Good job, we really appreciate your hard work and effort.

Personally, and professionally I have a belief that almost everything comes down to "Cause and Effect". If you are delinquent on your bills, they may go into collection and effect your credit score. If you live a healthy lifestyle, eat well and exercise more than likely the effect will be that you will live longer. If you are a business leader and your employees feel appreciated or part of the team the effect will be that they will be more productive and stay longer making you more successful. Yes, I said employees that feel appreciated will work harder and stay longer at a place of employment. If you are wondering "Why do I care", let us look at the why.

The fact that the US businesses spends over 1 trillion dollars annually due to Voluntary Turnover should be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Don't we all agree that even if we could retain 10% of the people leaving that it would be considered a success? It could be spent on things like better health care, better pay, building a financial buffer for pandemics and even more profit for the business? As a Non-Commissioned Officer in the Army they ingrain the line in the NCO Creed. "My two basic responsibilities will always be uppermost in my mind—accomplishment of my mission and the welfare of my Soldiers." and it really sticks out. As you are reading this you are thinking I am not a uniformed service member what does this have to do with my TPS reports?

In today's market, Job Satisfaction is one of the top attributes that people look for. There are countless stories of people working for lower pay, longer hours, because they feel appreciated and love what they do. What does this mean as manager or business owner? Do you need to spend countless hours high-fiving and giving compliments, no. It means treating an employee with respect and giving them credit for their above and beyond work either monetarily or public recognition will always pay dividends in the long run. Some people recognized this centuries ago, Napoleon Bonaparte even said “Give me enough medals and I'll win you any war.”

Why are some businesses or leaders missing the mark in Private Sector when it comes to employee appreciation? Personally, I would say the biggest hurdle is quality leadership. Quality leadership leads, trains, cares, maintains, and appreciates their quality team members. Notice I said team member and not employee. Leaders make difficult decisions, take calculated risks, and give credit to those who make the organization successful. Leadership is the glue that holds the myriad of different personalities together during difficult times order to accomplish what needs to get done. As an employee/team member if you ever question whether your leadership is good or not you already have your answer.

Even if we were to look past the financial cost of losing an unappreciated team member, what about the effect on morale, productivity, the quality of work / brand, program knowledge, industry relationships, time it takes to retrain a replacement, or the message it sends to outsiders? Internally I cringe at the idea of employees leaving a job I recruited them for, and the effect it will have on the program. As a recruiter this has led to me exercising some stringent hiring practices on some programs or ignoring some applicants.

Where does this leave leaders and team members? Majority of humans still need gainful employment, as well as majority of businesses have a constant need for quality people. All parties involved have a responsibility in the arena of employment. Leaders should cultivate an environment that is both rewarding and fosters an individual's growth and success. Employees should take inventory of what characteristics they want in their place of employment without sacrificing their personal values and beliefs.

*Disclaimer- All information in this article are my personal beliefs and observations. There is no perfect utopia where everyone starts a job and never has issues with personality differences.