At What Level of Compensation Should You No Longer Need Appreciation?

Readers may not know that I'm Irish and largely work out of our Dublin headquarters. But I also spend a good deal of time in our Boston-area location. The big news circulating in the Boston office a couple weeks ago was the impromptu news conference of “an overpaid athlete complaining about not being appreciated.”

That reminded me of an article I had recently read in Smart Manager, particularly this line:

“We all tend to laugh at the superstar professional athletes in free agency, who tend to state that, ‘It’s not about the money.’ However, for most people in less exciting careers, the money is appreciated, but not the primary source of job satisfaction.”

I agree with that. People need a fair and livable compensation for the work they do, but without appreciation people won’t stay in a job when they have other options. In fact, I and several Compensation Café colleagues participated in a BlogTalk Radio program on this topic.

Do the highly paid deserve less appreciation?

Why should a professional athlete be any different (in this case, Randy Moss, wide receiver for the New England Patriots football team)? Does he deserve appreciation any less? I say, “No.” The need for appreciation is basic, regardless of level of compensation or field of work.

Here’s the interview that got Mr. Moss into so much trouble. (Skip ahead to the 1:15 mark).

“Everybody, you work for somebody. … You want your boss to come to you and say you did a good job. … That’s just the way with football. If you do a good job, you want to be appreciated. I don’t think that me, personally, that I’m appreciated. …

“I am a man and this is a job, and I take this job very seriously to heart. I want to let the real fans know that I’m not here to start any trouble. I’m here to play out the last year of my contract. … I want to be here in New England. It’s a great group of guys a, a well-coached group here. I want to be in New England. I love being here. But from a business standpoint, this probably will be my last year here as a Patriot. And I’m not retiring. I’m still going to play some football. I just wanted to get that off my chest, and let you understand this is a business.”

It’s not about the money. But it is about the appreciation. That’s Randy’s main point here. If you listen to his entire speech, he’s making three clear points:

1. Stop looking for me to fail.
2. I’ve done nothing but deliver for you. The least you could do is thank me for it.
3. If you’re not going to appreciate me, I’ll go somewhere that will.

That just about sums up the experience of so many employees, across countless industries, countries and companies, today.

1. Any feedback I receive is focused on where I messed up or didn’t perform as expected. You don’t even notice me unless I fail.
2. I consistently outperform your expectations and deliver high-quality results. Can’t you at least acknowledge me for that and tell me you appreciate me and my work?
3. If you can’t, at the very least, tell me “thank you” every now and then, I’ll go somewhere that will as soon as I’m able.

If this were an average workplace, the Patriots organization should consider itself lucky that a top performer has put them on notice he’s willing to leave to go to a competitor. How often do you only find out when you’re handed the letter of resignation that your best employee is fed up?

More to the point, how many of those top performers could you have kept on board with just some simple, sincere and timely appreciation?

As Globoforce’s CMO & Head of Strategic Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. His articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin, Montreal and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @globoforce.

Comments

[Benjamin McCall]

the more interesting question may be "At what level of compensation should we no longer 'feel the need to recieve' or feel like we are owed appreciation.
hmmm

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

Pay buys groceries but no amount of cash can fill the hunger of the heart, the mind or the ego.

[Michael Haberman SPHR]

I think "super stars", especially athletes, grow up receiving and wanting to receive the adoration of the fans. From the time they are little they are told they are the best and when they become a pro they still want that. I would wager that "appreciation" to them is every bit as important as is that big paycheck, if not more so. Moss exemplifies that.

[Anonymous]

Great article. Of course, Mr Moss is publicly appreciated more often than he is not. He cheered for, has his jerseys purchased etc. It is essential that we show people appreciation, but we also need to ensure that they understand its not only about appreciation.

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Benjamin poses an interesting question -- "feel like we are owed appreciation." This is tough to dissect. I think we all, if we're honest with ourselves, would admit to a need to hear "thanks." Does that mean we think we're "owed" appreciation? It could certainly be interpreted that way.

Jim puts it well in his comment -- compensation doesn't fill the need of the heart, mind and ego to hear: "I see you. I see what you do. Thank you for it."

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

Michael, much of what is written about GenY would argue that you could simply replace "super stars/athletes" in your comment with "GenY." I've argued against that a bit elsewhere in a post called "GenY: So Different They're the Same", but I agree with your point here. The more you grow up with constant feedback, you more you need to hear it. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so.

Anonymous' comment starts to get to this point a bit and raises another. Yes, it's not only about appreciation. But it's also not only about compensation. And we seem to largely hear about those two extremes. The pendulum needs to stay more in the middle with a careful but important balance between compensation and appreciation.

On this point, I'd refer interested readers to the BlogTalk radio link I reference in the post. It's a great discussion among several well respected HR pros on the need for this balance.

[LTCPerformanceStrategies]

Derek, we agree with your point that appreciation trumps money. Except for maybe a select few money mongers, most of us don't just want a dollar sign to replace who we are and what we do. That need for validation is seen all the way down to when we were children chasing after the approval of our parents - remember "Hey mom and dad, look at me!" as we made a basket in the hoop, got a good grade or did a backflip.
That need for positive validation never leaves us.
Executive recruiter Allan Fisher has worked with all kids of execs who list "appreciation" as a primary reason for leaving their companies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbMQTd1s2tM

[Derek Irvine, Globoforce]

LTC, your video makes an excellent point. I could have phrased my question "at what rank/position should you no longer need compensation?" And the answer would have been, there is no such level. We all need appreciation for our efforts, even the CEO.

Frank Roche put this very well several months ago when he said:

“I don’t remember what age I was when I noticed that people no longer told me that I was doing a great job. It’s not like I stopped doing good work — it’s that people think that once you get to a certain age or certain place in life that you don’t need praise anymore. … But what I do realize is that people need praise throughout their careers. Senior managers like to hear that they’re doing well as much as they did when they were junior functionaries. It applies to everyone — the price of praise is free. Tell someone today.”

(Citation for Roche's comments here: http://globoforce.blogspot.com/2009/11/tenet-of-strategic-recognition.html )