A job you’d like to retire in—that’s the goal. Professional dream of that perfect job in a company that ticks all the boxes of an organization with successful workplace teams and a place where they see their future. “Love your job, and you’ll never have to work for the rest of your life,” the cliché goes. Thus, everyone is in pursuit of that place that will feel like a second home. 

Warren Valdmanis, Partner at a financial services provider Two Sigma Impact, shared fundamental tenets on what makes an employee happy or what, according to him, is the “ideal job.” However, he skipped the usual answers as to what will make a worker stay at their job: high salaries, fantastic benefits, or fabulous events all year round. There is more to employee job satisfaction and engagement than material offerings and celebrations. To synthesize Valdmanis’ points, valuing the employee has its rewards. 

Take a look at the tech professionals in your organization right now, and see if you can adopt Valdmanis’ inputs on how to increase employee happiness at work. You might be surprised that there are little things that mean a lot to your workforce, and they will repay you by staying with you for a long time. 

Your tech employees would like to be treated fairly. 

In his TED Talk, Valdmanis summed up his key points on what makes a good job into four, starting with employees wanting fair treatment. Valdmanis explained that, sadly, when companies face the problem of giving reasonable pay and benefits, they immediately think it’s at the company’s expense. 

What company leaders should adopt is the thought that salary and benefits are investments. When workers feel that what they receive from the company for the work they do is indeed tantamount to their efforts, they see fairness. That’s why it’s imperative for business leaders to always follow through with promises of salary adjustments and improved compensation and not think of it as an additional cost. 

Here are multitudes of reasons why compensation does well in contributing to job satisfaction: 

• Adjustments to increasing cost of living. Gone are the times when the prices of food and monthly bills and still bearable. The instinct of any person right now is to survive first, then thrive later. Consider raising salaries an ethical move before employees look for jobs that will best support their daily expenditures. 

• Higher retention rate. Bankrate’s research conducted in 2021 revealed that 55 percent of Americans are searching for new jobs with—you guessed it—higher salaries. Especially in a candidate-led job market nowadays, a worker’s voice weighs more when it comes to keeping a job or not. Business leaders should keep their ears on the ground for these voices to address compensation concerns and sway employees to stay. 
• Improved company culture. Workers who experience job satisfaction give sincere efforts and infectious energy to their coworkers. Dave Smith, COO of TINYpulse, mentioned that salaries are emotional measures that reflect how much employees feel they are valued. Whether this emotion is bad or good, it will emanate from them for others to see. 

A company that promises professional growth is worth staying for. 

Have you ever wondered why most fast-food chains and restaurants have a high employee turnover rate? After the pandemic, restaurants have a staggering employee turnover rate of 75 percent, which is around 1.5 times the rate for various private sectors at 46 percent.  

Valdmanis relayed in his TED talk one of the key reasons why many workers are leaving fast-food jobs: there is no opportunity for growth. Add low wages to that, and it’s no surprise these workers leave after staying for only six to twelve months.  

However, being a company in the fast-food or restaurant industry is not an excuse not to put a premium on employee growth. In fact, Valdmanis praised two restaurants: Boloco in Boston and Tender Greens in California. These establishments have a leverage program that even low-wage employees can join. As a result, workers can become managers in the long run and even triple their salaries. 

A good salary is important for employee retention, but that is not the end-all and be-all. There is a plethora of reasons why people want to improve, including but not limited to taking responsibility for their actions, increasing their chances of success, making an impact, and creating a legacy. These motivations are a natural urge in any person, so if a worker stagnates in a company, they’ll search for improvement elsewhere.  

Particularly for tech companies, training and development are key for employees, mainly because their industry is fast-changing. Workers at the pulse of technological innovations bring a specific edge, not only for their companies but for their stature as tech professionals. They also mitigate risks easier and make themselves and their organization future-ready. 

Companies should be practicing psychological safety. 

You’ve probably heard of “quiet quitting.” It is a trend that rose to awareness this year, which refers to a state when employees only do the least expected of them at work. While these employees are not really resigning, they are on the brink of it. One can surmise that their lack of participation in the workplace, but still doing the work as needed, maybe because of a lack of psychological safety.  

Mental health programs and paid leaves are essential in helping workers take care of their headspaces, but what is surprisingly powerful is encouraging them to speak up. At one point during his TED Talk, Valdmanis asked his audience to recall a boss they cherish the most. Valdmanis then said, “I’m sure that boss is a great listener.”  

Being able to speak up does wonder to one’s mental health. To know that you are being listened to and that enough attention is brought to your concerns is already uplifting. Kelly Greenwood and Julia Anas of the Harvard Business Review encourage leaders not only to ask, “How are you?” but also follow that up with, “How can I help you?” These two questions greatly improve psychological safety and, ultimately, job satisfaction. 

Your tech employees would like to achieve a sense of purpose. 

McKinsey and Company surveyed US-based employees, and their findings summarized that two-thirds of their respondents have reflected on their life’s purpose. Additionally, half of them are considering leaving the company they are in after reflecting on said purpose.  

Valdmanis elaborated that employees want to be rooted in their organization’s purpose. If they see their company as only going through the motions of everyday work just so one earns a living, this doesn’t bode well in how they see the company and the work they do.  

When was the last time you talked about company goals with your team? How are they impactful not only to the organization but also to stakeholders? In what ways do projects uphold company values? How are these values practiced every day at the workplace? If your company’s mission-vision are only mere words plastered at your reception area, it may be time to dig deeper and rally your workers to find true purpose in what you do as a whole. 

ON-DEMAND GROUP CAN HELP YOU FIND TECH EMPLOYEES WHO CAN STAY FOR THE LONG HAUL. 

Warren Valdmanis shared excellent points on how to raise employee happiness and keep job satisfaction significantly. But there’s another way to create a team of enthusiastic tech professionals – reach out to a staffing agency committed to building integrity-rich partnerships that have a lasting impact. This is where On-Demand Group comes in.  

We are highly dedicated to delivering only top-notch and award-winning technology consulting services for individual and project needs. Ninety percent of our consultants have an average industry experience of 10 years, and we are excited to share this expertise with you.  

Contact On-Demand Group now.