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Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

gallup.com

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Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#11

Post by officemonkey »

I'd believe Gallup if they weren't hacks and crooks.

Five to ten years ago they had a big program that they peddled to organizations about Employee Engagement.

They ended up paying the Justice Department 10.5 million dollars for crimes associated with contracting irregularities (aka bribes.)

Looks like they're going to turn their "survey experience" to another part of employee training.

It's really sad about Gallup. They've been riding on their good name that they developed 60 years ago. They're bad pollsters (they predicted McCain would win in 2008) and they're pretty blatantly partisan. Oh, as as mentioned above, crooked.

That being said, yes, I'm sure that employees want "a great boss who cares about their development." I knew that years ago. I also know that this "story" is a puff piece to sell Gallup consulting services.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#12

Post by taneq »

mbrock wrote: post #5

On the other hand, I don't want to be condescended to by managers that invite me to meetings about improving me , assessing my personality, helping me "grow." I want to help improve the product , and the most fundamental way to engage me with that is to ask me for input and take my ideas & concerns seriously. Just coffee and a chat every now and then is a great setting for that. No need for made-up agendas and bullet…

On the third hand, if you have some kind of career goals, then you probably want to be making some kind of progress towards them. While it's not always possible to discuss such goals with your employer (eg. if your goal is "become the CTO" and your immediate manager's goal is also "become the CTO" then discussing this with them is likely to end poorly), it's important to at least let them know which direction you want to go in.

At my last job, I was the primary fire-putter-outer on a number of fronts, and it was very disheartening watching new projects (that I'd put my hand up for) get handed off to others while I was busy fixing up the previous efforts of said others.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#13

Post by blfr »

All I want is work organization that doesn't get in the way of doing things that actually make money. It's truly unbelievable how even small companies adopted systems that impede sales and engineering, or worse make customers jump through hoops, because it makes life easier for some bean counter.

That other stuff sounds like completely optional nice-to-haves.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#14

Post by tehbeard »

danieltillett wrote: post #10
js8 wrote: post #4

I think employees want control of their own life, more share in decision-making. Essentially, they want democracy, even if they can't articulate it. But in capitalist society, where the ownership of capital decides, this cannot happen. There are attempts to tiptoe around this problem with holacracies and Agile methodologies and similar concepts, but the main problem still remains.

In theory workers co-operatives are this, but they have a habit of not doing so well in the real world. It is a really interesting question why this is the case. Why should a business owned by a capitalist for their own benefit be able to outcompete a workers co-operative?

Too many cooks spoil the broth? A single /small group of owners is more likely to reach a consensus quicker (no guarentee it'll be a good one, just quicker) than a larger group whose ideas/goals will be more diverse between each member, and more likely to be a compromise.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#15

Post by crimsonalucard »

This article is wrong. Why is it wrong? It talks about fulfilling work and a great boss as if it's the ONLY thing that employees look for. BY common sense what employees look for is a huge multitude of factors combined together part of which includes "Free lunches, more vacation time, latte machines --- and don't forget a ping pong table." It is stupid to discard all of these things as inconsequential when the employee himself states that these are things he wants.

Engaging work is ONLY one factor out of many things that Employees declare that they want.

What this article is trying and failing to address is the fact that most employees become dissatisfied with their work EVEN when employers try to satisfy all these needs and wants. It hints at the fact that there is something that the employee wants that he isn't fully aware of. What is this thing that he wants?

Simple. The answer is: Career Growth. As humans our needs and wants are unlimited. It doesn't matter how many needs and wants are satisfied, the employee will eventually want more. Employees are looking for a continuous improvement in their well-being keyword being "continuous." The company that provides the employee with the fastest rate of unlimited growth is the company that retains the employee.

The reality is, nothing can satisfy an employee if his wants and needs are unlimited. We all fight for this plateau of ultimate satisfaction that we will never reach. If you want to retain employees you must give employees the constant illusion that they are making progress towards this nonexistent plateau.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#16

Post by Spearchucker »

a_lifters_life wrote: post #8

Good article, thanks. Employees want to feel fulfilled, and engaged in their work. A huge part of that starts with leaders, NOT managers. The world doesn't need managers, they need leaders.

The world needs both.

Consider an expedition making its way through a jungle. There are a bunch of people hacking out a path with machetes. The manager makes sure the machetes are sharp, that everybody has enough food and water, and generally ensures that hacking continues unimpeded. The leader climbs a tree and makes sure the hacking is taking place in the right place.

Back to your point - yes, you're partly right, but at its root it's an agency issue -

Shareholder (owner) cannot or doesn't want to run the company, and so employs someone (an agent) to do it on his/her behalf. These agents are leadership roles (typically CEO, CFO, COO and CTO roles).

However, where these appointed leaders don't have a large-enough financial stake in the organisation, they will do things to better their own financial interests, rather than the interests of the shareholders.

That disconnect is called agency cost. A side effect is that these leaders become managers because bettering your own interests requires finesse (aka management). Sh*t, of course, flows downwards, and needs more managers.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#17

Post by vinceguidry »

crimsonalucard wrote: post #15

This article is wrong. Why is it wrong? It talks about fulfilling work and a great boss as if it's the ONLY thing that employees look for. BY common sense what employees look for is a huge multitude of factors combined together part of which includes "Free lunches, more vacation time, latte machines --- and don't forget a ping pong table." It is stupid to discard all of these things as inconsequential when the employ…

Not all jobs can offer growth. It's in everybody's best interests if you just move on from such jobs once you outgrow them.

I spent two and a half years at my current job maintaining a legacy codebase. I looked for, and explored, growth opportunities at that job. In the end, I had to find them myself. Nobody at the company could really put in the effort it would have taken to keep me fulfilled, so I did it myself. I did lots of reading, experimenting, diving deep into fundamentals.

I am a much, much better programmer than I was when I started the job. The company did not give that to me, it couldn't have given it to me.

I eventually convinced the company to move off of the old legacy platform, that it was holding them back. I wanted to build them a new platform, but they decided to go with Magento. They're giving me a pretty sweet severance deal while I go out looking for a job.

I firmly believe that anybody can grow at any job. It's nice when the company can help you do that, but your own growth is your responsibility, and nobody else's.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#18

Post by jasode »

danieltillett wrote: post #10
js8 wrote: post #4

I think employees want control of their own life, more share in decision-making. Essentially, they want democracy, even if they can't articulate it. But in capitalist society, where the ownership of capital decides, this cannot happen. There are attempts to tiptoe around this problem with holacracies and Agile methodologies and similar concepts, but the main problem still remains.

In theory workers co-operatives are this, but they have a habit of not doing so well in the real world. It is a really interesting question why this is the case. Why should a business owned by a capitalist for their own benefit be able to outcompete a workers co-operative?

>It is a really interesting question why this is the case. Why should a business owned by a capitalist for their own benefit be able to outcompete a workers co-operative?

Because 99.9% of typical workers don't have the money to build the business.

Take for example, Google Inc. origins in 1998. Both L Page and S Brin came from upper middle class families but neither of their bank accounts nor their parents' bank accounts had $25 million to spend on a business. It's also doubtful if either family could have been approved for a $25m unsecured business loan from a bank. Likewise, Google's first 100 employeees also didn't collectively have $25 million. On the other hand, VCs like Sequioa and KPCB did have $25 million to invest. Later on, more investors bought IPO shares totaling $1.9 billion. There is no union of workers that can pool together that kind of cash.

Since a co-op by definition must be owned by the workers, the question is no longer "interesting" with a mysterious answer. Instead, it's tautological. If you look at the typical workers' modest savings as the ceiling for funding a business, it's obvious why they can't compete with businesses built by investors/capitalists money. While WorkersOwnedSearchEngine Inc scrapes together $30,000 from their owners-workers' savings accounts to buy a 5th rack server from dell.com, Google Inc. can use a fraction of its $2 billion war chest to buy an entire data center and also break ground on a brand new one.

Re: Employees: looking for “the great boss who cares about their development”

#19

Post by suttree »

danieltillett wrote: post #3

The problem is this is a hard problem. Developing staff takes effort, time and resources, while a ping-pong table just requires money. Personally I am of the belief that work is work. Pay for what you expect and expect what you pay for.

Totally agree, the hard problem in all of this isn't people analytics or people ops, it's people. Dealing with them is hard because we're all so different.
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