A wind chime.

An umbrella.

A large corporate hooray party.

Office snacks on demand, at anytime, for free.

A bonus check. One that at the age of 23 was a shockingly large one.

All are things I’ve experienced in my career during a corporate change management project that constituted employee recognition and perks. Despite the fact that the umbrella was expensive (for an umbrella) because of its cute designer label and the bonus check as I mentioned was large for the context of my 23 year old, living paycheck to paycheck mind (so much so that my new husband and I actually went out to dinner at a place we never thought we’d be able to afford), none of them really positively affected how I felt about the job, or the hours and hours I put into the work and the project that was taking place.In short, they didn’t create engagement for me.

By some standards, all the perks and recognition could have been seen as the things that make a great employer and drive employee performance. And in some workplaces, they might be. But as the June 2015 cover story, What Makes a Great Employer, of HR Magazine states, “The foundation of a great workplace lies in a culture of trust and engagement that unites management and the workforce in a common vision that’s not only about success but that describes the type of organization an employer wants to be.”

The article later goes on to state, “Indeed, the leaders of these companies talk about their people not as employees who can be satisfied with the right compensation package, but as colleagues who are invested in the business.”

When the department managers brought around the bonus checks in my example, two of the three didn’t know my name. They didn’t know what role I was playing in the project or what contribution I had made (or had not made) to it. They were just passing out bonus checks.

In order to help people feel invested in the business, organizations need to:

1. Build an intentional culture.  Define the purpose and vision of the organization and how each job and therefore each person impacts that purpose and takes it on as his or her own. This vision and purpose should be imbedded into all people management aspects- selection, training, evaluation and compensation and most importantly lived out through leadership.
2. Communicate with intention. Purpose and impact should be communicated regularly and should involve two-way communication that seeks to gain constant feedback from employees on what is going well and what isn’t.
3. Live Transparent. Communicating with intention should foster transparency, but beyond communicating the message of the business and how each person fits into this purpose, transparency should include openness about financial and operational issues and should involve each employee feeling comfortable coming to his or her manager about any issue because the manager is seen as both approachable and accessible.

These are the larger pieces of the puzzle that lead to respect and trust that foster empowerment and employee engagement. Without them, you can have the greatest perks in the world, but they will never lead to an organization winning a great place to work award. At the end of the day, an organization wins this type of award because employees feel valued.

How does your organization create an intentional culture?

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