It's time for employers to wake up to workers' needs

Finding new employees is still a difficult task. Of the population in our 10-county economic area, 52.5 percent are "Baby Boomers" or older. The forecast for the next 20 years is for a crisis in the availability of U.S. workers.

We continually see articles on recruiting and retaining employees. These "experts" point out how we can tweak our wage package, our benefit package, our bonus or incentive package, our retirement package or give gift certificates or promotional items, etc. The common thread through all these methods is money.

In 1977 I took a Dale Carnegie Management Course and learned the results of a national survey. The survey asked how supervisors ranked what they thought workers wanted, and then asked workers how they ranked what they considered important in a job. The supervisors ranked "good wages" as No. 1 and "job security" No. 2. The workers ranked "appreciation for good work" No. 1 and "feeling in on things" as No. 2. "Good wages" ranked No. 5.

Sonja Chasteen of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce gave me a survey from the mid-90s where managers listed "good wages" No. 1 and "job security" No. 2. The employees ranked "interesting work" No. 1, "appreciation and recognition" No. 2 and "feeling in on things" No. 3. Again, "good wages" ranked No. 5.

I did supervisory training for a c-store chain and had the managers and employees complete a similar survey. All the managers said the employees would rank money No. 1; instead, the employees ranked it No. 4.

I also spent some time surfing the net and found that on similar surveys money ranked from a high of No. 4 to a low of No. 15 as to why people work or change jobs.

Consistently for at least the last 24 years, supervisors/bosses have thought their employees ranked money No. 1. Yet, consistently, surveys tell us it's not the money. You'd think we'd learn. Seems like after all these years we'd train managers, bosses or supervisors to understand what their subordinates value most.

Don't misunderstand the money issue. We must produce enough money to sustain whatever lifestyle we enjoy. I really love the work I do, but if they stop paying me I'll stop showing up.

Think about the other considerations we give to our employment. We all have values, egos, work conditions, ethics, ways we must be treated, images, feelings of importance, etc., that are different from one another yet are important to us individually. We must be happy with these items as well as our compensation or we'll look for another job.

To illustrate, in a conversation with a friend, he said that he was working for the money, the most important thing. I asked him, "If your boss comes in tomorrow and unfairly bawls you out in front of your coworkers or even lies and deceives you or your co-workers, what would you do?" He responded, "I'd get my resume updated and immediately start looking for another job." I said, "See? It's not just the money, is it?"

Over the years, I've supervised or managed a number of productive work forces and have seen some things I believe help keep employees. For example:

I don't know of any game played anywhere in the world that does not have a set of rules. Any work group, whether clerical or production, needs a clearly defined set of rules or guidelines. These rules need to be fairly and impartially enforced. You see umpires booed to their face when they are unfair. Employees boo bosses to their back and then look for jobs with employers that are fair.

Most employees want to do a good job and help an employer be successful. They also don't want to be a number. They want the employer to know who they are and appreciate their work.

The "culture" in the workplace is powerful. What messages do you send with your own actions? Remember, if a picture is worth a thousand words, employees respond to what they see you do, not what they hear you say. Are you consistent in dealing with your employees? How are conditions? How fairly do you treat other workers? Do you make the work as enjoyable as possible? Are the bosses, managers. etc., smiling and friendly? I had a worker in a long-term assignment making $8.50 per hour. This worker was called back to another of our customers with a long-term assignment paying $6.50. The worker went back to the lower-paying assignment because of the culture of the company and how he had been treated.

We live in a society dominated by technology, computers and the Internet. I see HR specialists grading applications with computer programs. They use generic forms, tests, etc.

Yet we claim we are in the people business. Here is some earthshaking news: Employees are people! If we pay them fairly, treat them fairly, with respect and appreciation, and hold them to acceptable standards, they will be productive long-term employees.

If we continue to try to resolve employee issues only with money, they will become someone else's employees.

(Eric Naegler is the president and co-owner of Senior Recruiters Inc., a job recruiting firm that specializes in placing people 40 and over.)