📓 what your employees ACTUALLY want

Employees just want _____ 

🎵 Last quarter Lauryn Hill inspired my theme of the miseducation of HR and this quarter I pulled some inspo from another music icon. 

Cyndi Lauper once sang “girls just want to have fun” and it made me think… If girls just want to have fun, what do employees want?

Am I a dork that thinks about HR? Unfortunately (or fortunately for you) yes. 

So, now I’m gonna spend a quarter examining what do employees ACTUALLY WANT?

And filling in that blank in the headline every week! 

Yes, there’s the obvious things that instantly come to mind like to be paid fairly but then there’s also things like to be inspired or a part of something bigger. 

If I took the time to list everything employees truly want, the list would be long. So for the sake of clarity, I’ve identified three core pillars of employee wants.

Let’s look at each and what’s to come this quarter! Consider this your preview of all the juicy newsletters to hit your inbox this quarter. 

❤️ If you feel like something’s missing, reply to this email and I’ll make sure it gets covered!

3 pillars of employee wants: 

Not going to lie, when I started planning this quarter, I got a bit overwhelmed by all the things I came up with that employees may want. 

So I took all those topics and I tried to break them down into 3 core pillars: 

💰 Employees want to be valued. They want to be seen, recognized and appreciated for their contributions. This can be everything from compensation to how employees are appreciated. 

This quarter I’ll cover topics like:

• Employees want fair pay (and how to explain they are paid fairly)
• Employees want to know they matter
• Employees want better benefits (to fit their changing needs) 

🤝🏽 Employees want to be supported. They want to know they are set up for success. This can be everything from how someone is onboarded to what systems are in place to support wellbeing. 

This quarter I’ll cover topics like:

• Employees want to gain new skills not just advance up the career ladder
• Employees want to know their wellbeing matters
• Employees want clear guidance and actionable feedback 

✨ Employees want to be inspired. They want to feel excited about their work and company. This can be anything from working on meaningful projects to having values alignment with their organization. 

This quarter I’ll cover topics like: 

• Employees want to understand the vision
• Employee want work on something interesting
• Employees want to work with great leaders
• Employees want to be a part of something bigger 

Put it all together, what do you get? Other than a banger quarter of content… 

📣 Employees want to be valued, supported and inspired. 

And, you guessed it, HR plays a major role in making that happen. 

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. 

But don’t worry because each newsletter will tell you what you need to do to potentially fill every employees’ hopes, dreams and needs. 

Up next:

I’ve written quite a bit about compensation from why pay transparency matters to how to communicate about pay. 

I thought I’d take another approach when it comes to compensation and employees feeling valued. 

So next week I’m going full nerd on y’all and writing about the psychology of pay in an effort to get to the root of what actually makes employees feel valued. 

What actually motivates and validates employees?

Well, guess you’ll have to wait until next week to see!