Expert: Show a little R-E-S-p-E-C-T: Workers respond best when valued, McGee says
West Fargo – At a time when many area employers are desperate to find and keep workers, Pam McGee shares this advice:
Show a little respect.
Not being treated with respect is a top reason people cite for leaving jobs, said McGee, an instructor at Minnesota State University Moorhead and a consultant to businesses worldwide on leadership and project management.
In addition to respect, workers want to feel they make a difference, McGee said Thursday during a luncheon hosted by the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce.
“Again and again, they (employees) say they want to find purpose in our world,” said McGee, who added that workers everywhere appear to share similar views on what keeps them happy at work.
“They want to be involved in something they can brag about,” she said, recounting the time she asked the man who did her dry cleaning what he found most satisfying about his job.
“He said, ‘I clean your clothes so you feel good about yourself when you go to work.’
“That’s what purpose is about,” McGee said. She also told her audience that purpose trumps pay in the view of many employees.
She said perhaps the most important factor for employee satisfaction and productivity is if a worker has a trusting relationship with their direct manager.
And, she said, one of the best means of inspiring workers is to push them a little bit, as long as it is done the right way and for the right reason.
People will work hard if they believe the people they work for believe in them, McGee said.
And how does a company get that message across?
“Sometimes it’s as simple as being that company known for listening to people,” she said. Companies that don’t treat workers with respect run the risk of alienating talented prospects, she warned.
She said her students use social media and Internet searches to appraise businesses that offer them jobs.
If a company acquires a reputation for being unkind to workers, it’s difficult to rehabilitate that image, McGee said.
Many of her students have up to three job offers before they graduate, she said, and students rank salary offers low on their list of what they find appealing about a business.
“They are not deciding on pay,” she said.