Career surfers - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Career surfers - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten had an article last week about career surfers. In it they describe how employees today often decline job offers or promotions that a company offers them. Professor Henrik Holt Larsen of the Copenhagen Business School says: Its harder than ever for businesses to attract and retain employees who not only possess the required skills but who can also be emotionally bound to the company. People tend to focus more on their own desires and needs and therefore to surf between multiple career paths. We dont know enough yet about this narcissistic personality. You know, Henrik, you say that like its a bad thing :o) I have two comments on this. First, I find it incredible that someone would cast this tendency for people to choose career paths for themselves in a bad light. This is not narcissistic, its common sense. I choose my career path based on whats good for me, not on whats good for the company. Secondly, if companies want to bind their employees to them emotionally, as Larsen puts it, this bond needs to go both ways. In short, the company must be prepared to offer its employees more than just a paycheck. If a company wants its employees to feel something about the company, the company must be prepared to feel back. To value its employees as people, not just as resources. And this means yout wont fire people, just to get a 5% increase in stock price. This means that you wont carelessley reassign people to a department they dont want to work for. This means leaders will do everything in their power to make their people happy at work. The equation is simple: Want your employees to care about the company? Start by having the company care about them. Not as employees but as human beings. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related