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Dr. Ross Reck

Many business leaders today want to have it both ways: On one hand, they want loyal hard working employees who are willing to do whatever it takes to make the business successful and, on the other hand, they want to pay them the least amount possible. The problem with this is that paying low wages creates distractions for employees which means they cannot give their full attention and effort to performing their jobs. For example, if employees aren’t making enough money to support themselves, they will worry and fret over how they’re going to make ends meet which means they can’t give their full attention to performing their job.

This is why companies with a high level of employee engagement such as SAS, JetBlue, Google, NetApp and Southwest Airlines make it a point to provide their employees with compensation that is at or above their industry average and a benefit package that’s fairly generous. They want to minimize these distractions so employees can focus on performing their jobs. As stated on the SAS web site, “They (employees) should be freed from many of the distractions of day-to-day life, so they can focus on doing their best work.” Similarly, Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google had this to say when discussing Google’s philosophy regarding employee benefits. “The goal is to strip away everything that gets in our employees’ way (of doing their best work).”

My new book, 100% Employee Engagement—Guaranteed!, details the role that the level of pay plays in achieving full employee engagement. For more information, please click on this link.