By Michele Shauf

Increasingly, employees look for multiple rewards from their work — not just monetary rewards, but also opportunities for leadership, creativity, autonomy, and personal growth. Certainly all employees are attracted by competitive wages, but understanding what other rewards motivate your work force can help you build what may be your organization's most valuable asset: human capital.

Employees need more than compensation

Because of the sheer size and international presence of many organizations, employees are increasingly uncertain about the value of their contributions. In such environments, monetary compensation alone can be inadequate to motivate employees and retain top talent. To many of your employees, feeling that their efforts are valued may be just as important as getting a salary and bonuses. Some employees, in fact, may even place personal fulfillment above compensation.

Employee satisfaction is important

Although many organizations are externally focused and concentrate on fulfilling their customers' needs or stakeholders' expectations, smart companies know that employee satisfaction is just as important. Studies show that employees who find personal fulfillment in their work are not only more productive, but they also:

• Manage their time better.
• Accept more responsibilities and challenges.
• Stay longer in their jobs.
• Attract other talented employees to their organization.

Employees value trust

Every member of every organization has a role to play. This may be a truism, but it's at the heart of understanding what employees want. Most employees — including part-time and entry-level employees — want to succeed at what they've been assigned to do and to have their contributions acknowledged and appreciated. Even organizations that are undergoing budget cuts can afford to offer these benefits to employees.

Research indicates that employers typically assume that job security, titles, and wages are what matters most to employees. Employees, however, cite that — above all else — they want appreciation and trust from their employers. In fact, employees who feel trusted in their work are shown to be more likely to meet or exceed goals, report higher levels of satisfaction, and bolster achievement among their colleagues.

Promote employee autonomy

Increasing autonomy among employees can be accomplished in any number of ways. You can offer your employees:

• More decision-making responsibility   This can mean trusting an employee to assume more decision-making responsibility on a per-project basis.
• A coaching style of management   This may mean offering training for managers that models coaching techniques instead of direct supervision.
• Flextime   With increasingly demanding family schedules, personal responsibilities, and commute times, many employees value the freedom to establish their own work schedules. Studies reveal that employees who have a flexible schedule accomplish more than those with a more rigid schedule.

Whatever your approach, providing your employees with more autonomy should be a primary goal. The right solution should grow out of your organization's unique culture and challenges.

Recognize achievement

Job promotions and salary raises are certainly time-tested ways of recognizing employee achievement. Other methods are also available to human resources managers who are managing staffing cuts and budget constraints.

High-achieving employees expect — and deserve — to be recognized for their work and esteemed by their colleagues. Organizations have many ways to ensure that accomplished employees receive the recognition they deserve. Too often, organizations fail to make this critical gesture of appreciation. And when they do, they inadvertently send a counterproductive message that hard work is not valued in the organization.

Even if you can't promote high-achieving employees to more responsible positions or reward them with salary raises, you can:

• Grant them wider access to strategic-planning processes.
• Assign them greater decision-making responsibilities.
• Offer them new leadership roles.
• Showcase their work or make it available to others.
• Reward them with special designations.

Create opportunities for employee growth

Most employees want to meet the expectations that are assigned to their job positions. In fact, they want to do more than that — they want to meet new challenges, develop new skills, and grow professionally as well as personally. Smart organizations recognize this desire and provide extensive professional development opportunities, understanding how central they are to attracting and retaining the most talented employees.

Whether you offer ongoing training, defined careers paths within the organization, leadership courses, or financial support for continuing education offered by third parties, it's critical to communicate that you value professional development. Even if you can't offer formal mechanisms for helping employees develop new skills or specialized knowledge, you can create a learning environment where employees are encouraged to take on additional tasks or challenges and to develop through new experiences.

Manage low-performing employees

In addition to recognizing exemplary employees and providing opportunities for them to grow and develop, it's important to distinguish employees whose performance is substandard.

Even the most sensitive programs for developing human capital can be undermined if underperforming employees are permitted to continue in their positions without consequences. As you develop systems for recognizing achievement and encouraging professional development, it's also important to develop protocols for dealing with employees who don't meet expectations. In environments where there is no definitive distinction between accomplishment and failure, even highly motivated employees can become disillusioned and demoralized.

Value your employees

Although most employees work for certain financial rewards, they also want to be valued and to feel they are part of something meaningful that offers a chance for professional and personal advancement. Building human capital means building on what employees value.

About the author   Michele Shauf, Ph.D., is a business consultant specializing in organizational change, strategic communications, and training.