Why a salary increase will never make your employees truly happy.
Marion Campan
I help HR leaders elevate their leadership & strategy in an exclusive mastermind community called "R.E.D."
What if you had no budget allocated to your staff salaries increase this year? How would you keep the momentum, the motivation and the spirits high?
Salary raises are temporary incentives that do not create long-term motivation for employees. According to a study by Frederick Herzberg in his essay "One More Time: How do you Motivate Employees?", while a raise may be appreciated, it does not provide a sense of purpose or fulfillment in one's work. It is just a financial reward for a job well done.
It is not to suggest that an increase in salary would not be appreciated by your employees. It is quite likely that they would! At least temporarily. If the raise were substantial, it could even lead to a celebratory evening spent with their loved ones. However, this elevated sense of satisfaction would likely be short-lived, returning to its previous state once the novelty of the raise had worn off. Essentially, providing a raise may only result in temporary recognition, rather than sustained employee engagement.
While salary raises are important, they are not enough to ensure that employees are motivated and engaged. Employers should focus on creating an environment where employees feel valued, connected and motivated, by working on employee engagement initiatives. This will lead to a more productive, satisfied, and committed workforce, ultimately benefiting the company in the long run.
Our clients often ask practical questions such as, "Where do I begin?" and "What are the concrete employee engagement initiatives?" and "Which ones are most crucial for my company's success?" These are valid concerns and highlight the need for careful consideration and planning when implementing employee engagement initiatives. "But where do you start?", "What are "Employees' Initiatives" concretely?", "Which ones are the most important for my company?"
"What are "Employees' Initiatives" concretely?"
Here is a checklist that we usually work with to evaluate the health of a company and their employees:
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Overall, employee engagement initiatives play a crucial role in creating a positive and supportive work environment, which in turn can lead to increased productivity, job satisfaction, and employee retention.
Engaged employees are more productive and creative, which ultimately benefits the company. When employees are fully invested in their work and the company, they are more likely to go above and beyond what is expected of them, generating new ideas and solving problems more effectively. A salary raise may provide short-term motivation, but it is not enough to keep employees engaged in the long term.
When you are ready to grow employees' happiness, here are 3 ways we can help you:
1.?Work with our coach?to grow as a leader and grow your teams.
2.?Level up with your management team?with specific management and leadership trainings.
3.?Assess your business and your teams?to get clarity and momentum with your next steps.
Advancing gender equality | Inclusion and International development consulting | Leadership and Business Coach for women of colour
2 年Full hearty agreement. We find inclusive culture (covering many of your suggestions here) is an important retention strategy?
?? CEO / Founder Branding & Design Agencies ?? Square44 (FMCG Brands) ?? Branding Square (Corporate Brands) ?? Simpli Branding (Design Adaptation & Production) ?? Brandcelerator ?? SAMA Alliance ?? EO Bangkok Met
2 年Nice write up Marion! Some good universal truths there. Do you notice any differences between generations of employees the gen x / gen y / millenials and gen z-ers?
Science-based Executive Search and Leadership Development | Focus on Consumer, Industrial and Logistics/Transportation sectors | Europe & Asia
2 年Good points, Marion Campan! This is especially true in developing markets where money is flowing in every year, inflation is high, and there are always new players entering the market and ready to headhunt the existing players' staff. You cannot win the battle on salaries in the long-term, so use other, more important factors! "No matter how you pay your employees, they will always be someone willing to pay more" as one of my former MDs used to say.