What do we want from our jobs ?

A couple of weekends back I was having drinks with a few of my friends from the HR world at TGIF ( I passed by it this evening and it was closed , due to the tragic incident that took place at Carlton Towers earlier this week) and the conversation led to a discussion around what do employees expect from their jobs ?

We debated a bit and Money was the most popular answer (not unanimously though). I urged the group to think beyond money and they came up with several responses. Let me try and list the most accepted ones out (not in any particular order).

Career aspirations
Most employees take up a job in hope that they can build a career in the company, perform well and grow within the company.

A Good Manager
Employees like to have a manager whom they can look up to, someone they can learn from, someone who is fair, who recognises them and someone who will stand by them.
Work life Balance
Employees like to be able to have a “Personal” life too
A “Positive” Company
A company that is progressive in the way it thinks. A company that believes that its employees are among the most valuable resources. A company that focuses on developing its employees and a company that invests in Employee Engagement. Overall a company who does everything that it can to ensure that the employees are Happy and look forward to coming to work the next morning.

By now I had them scribbled out on a napkin, and when we looked back at the list it seemed so simple.
I asked my dear friends if they did everything they could, to make sure that employees at their respective workplaces met these objectives. Since we were at a restaurant and not in a Board room, they were honest to admit that they didn’t.

One of them was bold enough to ask what she should do to fix it. This time however the answer was unanimous. “Ask the employees”.