June 23, 2010

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions.

What's Inside this issue of The Total View:

1.  Why Rewarding Employee Loyalty Can Be A Mistake

2.  Workforce Trends

3.  Geeks, Geezers and Googlization

Why Rewarding Employee Loyalty Can Be A Mistake

(Source: Workforce Trends by Ira S Wolfe)

Which is better: employee retention or loyalty? The answer isn't as obvious as one might think. 

Over the past two weeks I've overheard the following remarks from disgruntled, long-term employees:

1. "All the owners care about is the money."
2. "They'll never pay me what I deserve anyway."
3. "No one understands how miserable my life is except the people I work with."
4. "I'd walk out right now, but I need the health benefits. Besides I only have 12 more years until retirement."

How would you like to have these employees interacting with your customers on a daily basis? It happens every day and many employers don't do a thing about it. Why? Because often these are the same employees who show up day-after-day, month-after-month, year-after-year. They are rewarded and recognized for perfect attendance and dependability and yet hate their jobs. I've even heard them described as "loyal." That's a big mistake. Employee negativity is such a downer. 

Several years ago, I was introduced to the Quality of Motivation Theory. It turned out to be one of the most valuable tools I have in assessing individuals and company cultures. The Theory explains the positive and counterproductive motivational skills that people use every day.

Essentially, positive skills help you gain long-term benefit and satisfaction while counter-productive motivational skills provide short-term outcomes and long-term negative consequences. When applied to the workplace, counterproductive motivational skills expose the overlooked chasm between long-term employee retention and loyalty. The specific counterproductive skill that holds the key to why dissatisfied people who hate their jobs keep coming back is self-martyrance.

The emotion driving the self-martyr is hopelessness. The effect that the self-martyr has on personal and company morale is devastating. Understanding counter-productive behavior sheds a whole new light on how rewarding the wrong employee for loyalty can have a damaging impact on the retention of top performer employees.

Self martyring employees believe every employer is out to take advantage of them. They ask, "why should I bother looking elsewhere? Every company, job, and boss is the same." They stay put not because they are good loyal employees but because they blame their unhappy existence on everyone else. They lack the ambition to change and yet are recognized for their loyalty. What effect do you think this has on other motivated, ambitious employees? If you've ever had to work with people like this who felt "stuck," you'll recognize what I'm talking about.  How long did you last? 

Ironically, self martyrs who hate their jobs often belong to a clique of employees just like them. They all feel the same about work and life in general. These friends support their notions that life is a bitch and everyone is out to get them. Unfortunately if they quit, they would have to break into a clique or train their new co-workers why the little guy gets the short stick every time. Starting all over in a new job in a new place is just too difficult. These self-martyring employees are likely to stay until he or she wins the lottery or receives a one-way invitation to the unemployment lines.

Self-martyrance is also like an aphrodisiac. It has a powerful pull. Even the motivated and engaged employee during difficult times succumbs to the peer pressure: "Maybe they're right. Who am I to think I can make a difference. Look, these employees have been here a long time and look how they're treated." Many of us have been sucked into this sinkhole of hopelessness only to one day wake up and extract ourselves from the pit. 

That's exactly what happens when a company mistakes self-martyrance for loyalty: martyrs stay and top performers leave. The loss of key productive employees may be the result of your retention policies and recognition programs. Ironically, your most loyal employee may be the one who just walked out the door.

Being innovative in today's marketplace requires both the knack for creativity and a willingness to take risk. The Creatrix™ Inventory is an extraordinary tool that can provide senior executives and management with the answer to the ultimate question of our times:  what is your potential and ability to change with the times? In other words, What is your organizational capacity to innovate?

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Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization

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Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2009 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.