Willy Loman on his knees sobbing, “Attention must be paid!” during a scene from “Death of a Salesman” is my favorite moment in American theater. His wails were visceral, I wanted to shout out, “I care! You do matter!” Today, not quite 75 years after Arthur Miller wrote them, these words continue to be said by too many people. So many so, that the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, identified “Mattering at Work” as one of the top five priorities for improving mental health and well-being for today’s workforce.
Mattering? As a word, it rolls off my tongue so smoothly, but what does it mean and why has the Surgeon General made it a top priority? 95% of the respondents surveyed by the Surgeon General’s office said that is important for them to feel respected at work. The “Mattering at Work” element addresses the human need to be respected by emphasizing a person’s dignity and meaning in the workplace.
Dr. Gordon Flett, author of “The Psychology of Mattering: Understanding the Human Need to Be Significant,” describes mattering as a result of our perceived value and significance. Simply put, what matters is your belief that your work makes a difference AND that others value you and your work efforts.
The key point about mattering is that it is a personal validation bestowed on you by other people. I can believe I performed well and that my work adds value to the project. When people tell me, “Great job!! We couldn’t have done it without you!”, is when I know that I and my work matter because someone told me so. And just as easily, when people have ignored or discounted my efforts, I start to feel as if I and my work have no value. If it happens often enough, I begin to believe that I am incompetent and will never play a significant role in any workplace.
I was speaking with my friend Alice about my ‘mattering mission’ when she blanched and whispered this had happened to her. She shared that she had worked 18 hours a day for over 9 months to meet an unrealistic project timeframe that someone else had promised. The program manager was happy and appreciative of Alice’s abilities and commitment. Shortly after the work was completed, Alice received a poor performance review. The person assigned to review her performance did not speak with the program manager about the project, her role, or the challenges. The reviewing manager wrote that Alice had poor time management skills and needed to prioritize her work more effectively. A less than 5-minute conversation between the reviewing manager and Alice de-matterized a highly skilled, global IT professional. Yes, as you might surmise, Alice who had been a loyal, productive employee took a position at another company.
Mattering is not a reflection of hurt feelings that people need to get over. Mattering has a significant impact on employee retention and business profitability.
The Business Impact
Many studies point to the business benefits when employees engage because they feel they are valued members of that workplace community. The American Psychological Association’s (APA) 2023 Work in America Survey explored several factors that contribute to workers’ feeling that they and their work matter. The good news — 87% of the workers surveyed felt their work is meaningful. The not-so-great news — nearly one-third (29%) of the respondents felt they do not matter to their employers.
Dr. Flett contends that not being valued is one of the most destructive feelings someone can have. Many of the 29% of the people surveyed who reported that they did not feel they mattered to their employer will disengage and isolate themselves from their colleagues. Sociologists diagnose this disengagement as workplace loneliness for which attention must be paid. Loneliness affects both employee mental health and business profitability.
Cigna Healthcare sponsored a 2020 national survey in which 62% of employed adults considered themselves lonely. The respondents who identified as lonely incurred 5.7 more sick days annually. These stress-related sick days are estimated to cost more than $154 Billion annually. Factoring the turnover-related costs and lower productivity, loneliness can cost the U.S. economy over $406 Billion a year.
The Pew Research Center surveyed adults who resigned as part of the Great Resignation (2021 and 2022) and who are now employed elsewhere. The researchers found the top three reasons given for quitting a job are:
1. Low pay
2. Lack of respect at work
3. No career advancement
Within six months, one-third of these newly employed people quit their new jobs because they did not feel respected or engaged by their manager and the organization’s leadership. It was not an issue of pay – it was an issue of not mattering.
Successful Low-Cost Mattering Workplace Interventions
Low-cost intervention programs that enable companies to provide employees dignity and purpose while increasing profitability are possible. The three examples below describe successful low-cost retention programs for employees across retail, emergency management, and construction industries.
The Gap, Inc.
The Gap, Inc., a global clothing-retail company, wanted to address high turnover rates that were a result of the uncertainty of the traditional retail “on call” scheduling system that required people to commit to being available for work without a guarantee of a paid shift. In 2015-2016, they tested a pilot initiative to stabilize working schedules at 28 stores that employed nearly 1500 workers. Over a 35-week period, the 28 participating stores realized a 5% increase in worker productivity and a 7% increase in sales. The $31,000 investment to launch the program provided $2.9 million in increased revenues.
Emergency 9-1-1 Dispatchers
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley hypothesized that high levels of burnout and turnover for emergency dispatchers could be decreased by fostering a sense of belonging, support, and positive professional identity.
They assembled a group of 500 dispatchers across nine U.S. cities. Each received a weekly email for six weeks that highlighted a story describing a dispatcher’s experience on the job. The topic nuggets covered a work story such as saving someone’s life. The dispatchers were asked to comment and share a story that might resonate with the other people in the study. The participants reported lower levels of stress when they realized others shared similar experiences and began to build a sense of belonging across their communities. Based on these findings, the researchers determined a city with 100 emergency dispatchers using the email communications program would reduce turnover and could save more than $400,000 in training costs,
Gale Rew Construction
Gale Rew Construction provides residential and commercial remodels. Labor retention was one of their top business challenges and wanted to improve job quality for the construction workers. They asked the workers and discovered the top concerns for the workers were having their operational improvement suggestions be seriously considered and greater flexibility in hours worked.
Management responded by including employees as part of the committee structure and prioritizing 1:1 meetings. They also developed a flexible work schedule program that was managed by each employee. The company maintained a 9-5 workday and the workers could work as little as 30 hours or as many as 50 hours, provided the time worked averaged out to 40 hours per week. The flexible schedule enabled people to blend their personal and business schedule needs. These relatively no-cost programs resulted in a 20% increase in profitability.
Summary
Like Willy Loman, those of us who find ourselves toiling within the 21st-century workplace want many of the same things – we want respect and attention to our needs to be made. These three low-cost intervention programs, although small, support Dr. Murthy’s belief that “we can build successful workplaces by showing workers that they matter, their work matters, and that they have the support necessary to flourish.”
Managers have the power to engage employees and improve staff performance by simply paying attention. Assuring that people know their work is valued and that they matter improves employee mental health and drives positive business results.