Nice Currencies of Choice

Kim Seeling Smith, blogger at Worklife by Atlassian has identified nine factors that influence whether employees stay or leave a job. Called “Currencies of Choice,” Atlassian discovered them as the result of reverse-engineering during 5,000 exit interviews she conducted with an international team of recruiters over the course of 15 years.

This research, along with numerous studies from organizations and managers who regularly use the Currencies of Choice model, shows that intrinsic motivators are much more effective in keeping employees motivated and engaged—and helping them perform well and realize their potential—than pay and benefits.

Smith found there are nine key factors that impact these metrics—and they are much more important than pay and benefits.

The Nine Currencies of Choice

  1. People want to work for a company whose values align with their own. (According to a recent Atlassian study, many employees would quit if they found their employer’s values did not align with their own.)
  2. People want to work for someone they trust and respect. (The Gallup organization’s research shows that managers can impact employee engagement by up to 70%.)
  3. People want to work with people they like.
  4. People want to be appreciated in a way that’s appropriate to them.
  5. People want to have a voice. They want to be listened to and heard. 
  6. People want to know what they need to do to succeed and how that success will be measured. (Gallup reports that less than 50% of employees know what is expected of them.)
  7. People want to learn, grow, and develop in their careers.
  8. People want to be inspired to go the extra mile.
  9. People want to spend most of their day doing work they love.

Companies who have introduced the nine Currencies of Choice to their teams have seen performance, productivity, motivation, and engagement go up—and workload and stress will go down.

At Spa Space, we have been practicing the Currencies of Choice by design. Our goal is to “walk our talk,” give our team the tools they need, and they get out of the way so they can shine. 

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