He believed that quality was better than quantity, and that people were more important than "filthy lucre." So he decided to make his views known after years as a sports agent, and as soon as his boss heard about it, he terminated his contract. This is the story of Jerry Maguire, played by Tom Cruise in the 1996 film of the same name.
More than two decades after its release, two world-famous quotes from the film help us today to address the reality of the employee experience, which is so directly related to the customer experience: the first, "show me the money," refers to past experiences; the second, "help me help you," brings us in line with the latest trends in this discipline, which is still largely neglected by the vast majority of companies.
What is the best way to retain talent and create a positive employee experience that makes your employees more than just machines for getting tasks done? Some may think that money is the best incentive. Quite a few human resources managers and C-level executives propose small salary increases for those who show signs of burnout, demotivation, or disengagement from the company. They are the heirs of the "show me the money" culture, so deeply rooted in the professional world. However, this may not be the best strategy.
A survey recently released by the specialist firm Reward Gateway states that more than 60% of employees prefer to work for a company with a culture "where people are regularly praised and thanked for doing a good job" than one that decides to increase pay by 10%, but is unable to offer words of support to those who perform above average. Not only is there a disconnect between the usual rewards and employee expectations, but HR professionals themselves have serious doubts about the scope of their work: almost half (45%) feel that their recognition and reward program is not as effective as it should be.
For these departmental leaders in companies, the main causes of frustration are demotivation due to the reward itself, the lack of a quorum in the recognition ceremony (i.e., the absence of a social dimension), and the lack of scope for possible recognition. Hence, the majority, three out of four, say that investing in these programs should be a priority.
Be careful, because attachment to the company is also closely related to identification with the company's values (and hence the link between employee experience and customer experience). A video production company, TopLine Film, has conducted another study with data collected from a thousand office employees, which has yielded some surprising conclusions, such as that 1 in 4 employees (24%) would reject a job offer if they understood that the company offering it did not have environmental sustainability policies.
If we cross-reference this with another piece of data, namely that 3 out of 10 (31%) believe that their company is not environmentally friendly, we can conclude that at least 7 out of 100 employees are clearly inclined to leave their company, regardless of the monetary or other rewards it offers them. In fact, the percentages of those who want their company to be more sustainable (73%) and those who believe that this responsibility begins with the employee themselves (72%) are practically the same.
Another complementary perspective on employee-company commitment comes from a study conducted by The Knowledge Academy on a relatively new phenomenon: "ghosting." This refers to the practice of "disappearing" in the middle of job negotiations to take up a new position at another company. This practice is carried out by employees and employers in almost equal measure, in another nod to changing times: who holds the upper hand—the person offering a job or the person offering their professional skills?
Based on a survey of 1,325 employees, this research determines that the business, finance, and legal sector job market is the most prone to "deception" during recruitment processes, with 24% of "phantom offers," closely followed by advertising, marketing, public relations, and communications, with 22% of cases. If we reverse the equation, it is the latter market that records the highest number of "phantom candidates," no less than 30%, with the business, finance, and legal sector in second place, with 21% of supposed candidates who were never heard from again.
What lies behind these "ghostly" selection processes, especially when the person who leaves is the one traditionally considered most interested? An investigation published months ago on LinkedIn by a journalist from The Wall Street Journal provides some clues. Among them is the not insignificant "new reality" of younger professionals' inability to properly manage multiple job offers simultaneously. In any case, this lack of communication would be solved more often if, instead of the usual "show me the money," a large part of the negotiations included "help me help you" more often.
Photo bySarah CervantesonUnsplash
