Workplace Poll - Men Need More Pats On The Head Than Women...
Can you imagine yourself sliding up to your grandfather and thanking him for a job well done? No? Join the club - there's something about the greatest generation that is uncomfortable with that type of praise of PDA (public display of affection).
So what the heck happened to men of my generation?
A new workplace poll is out from Harris Interactive and Adecco (survey of 1,455 workers by Harris Interactive for the staffing firm Adecco) on the topic of saying thanks in the workplace. Some of the
results are what you would expect, others are a little bit surprising.
The breakdown from the survey:
What we knew:
-Workers want to be thanked in person more (Thank-you letters, cards, bonuses and gifts were not covered). Two-thirds of workers who responded to the survey said they would like more thanks and appreciation on the job.
-Most don't want to see it in an e-mail, they want it live... I guess I knew that...
-Appreciation works best to motivate 18-to-34-year-old workers -- 68 percent said they would hustle harder with more thanks. Like my kids, this generation got a trophy for showing up, so be sure to say thanks, perhaps even when results aren't there...
-The wily veterans on your team don't necessarily need as much praise - hence the lead about my grandpa. Only 42 percent of workers 55 and up said more thanks would motivate them.
-It's not those polled who have the problem with saying thanks, it's "those other people". Three-quarters of respondents said they pass out enough thanks to colleagues, but only half said their boss "does a good job" of thanking them. That's a disconnect similar to self-evaluation of performance....
What Surprised Us From the Poll:
-Gen Y likes their thank yous in person, not via technology. Almost three-quarters of workers ages 18 to 34 said appreciation in e-mail is not as good as in person. No word if they'll put down their iPod long enough to make eye contact with you...
-Men were more likely than women to say the extra thanks would make them more productive. What???
Men of the world, what have we become? Is Stuart Smalley our new role model? (Note - I'm speaking of the affirmation theme, not anything to do with orientation, so please don't plow me in the comments) Come to think of it, our grandfathers and fathers probably had an affirmation routine of their own. It was called confidence, self motivation and getting the job done... They just wouldn't talk about their jobs and didn't want anyone showing any emotion to them about it.
Still, it does feel good to hear "thanks". I prefer to think of the generational change from my grandfather to me as a nice "smoothing" process.
PS - Thanks for reading this post....(shameless plug to your need for thanks in order to keep you coming back)...
