What makes employees stay

You may have seen this infographic doing the rounds. I think it’s a smart one and pretty much sums it up. I only wish the list was shorter. Expecting Organisations to work on all 10 values is a bit too ambitious.
I got curious as I wanted to simplify the list and recently conducted a survey with a random sample of employees and asked them to vote for their top 3 factors contributing to employee engagement. The results were:

1. Challenged
2. Valued
3. Paid well

Challenged

Not being adequately challenged is one of the common reasons why employees leave Organisations. Having said that not all Organisations can provide challenging environments to all employees, all the time. Lets face the truth. Work can tend to get monotonous with time. However, managers should make an effort to look at opportunities for the employee in other parts of the organisation if the employee finds himself being bored. Alternatively the manager could also look at how to make the job more challenging and exciting. Giving the employee an additional responsibility, making him a mentor to a bunch of new hires and sending them for training programs are some of the things Managers can do to keep the employee challenged.
The fact is that it is an expectation and needs to be addressed. More often that not its top talent who need to be challenged, the organisation should do what it takes to retain them.

Valued

Every employee wants to work in an Organisation where he or she feels valued. As a manager one of the most important responsibilities is to make the employees feel truly valued by letting them know that their contribution matters.
The more we recognise the employees contribution the more important they will feel and this translates to better performance, productivity and engagement
Some managers also go the extra mile and ask Managers from other teams to pat the employees back. Even better if the boss or a client can drop by and have a word. When employees are praised adequately they also tend to become a lot more open to take in criticism.

Paid well

Enough has been said about Salary not being a motivator but at the same time employees need to be paid well enough, for them not having to constantly keep thinking about wanting more. It can be a distraction if the employee feels that his colleagues in other companies are getting paid more for similar roles. This could then lead to attrition
Salary is a hygiene element and organisations should maintain their hygiene levels but should not use it as an attempt to motivate employees. It won’t work.
As always happy to have feedback and do let me if you feel i should have given more weightage to any of the other 10 values