# What actually makes employees stay? It's not perks - **Episode:** [192](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/192.md) (2025-04-29) - **Type:** news-roundup - **Tags:** employee-retention, workplace-culture, perks - **Time:** 11:07–16:26 (start 667s) - **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/192?t=667](https://truthliesandwork.com/192?t=667) --- [11:07] Al Elliott: Le, anything else that caught your eye this week? [11:09] Leanne Elliott: I saw a new study that asked what actually makes employees want to stay. not just tolerate their jobs, not quite quit, but actually want to stay engaged and perform. And it is the question that we help our clients answer. So yeah, this week an article by Jeff Haden on Inc.com caught my attention for focusing on one very important way of engaging your employees that isn't really talked about enough, I don't think— recognition [11:35] Al Elliott: Yes. Oh yes. Now we're talking. Yeah [11:39] Leanne Elliott: So the article was titled Want Better Employees? Richard Branson says you need to start with one simple strategy and revisit— [11:46] Al Elliott: That's a clickbaity title, if anything [11:47] Leanne Elliott: It is [11:48] Al Elliott: You've slotted Branson in there as well [11:49] Leanne Elliott: It's not succinct, but it is clicky. So yes, it revisits a quote from Branson that so many of us would have heard before, that the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers, and people flourish when they are praised. So Hayden's point is that while this sounds like common sense, many businesses still don't act on it. They focus on perks and benefits or tech, but overlook The human basics— being seen, being valued, being appreciated. We all like to be appreciated, Al, don't we? [12:17] Sophie Wade: We do [12:17] Leanne Elliott: Yeah. Um, he also draws on some Gallup data to show how serious the gap is. So currently, 55% of US employees say they never receive recognition. Only 3 in 10 say they've been praised in the past week. And those who feel invisible, well, they're twice as likely to leave. The article also outlined what meaningful recognition looks like based on organizational research. The article also outlined what meaningful recognition looks like based on organizational research. So first of all, recognition needs to be specific. It needs to be tied to a clear action or behavior. Recognition needs to be frequent. It needs to be given in the moment, not months later. It also needs to be personal, tailored to that individual and how they like to be recognized. And it needs to be impact-orientated, so showcasing the positive effect on their work. And there's a bit Jeff really emphasizes here as well— recognition Only works if it's genuine. If it feels like a box ticking exercise, people switch off. You can't fake care. Um, you just, you have to mean it. Al, what do we think? [13:21] Al Elliott: 100%. I mean, it's just obvious, isn't it? When you think about the best jobs, um, the best companies that you like, suppliers. So if you buy something, think about a brand that you just like, yeah, okay, I love them. You, it's often you'll have had a really nice encounter, like on your, on your birthday. Can I say what number birthday it was? [13:39] Leanne Elliott: Of course [13:40] Al Elliott: Yeah. On your 40th birthday, we went into a department store, like a really fancy department store [13:45] Leanne Elliott: Harvey Nichols. Yeah [13:46] Al Elliott: In the UK. Went up to your favourite counter, your makeup counter [13:50] Leanne Elliott: One of, yep. Fenty [13:51] Al Elliott: Yep. And basically you were buying just a couple little bits and I said, look, it's Leanne's 40th birthday here today. Is there anything you can do? And she went, of course. And basically went, got a bag and filled it up full of lots of little goodies and stuff and gave it to Leanne. How do you think Leanne, that was recognition for buying from that. How do you think Leanne feels about that brand now? [14:07] Leanne Elliott: Very committed to said brand now [14:08] Al Elliott: Very committed [14:09] Sophie Wade: Anyway [14:10] Al Elliott: Back to the people. Yeah, you can't fake care. Everybody knows a boss who's a bit slimy. You go, I just don't trust them. This is great. I'm slightly disappointed they've not created the framework called SPIFF, which is specific— what was that? The 4 of their specific impact— [14:24] Leanne Elliott: Let's move on. We don't need any SPIFF in our life [14:26] Al Elliott: Okay, Leanne [14:28] Leanne Elliott: Ready to snort. I think the point is, I understand that, like, giving praise can just feel a bit vacuous and a bit warm and fluffy and Thank you. And whatever. Thank you. Um, but the point is people want to feel like they're appreciated. Of course we want to feel like we're appreciated, otherwise what's the point? And I think what's really interesting about the conversation around recognition, I think over the next 12 to 18 months it's going to really expand and it's going to talk about much more about those individualized personal solutions, being recognized as a whole person. So whether, you know, I'm not just, um, a woman, I have— I'm a wife and I have dogs and I have Parents who are a bit older and, you know what I mean? All of those things that I recognise what you need as an individual to do your best work. I think that's gonna really, yeah, really be focused on the conversation [15:14] Al Elliott: That's something I hadn't considered before, Leanne, the recognition. I was just thinking like rewards, so you recognise someone, but recognising them for being individual [15:22] Leanne Elliott: I never even— [15:22] Al Elliott: do you know what? We've been talking about this for about 5 years and I've never once cottoned on that that was it [15:27] Leanne Elliott: Yeah, recognition also will include things like organisational justice, so making sure that people know that decisions around promotion, development made fairly and clearly and transparently, because then people understand that they're getting the recognition they deserve. So, it's not gonna— it's gonna kind of beat off any feelings of imposter syndrome, like, why me? Why am I being chosen to be promoted or invested in? But also, for those people who maybe didn't get that promotion, that they're recognised and being shown to recognise what development they might need in the future, or what point they need to get to to get that development. So, there's a lot to recognition, But I think the personalisation of it is gonna be really key, especially in a world with AI [16:03] Al Elliott: Fabulous. That's brilliant. All the links are gonna be in the show notes. If you've seen an article or maybe you've written an article that you'd like us to talk about, check out the show notes. hello@truthliesandwork.com is the email and just send it over to us. And if it's good, we'll talk about it. If it's— if we disagree with it, we'll still talk about it. Remember that guy who kicked off with you because you disagreed with his article and he sent you an email going, I didn't like that at all, or a LinkedIn message?