Survey Shows That a Few Simple Words Can Make Employees Much Happier

By Susan Adams, forbes.com
What makes you happy at work? In most surveys about workers’ priorities, compensation rates at the top. Getting a promotion is also important. Vacation time matters too, as does flexibility to attend to family needs like a sick child or parent. Now a new study from professional networking site  LinkedIn shows shows that a significant number of employees care a lot about being recognized for their contributions with kind words from the boss. They don’t just want compliments
on completion of big projects. They want their everyday achievements to be noticed and recognized.
An online survey of 450 adult full-time employees in late September and early October found that if the boss appreciates their everyday successes:

• 58% said they were more likely to have a better attitude at work
• 45% said they would be motivated to do a better job
• 32% said they would be motivated to stay with the company longer

Supervisors who don’t make a show of appreciating their employees run the risk of losing workers. Younger workers care about this the most. Some more findings:

• 33% of workers across the board said they have resigned from a job because they didn’t feel their everyday contributions were appreciated
• 37% of workers under 40 said they’ve quit because they were under-appreciated

The message to bosses: It’s easy to take your employees for granted, especially when you’re juggling deadlines and demands from above. But don’t reserve the compliments for your team members for the culmination of a project or meeting a deadline. Instead appreciate their work every day.