proactive at your request.
Recently, while preparing for a presentation that I was scheduled to provide
for a large group in Toronto, Ontario, I started thinking about all of you in
a different sense.
Concluding that you really needed to hear what I was preparing to tell them,
I mentally began to compose this current issue of The Corporate Connection.
Employers, your corporate customers, need to know that recognition is
not merely something that their employees want. It is in fact something that
they actually need in order to remain focused and motivated within their
employment situations.
Robert Half International, a world renowned business consultant polled a number
of top executives by asking the following question: “Which of the following
is the single most common reason employees leave a company?”
Among other reasons amounting
to 16%, personality conflicts accounted for 8%, limited
authority accounted for 13%, compensation was a factor in 29% but limited praise
and recognition took the cake at a whopping 34%!
Psychologist, A.H. Maslow supports these findings with his hierarchy of needs
theory. Physiological needs such as food, clothing and shelter come first–
hence the paycheck.
Next comes safety needs such as job security and health insurance, before the
interactions found in a company cafeteria, golf league and bowling team which
satisfy mans’ need to belong.
Finally, in order to become and remain a satisfied and focused employee, a worker
needs to develop feelings of self-respect, achievement and prestige. This is
only going to happen if the employer, your corporate customer, makes
it happen in the form of employee recognition.
An employer, your corporate customer, may opt for the easy way out and
give cash. Unfortunately, cash is spent and quickly forgotten.
Can we still call the current era “The Information
Age” when we actually operate on a need to know basis?
I
don’t know about you folks, but I don’t want to know anymore than
I need to know until the minute that I need to know it.
OK,
at my age, maybe the minute before I needed to know would be better just in
case this newly acquired knowledge required that I stand up suddenly and begin
walking at a brisk pace!
For nearly three years now, I have been writing this column in an effort to
turn jewelers on to the many advantages of participating in the corporate jewelry
market. For those with insatiable appetites for information, I have provided
a book (still available free upon request 1-800-548-8058). For those
of you who only desired to “Pass Go and collect $200” (or more), I
have been more
Sometimes an employer, your corporate
customer, will offer an appliance or a plaque. The appliance eventually
wears out and the plaque gathers dust.
An employer, your corporate customer, needs to know
that in order for each award to remain a lasting reward, it must be visible,
versatile and perceived as valuable.
In short—corporate jewelry from you, the local
retail jeweler.
Look for more things that you may need to know in an upcoming issue.
