Compensation = Commitment? NOT!

As I travel around the country, consulting, coaching and training my clients, I notice a commonality in the workforce. 

Ulimately, compensation is not enough to make a person happy with her job.

It reminds me of a story about a team of ditch diggers:
The ditch diggers were asked with dig a ditch for $10 an hour. Every morning they will dig the ditch.  Every afternoon they will fill it back in with the same dirt. They were asked to do this all day, every day.  After the first day of work the ditch diggers ask "Why are we doing this?  Why are we digging a ditch and then filling it up again? This doesn't make any sense!"   The foreman replied "Don't worry about why you're doing it.  Just do it.  And by the way, we'll pay you $14 an hour tomorrow."  The next day,  40% of the ditch digger didn't come back to work.  Again, the remaining ditch diggers asked "Why are we doing this  -- are we preparing the soil for something, are we burying power lines, are we going to install an irragation system?"  Again, the foreman responded "Don't worry about why; just do the work we are paying you to do.  Tomorrow we'll pay you $21 an hour."  The 3rd day, 40% of the remaining ditch diggers did not show up.  Even though the pay was getting better and better, the workers were disgruntled and unhappy.  They didn't want to waste their time doing work that had no purpose. 

Workers need meaning and value in their work.   Leaders (like that foreman) need to help their workers understand why their work is important and what they are accomplishing.

People leave high-paying jobs because they are unfulfilling.  My best friend did it nine years ago when she started her own real estate development company.   I did it four years ago when I started my consulting firm. 

My clients often tell me they don't have to worry about employees leaving because the job market is tough and most people won't quit their jobs, even if they are miserable.  I tell them this:  You don't have to worry about the people who leave; Your concern should be the people who stay.  The miserable employees who don't quit continue to impact the business and the bottomline.  They perform at mediocre levels; they negatively affect the morale of the team; they treat customers poorly.  Unhappy employees are more likely to commit theft and even sabatoge.  They stop caring about the business or what happens to it.  They are no longer concerned with helping the business succeed. 

As a leader, you can't make employees passionate about their work.  But, you can help them understand the purpose, importance, and goals behind it.