The Key to Employee Morale & Retention

In the best-selling book How Full Is Your Bucket, Gallup researchers and authors Tom Rath and Donald Clifton reveal the #1 reason people leave their jobs.

Eighty-nine percent of managers believed employees left for money, while 88% of employees said they left for reasons other than money.

So, what was the main reason employees left their job?

Lack of appreciation.

In fact, in their research of more than four million workers, Gallup found that whopping 65% of Americans reported receiving no recognition in the past year. The impact of the lack of appreciation and prevalence of negativity in the workplace is significant and far-reaching – turnover rises, the risk of stroke increases, people are less productive, the risk of losing customers increases, and life spans are potentially shortened.

To add to the Gallup research, a survey of 2,000 Americans from the John Templeton Foundation, a non-profit organization that sponsors research on creativity, gratitude, freedom and other topics, found that only 10% of adults thank a colleague daily. We are more likely to thank the mailman or a salesperson (people we hardly know) than a coworker. This has an impact at the workplace, where we find it much easier and more automatic to express negative emotions and blame and shame one another rather than looking for good.

Internationally renowned business strategist and best-selling author, Tony Robbins, suggests humans have six basic needs that make us tick. One of those needs is contribution – the sense that we are creating meaning and that what we do matters. It is in giving that we receive. One of the primary ways we contribute is by giving of ourselves in the service of others, which can include acts of appreciation.

What we focus on expands, and we are biologically wired to notice negatively – to be attuned to any threats to our survival, whether they are real or perceived. For that reason, it’s much easier for us to provide “constructive” criticism than it is for us to offer a specific, authentic gesture of appreciation to a colleague.

Why is regularly expressing appreciation so critical in the workplace?

It creates safety.

Appreciation and positive, predictable behavior are at the root of safety. When we feel safe, we trust people, so instead of staying in survival mode we’re able to shift toward creativity and openness. Creativity, openness and safety are necessary for organizations to continue to grow, develop, and innovate. When we feel safe and trust is present, we feel more connected, collaboration happens more easily, and we don’t have to “talk” about communication – it just flows more naturally.

Journalist, business author and speaker, Tony Schwartz wrote a piece in the Harvard Business Review titled Why Appreciation Matters So Much and shared data from a study that demonstrated the impact of positivity on performance.

“Among high-performing teams, the expression of positive feedback outweighs that of negative feedback by a ratio of 5.61 to 1. By contrast, low-performing teams have a ratio of .36 to 1.”

The benefits of safety extend beyond creativity and trust and are health protective. When we feel safe and appreciated, our risk of heart disease declines by one-third. Gratitude expert and best-selling author, Robert Emmons touts additional health benefits of gratitude in his book Gratitude Works!. It increases our sense of energy and alertness, reduces stress and our ability to cope with it, improves heart health and function and lowers blood pressure, improves sleep, and boosts our immune function and reduces symptoms of illness.

Think of learning how to express gratitude as learning a new language. Most of us are so mired in our automatic thought patterns that notice what is “bad” and wrong rather than what is good and right. But the good news is that we can change. The brain is highly adaptable and exhibits the trait of neuroplasticity, so the more we do something, the more connections in our brain to do that thing are strengthened. In the case of gratitude, the more we practice looking for good in others, expressing specific and authentic appreciation, and noticing what we are grateful for in our own lives, the easier it will become. Just like any muscle, we have to train it repeatedly, so it can be strengthened.

While other factors like autonomy, mastery, and purpose impact employee retention and morale, gratitude is one of, if not, the most significant factors. For that reason, we would all be better served to make appreciation a more regular part of our day, especially in the workplace. 

To learn more about this topic, check out the following books and articles:

• The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman & Paul White
• Gratitude Works! by Robert Emmons
• Thanks! by Robert Emmons
• Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson
• How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath & Donald Clifton
• Well-Being: The Five Essential Elements by Tom Rath & Jim Harter
• The Art of Possibility by Rosamund & Benjamin Zander
• The Powerful Effect of Noticing Good Things at Work by Joyce Bono & Theresa Glomb, Harvard Business Review, September 4, 2015