you need to make sure that your employees aren’t doing work that is below their pay grade. Leadership needs to be willing to get their hands dirty and make sure that employees don’t have to do things that are not their responsibility. For example, your marketing team shouldn’t be cleaning bathrooms or making sure the printers have ink and paper.

Stability

Nobody wants to work at a place where they feel every day might be their last. People also don’t want to work somewhere where their job description changes about every month.

Make sure that when you hire someone for a job, their job isn’t going to change rapidly, and that you will at least be able to keep them for a full year. Any less is irresponsible and reflects on you as a business.

Respect

Every once in awhile, survey your employees and ask if they feel like they work in a respectful environment and if they feel like their voice is heard.

If your employees don’t feel respected, it is going to reflect on all of their work. If the company does not care about them, they have no desire to care about their company.

Leadership

Nothing can sour a working environment quicker than a bad boss. Poor leadership not only hurts workflow, but it leads to employees who don’t care about their job.

In every business, the leaders are the ones who should care the most about the company. If they are goo leaders, employees will follow their example.