Who Makes Up Your Team?

Cultivating an environment that motivates a team is very difficult if you have no idea who’s on your team.  There are four very distinct types of employees in your organization.  Each has unique reasons for working and motivations.  Understanding these will allow you to create retention strategies that work.

Thanks, Gary

It is estimated that the global rate of employee turnover will increase from 20.6% to 23.4% in the next five years.  It is important to understand why employees leave, how to predict who’s next, and what can be done to increase retention.  Over the next five articles we will address all of this and more.  Let’s begin with taking a look at different types of employees.

There are four primary types of employees present in today’s workplace.  Understanding their unique behaviors and motivation are key in cultivating an environment that is focused on engagement and retention.

The Payday Employee (50% of staff) – This person comes to work each day simply to collect a paycheck.  They will perform their duties and tasks to an acceptable level, but will not strive to go above and beyond.  Engagement can be difficult, but possible.  The key is to communicate the goals of the project and/or purpose of the work and how they correlate with the company’s mission.

The Difficult Employee (20% of staff) – This is the hard to manage person who can quickly destroy office morale.  They rarely meet expectations, but do perform well enough that terminating them is a challenge.  Engagement is extremely difficult.  The best tactic is to listen to their concerns and make them aware of their potential.

The Committed Employee (20% of staff) – This employee is a leader’s dream.  They come in early and stay late.  While they are very passionate about their work and the organization, they can become bored or burnt out quickly.  Providing a variety of tasks and opportunities for growth will help keep this team member engaged.

The Self-Interested Employee (10% of staff) –   This team member will often meet or exceed expectations, but is not engaged.  Their focus is on their personal agenda which shows in a lack of respect for colleagues.  They embody the term “does not work well with others”.  Pointing out how their individual performance is directly connected to the team’s results can help leverage their self-interest for the greater good.  Challenging them to help create a purpose-driven team can help combat respect issues.

By understanding the different types of employees in the workplace, organizations can begin to develop retention plans that will be speak to their individual motivations.  Watch for our next article where we discuss how to predict if an employee is going to resign.

Gary Vice is sought out by leaders in Software and Services who recognize the need to attract the industry’s best talent.  Through Strategic Recruiting Partners’ extensive network of relationships, they are able to identify high level opportunities for well qualified candidates.  To discover how this process can benefit your job search, simply reply to this email or call Gary at 469.402.4008.