Valuable Employees

Nicole Atchley

Human capital contributes immensely to the success of any organization. Ensuring that the right people are in place with the necessary KSA’s can make an organization thrive and help with the overall financial success of a company. Aside from making sure the right people are hired (this is a challenge in itself), you have to keep those same people motivated, happy and engaged. As hard as it was to find great people for your organization, it is the organizational leaders jobs to keep engagement up and show that you value and appreciate what they bring to the organization. Your valued employees or your most engaged are the ones that keep the organization going and are self motivators. 

Your most valued employees are generally intrinsically motivated. These are the people that find satisfaction in doing their job and being successful at it. Valued employees know their value and cannot be fooled into being anything less than what they are. The conditions of an organization will not and can not stop them from overachieving. So if someone says, “this place makes me act like this and underperform”, they are not intrinsically motivated. Their performance depends on the conditions given to them. These are not the people I am speaking about. Appreciate the people that thrive on being a hard worker and producing a top notch product regardless of the conditions. 

Managers and supervisors often unknowingly take advantage of intrinsically motivated employees because they know they can count on them without having to dangle something shinny in their face. They become the “go to” person for every job, while the underperforming employees are allowed to coast through the day doing minimal work. Allowing this kind of behavior to go on for long periods of time can turn the valued employee bitter. They begin to feel overworked and undervalued while others can do far less and get paid just the same. Incompetence and laziness should not be rewarded. 

Value your valuable employees and engage your underperforming employees. Identify who is who in your organization and work with and on them accordingly. The Valuable employee will leave and leave a hole in your organization that can only be partially filled with a half version of themselves. 

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