Associate Satisfaction - Common Issues And Resolutions

Year after year our company runs an associate survey. Year after year the same items score low: relationship between compensation and productivity, retention of the best associates and associate motivation via reward programs. If your company (whether large or small) is struggling with similar issues, here is a bit of analysis that you might find helpful.

Compensation - we are generally paid well, and the management has been taking extra care in the past couple of years to make sure that we are in line with industry standards. However, people are chronically overworked. When one takes into account the amount of hours spent at work (plus the time getting there and back and the associated stress), the time spent traveling, the number of missed family dinners, rehearsals and day-care pick ups, the amount of pay loses its relevance - it's simply not worth it. No amount of money will compensate you for not being able to say good night to your children every night or never being there when they get up in the morning.

Retention of the best associates is tied closely to the compensation issue. I think people are leaving because there is too much work, and never enough resources. The worst part is that everyone knows it, but the way most companies structures their budget prevents them from bringing in additional resources, especially as various projects start to "slip" (usually in the middle of the year) and important stages of these projects begin to overlap, despite the fact that they were carefully spaced out in the beginning of the year. Assignments pile on, as do hours and travel, and before we know it, we are back to the same conclusion - it's just not worth it, especially for people with families, although single associates deserve to have a life too.

All of the above leads us to lack of enthusiasm about various recognition programs. Yes, it's nice having your name called during various team meetings, it's nice getting little incentives from the company from time to time. However, people with the right mindset are going to work hard regardless of whether there is a program telling them to do so. Good work ethics is good work ethics - it doesn't belong to any particular employer, nobody holds a patent to it. A lot of people will tell you that they have been doing their best to get the job done long before the incentive programs existed - so why is it suddenly a big deal?

In addition, deciding who deserves to be recognized is a highly subjective matter, which needs to be approached extremely carefully. On one hand, the management is often tempted to recognize a team that works long hours and puts out fires in record time. Hardly anyone ever asks the questions, "Why do they work long hours? Are they overworked or simply inefficient? And why do they need to put out all these fires? Would these crises still happen, had the team done its job right to begin with?" In the meantime, there are other teams who quietly do their jobs and keep their projects in the green status without any "fireworks" who appear to be just not spectacular and impressive enough to deserve a reward.