Does Work Have To Meet All Our Needs?

The following is a guest piece by Moe Carrick.

His voice was incredulous when he asked the question that I could tell he had been thinking about: “C’mon, Moe. As a senior leader, I am basically just trying to run a business. Is it really my job to meet all these needs people have?”

Good one.

I answered, “Only if you want your people to bring their best to work every day.”

That quieted him for a moment.

It really is a good question, and as an employer myself, I totally get it. We are, after all, running businesses and organizations. We can’t possibly be solely responsible for all of the needs human beings have at work, right?

The answer is paradoxically both simple and complex. On the one hand, of course, our rational minds know that our primal needs extend way beyond what the workplace can provide in profound ways. And yet, since most of us spend more time at work than we do just about anywhere else in our adult lives, the workplace does matter a great deal when it comes to whether or not we thrive.

I often tell senior leaders that there are worse things than losing employees to other companies. Employees who come to work under-engaged, uninspired, and disconnected is far more expensive to your bottom-line than the ones who quit and have to be replaced. An employee functioning at 30 or 50 or 75% of their highest capacity is an employee who is not bringing their best to the role they are filling.

And it is in this context that my experience and research points to 7 things that all of us profoundly need from work. These needs are temporally relative – meaning they change over time. But for leaders who seek an actively engaged and contributing workforce, this is a good place to start in evaluating whether your workplace is fit for human life and brings out the absolute best in your people.

What people need from work:

1. To meet our basic needs – to make enough money and non-cash compensation to provide food, clothing, shelter, safety, and security.
2. To contribute – to do something that matters to someone.
3. To be seen – and known.
4. To connect – in real ways, with other people.
5. To learn – and become better.
6. To feel support – to be able to be brave knowing that there are risks.
7. To make our lives work – to be able to do the things that matter to us and that are ours to do.

In my experience, most employers focus an inordinate amount of energy, time and attention on #1, despite the fact that research shows over and over again that as long as pay is felt to be fair, money is not a big motivator for most of us. The other 6 are ephemeral, often subtle, hard to measure, and are highly dependent on the skill and each employee’s direct manager.

The thing is, we all know our companies primarily through our experience with our immediate boss. So even if I work for the best CEO on the planet, or a company that consistently makes “great places to work” lists, if my boss and I do not connect, my experience is likely to be very negative.

This means I spend my mental, emotional, spiritual and physical energy not thinking about the dynamic and engagement problems my organization wants me to work on. Instead, I spend inordinate efforting every day thinking about all the other places I would rather be.

So, in a nutshell, yes we do, as employers, have an obligation to strive to activate all the greatness our employees possess. It generates better results with less waste.

Is it easy? Nope. People are complex and messy. We’re diverse and hard to understand without spending time together and communicating. We have needs, many of them, and we don’t always know exactly what they are or how to meet them.

Most of us come to work wanting to do a good job. And yet, “people problems” are the most-cited reason that organizations call me. Almost invariably, the problem is with a particular person or between some particular people. In our assessment phase we hear about the specific dynamics of Tom or Andrea or whoever is either causing or contributing to the problem. Many clients have said to me, “This would be easy if it weren’t for the people.” Ah, yes.

As my friend and CMO of Duolingo said in the Forward to Bravespace Workplace, “It’s hard work to be a brave leader. I have failed more times than I have succeeded. It’s so much easier to retreat behind your spreadsheet than to dive into the messy, difficult business of people’s hearts.”

But it is the right thing to do, in addition to being good for the bottom-line and the mission. I understand that work is not meant to be summer camp. But people need to thrive while working, and when they do, it’s good for business.

By thrive I mean, and Merriam-Webster agrees, more than just survive or get by: to “grow vigorously, to prosper, to flourish.” Most of us have, at some point in our lives, had that job that’s just feeding us, a job where we were just marking time. But the jobs where we thrive can elevate any mundane work situation, and then we’re in a Bravespace workplace.

So, for leaders and business owners, here is the stripped down set of questions that will get you started on making your workplace fit for human life:

1.People need money to meet their basic requirements.

Are you paying fairly? Are you looking beyond pay for what matters to your people? Can people meet their basic needs on what you pay them? What can you offer in addition to money?

2.People need to do something that matters to someone; they need to contribute.

Are you spending time with your employees to connect the dots between what they do every day and the benefit or impact of that work on someone else? Are you coaching your leaders to spend time doing the same?

3.People need to feel seen, not anonymous.

Do you know who works for you by name? Do you spend the time necessary to get to know them in small but vital ways?

4.People need to connect with other people via real connection.

Are you showing your employees what’s under the hood? Do you support small intervals in time when the explicit purpose is human connection?

5.People need to learn and become better.

As an employer, are you aware of what an employee might want to learn with you? And are you talking about it with them? How are people able to grow or learn at your organization?

6.People need to feel support—to be able to be brave knowing that there are risks.

Do you think your employees feel safe enough to speak up? Do you spend time and effort to create an environment in which listening to each other, and showing sensitivity to feelings and needs, is valued? Do you practice inclusion and model it in your organization, exploring your own unconscious biases and systematic advantage?

7.People need to be able to make their lives work.

Do you pay attention to the ways in which your workplace supports and enlivens your employees? Do you act in ways that are consistent with the values you profess?

By designing every facet of your workplace around the needs of people, you’ll create a Bravespace workplace in which workers can do their best work for and with you. Now that’s a legacy.

Moe Carrick is a consultant, entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and founder of Moementum, Inc. She’s also the author of “Bravespace Workplace: Making Your Company Fit for Human Life“.