You’d be hard-pressed to find a member of the workforce who doesn’t long to be appreciated at their job. Since many of us devote a sizable portion of our waking hours to working, it’s only natural that we’d want sufficient recognition for our efforts. Unfortunately, lack of employee appreciation is a common problem in workplaces of all types – one that’s conducive to low motivation and poor employee retention. Furthermore, many employers take team members for granted without even realizing it. If your enterprise engages in any of the following practices, it’s in your best interest to reverse course.
Lack of Outward Appreciation
Wanting to receive the occasional accolade or kind word from your boss is perfectly natural. After all, if you’re giving it your best on a daily basis, it’s important to know that your efforts aren’t going unnoticed. Employees who never receive recognition for their hard work tend to become disillusioned and start to feel like small cogs in giant corporate machines. Unsurprisingly, this type of behavior doesn’t exactly breed company loyalty. Additionally, an employee who feels perpetually unappreciated is liable to lose any passion they once held for their job and turn in work of poor quality. When working to curb such disillusionment, take care to regularly offer kind words to your employees and present them with gifts like motivational posters, coffee mugs and personalized awards.
Lack of Promotion
If there’s one thing hard workers hate, its feeling stuck. Many of us need to feel as if we’re working towards something and not just spinning our wheels in perpetuity. When going above and beyond the call of duty for the sake of our employers, our ultimate goal is often a bigger piece of the pie. Conversely, an employee who feels they have zero room for promotion has very little motivation to impress. If you’re fated to remain in the same low-level position forever, why do more than the bare minimum?
Lack of Pay Raises
If an employee who’s been with a company for an extended period is never given more than their starting salary, it’s only natural that they’d feel unappreciated and unimportant. Many members of the workforce will accept jobs with less-than-ideal salaries with the understanding that their pay will gradually increase in tandem with their time at a company. However, when this proves not to be the case, a decline in motivation is practically guaranteed.
A staggering number of workers feel unappreciated at their jobs. In addition to making work feel like even more of a chore, a lack of appreciation can have a direct impact on employers. An employee who feels like their efforts are doomed to go unnoticed isn’t going to put their best foot forward when carrying out their job duties. Needless to say, if enough employees share this sentiment, the quality of a company’s work is liable to take a nosedive. Enterprises that wish to retain top talent and keep team members motivated would be wise to avoid the previously discussed behaviors.
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