Who Else Wants to Retain and Motivate their Star Employees?

By Daiv Russell

keywords: key job staff reward value work new unto way costs rewards employee performers a unto others new job golden rule needs wants incredibly skilled thinking

It seems deceptively simple, don't you think? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Golden Rule seems so all-inclusive that it should be a cure-all for all relationships. Just treat everyone the same way you would appreciate being treated and all will flow perfectly, right?

But wait... Something appears to be off...

Would your twenty-something hotshot sales guy want the same things out of their career that your forty year old accounting clerk wants? Is your technical staff looking for the same opportunities and rewards as your secretary?

Indeed, their needs and wants are very distinct, however many bosses implement a universal approach when rewarding their highly valued staff. After a large project is finished, everybody is awarded an identical thing, whether it's dinner or a gift certificate. Giving the same thing to the whole team is what's right, isn't it? But is it actually fair for your team's key people?

Hold On to the Key Employees

Startlingly few managers understand that the 80/20 rule lesson about their employees means that 2 out of 10 of their employees are delivering the bulk of your entire business' success. Further, almost every management book recounts studies comparing the productivity of the key staff to the not so competent (yet still effective) staff. The gap between the best and worst have been found to be as high as one hundred to 1. The closest these ratios ever seem to approach is at best 4:1. So now how much more does this extraordinary variance in value wind up costing?

Assuming that your yearly salary for the company's least competent employee is $30,000, what are you paying your key staff? Since a fair bit of the costs for an employee stay the same, they don't go up in relation to base pay. For the intent of this example, let's use some worst-case numbers, $60k. Assuming that your $30k person generates $30k of value (otherwise you'd let them go, right?). If your key employee is a measly four times more productive than the worst, they deliver far more value for how much more they cost.

If your company invests in more training for your least valuable players, costs immediately go up, but without any assurance that productivity will similarly go up. Also consider how much of your time is factored into the "cost" of this moderately competent employee? Probably none. Management costs are usually invisible, factored away as overhead. It certainly feels like you're being productive - trying your hardest to bring along the strugglers, hoping that they eventually rise above their shortcomings. Consider how much of your time is spent with either of these employees:

The self-managing dynamo who, with speed of a bullet train, handles customer complaints, delivers defect-free results, and even cleans up after himself in the break room

The new guy who has some interpersonal problems, occasional product defects, difficulty listening to reason, and shows up late on Mondays because of the occasional hangover

Obviously your key performers are worth the effort. As such, it's incredibly important for every entrepreneur to retain their top performers, as this group of your greatest makes up most of your team's value. Their experience with your unique ways of doing things combined with their skills and ability to get the job done in a pinch makes them just about invaluable.

Now, what's the most effective way to invest in your key people? How do you indicate to those top performers that they're appreciated, and boost the chance that they'll stay with you?

What's the most effective method for motivating your superstars?

Show them the money. If your $30k staffer puts in 100-hour weeks during the final push of a key initiative, most exclusively cash rewards would come in at a rate way under minimum wage. Just reconsider this choice. This can be quite insulting, seen, instead, as an insignificant effort to buy them off and ease a boss' guilty conscience. Regardless, after the IRS gets his chunk, the net value of this money may end up being a lot less than it costs to pay it out.

Send them to extra training. Some people might be thrilled to get a chance to attend a course in a place on the company dime. They may even ask to spend the weekend before or after, at their expense, just to take advantage of this opportunity to rest up. Be careful though, this could come off to your top performer that you noticed their performance lacking. They might wrongly assume that they have to have additional training to be deserving of the eventual reward that lies waiting. If your achiever is thin-skinned, they might get worried that all of that effort they exerted was an indicator to you that they were not so doing well at their job. Proposing an instructive award in this situation could be mistaken that this challenge was obvious to you, and you are now taking corrective action.

Promote them. Though the appeal of a notable title or material gains associated with a promotion may encourage some, more and more workers have come to realize the hazards of the Peter Principle. They're afraid that their work lives will change drastically when they are promoted to manager. Your powerful personnel probably delight in what they're doing right now. That's why they're so incredibly skilled at it. Before thinking about a promotional reward, be sure that the new job actually leverages the talents and skills present in these high achievers, or you may end up losing them. If you think it's best to risk it, make sure your rewardee realizes that they can get their old job again if it doesn't work out with the new job.

Give additional time off. Everybody wants to get away, right? Unfortunately, if you offer this bonus to a very committed person who is so totally immersed in their job that they have little social interaction outside of work, they may not know how to handle this time off.

Do unto others as they would have done unto them.

As you can see, there are many methods to reward your most valuable. It's easy to be tempted to offer each of your employees the same thing. It's especially dangerous to offer them what you would want.

These examples take us to a fundamental process: communication. To summarize, ask your shining stars what they really would like. What is it that will let them to truly understand that they are respected? The path that leads someone to turn into a talented account manager is very different than the life of a great office manager. You may be stunned by the answers you hear. If truth be told, your staff may be shocked, as well, to find out that you are really listening to their ideas to decide upon the reward for their efforts.

Do they want cash?

Do they want more challenging responsibilities?

Do they want a little time off to appreciate their children?

Would they like more mentoring?

Do they merely want to be recognized at a company get-together?

What rewards have they received previously that really made them feel appreciated?

The results can vary notably for each person, depending upon their long-term objectives, how their desires are currently being fulfilled within Maslow's Needs Hierarchy, and the current difficulties in their life. Don't make the blunder of believing that the answer you get now will remain the same throughout your high performer's career.

At the end of the day, rather than attempting to reward your people the way you would like to be rewarded, break The Golden Rule, and invest your time actually appreciating their needs and wants. By involving them in decisions that affect their lives so immediately, you might unintentionally benefit from the Hawthorn Effect, and encourage your employee by demonstrating you care. You will probably find that you've produced a work setting that makes your high achievers happier than they've ever been. Accordingly, they will find a way to push themselves to new levels of productivity, appreciating that their efforts will turn into rewards that are truly important to them. You may even earn their admiration and loyalty for a lifetime.

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