Only two months ago an article appeared – “Employers must offer pay rise to retain staff” by Zsa-Zsa Bowie Wilson
“A CareerOne.com.au survey of 1168 people revealed that 68.3 per cent of employees expected a salary raise this financial year, despite the fact the Government is encouraging employers to hold back on wage increases in an effort to curb inflation.
More disturbingly for employees, a third of those expecting a pay rise said they would “look for another job” if their request was turned down, the survey results indicated.”
I think that given the current situation – people obviously want security and to work for an organisation which knows where it is heading – but this may well have changed.
A business owner said to me last week that he was ‘glad for the current level of uncertainty – to teach Gen Y a lesson. They should be grateful for a job.’
I was flabbergasted by his neanderthal comments. Have we not moved forward at all? RedBalloon has been talking about “Happy People = Happy Profits” for years. We employ mostly Gen Y – and they are fantastically productive, innovative and focused. We’ve found a key to engagement is to ensure that people have to mean in their work. They know the game they are playing and when they are a winner – this is for all employees and is not age dependent.
If people do not respect the leaders they work for – or believe in the vision – there will come a point when enough is enough. Even if they stay with an organisation – people still have discretionary effort available to do a great job.
As I’ve said before the best way forward is through having a truly engaged and focused team. People have long memories – treat them badly and the first sign of an upturn they will be off.
What is your opinion?
Ian burman says
Hi Naomi,
Thankyou for those pearls of wisdom. I’m not surprised at the number of employers who think like this, I have come across quite a number over the years (present employment excluded), and am also the father of a Gen Y who is currently in customer service. I endeavour to encourage and mentor 24 staff on a daily basis and find your blog most enlightening and find that most staff respond well to the right type of management.
I look forward to the next edition