Company Blog

What They Want

by Adam Zack — June 10, 2026

“The things your employees want most cost almost nothing — and most bosses rank them dead last.”

“The things your employees want most cost almost nothing — and most bosses rank them dead last“.

The three things employees want most cost almost nothing — and bosses rank them last.

The struggle to effectively and constantly communicate to your employees is very real. It’s ongoing, never ending and increasingly more challenging. As your team matures and new generations are hired, what’s important to them and what you think is important to them move further apart. You haven’t changed, but they sure have, right? The thing that doesn’t change is that employees (from upper management down to courtesy clerks) just want to know what’s going on. What are the goals, programs, changes, initiatives, results and plans? How is the company doing? Are the owners happy with our work? Why are we doing what we’re doing? Very few leaders get an A in communication. I’d say the average is maybe a C-. And it’s not just in the grocery business – it’s everywhere.

Recently I came across a list — drawn from a classic workplace study first run decades ago and repeated many times since, always with strikingly similar results — comparing what employees actually want versus what their bosses think they want.

What Employees Want (starting with the most important)

1. Full appreciation for work done

2. Feeling “in” on things

3. Sympathetic help on personal problems

4. Job security

5. Good wages

6. Interesting work

7. Promotion / growth opportunities

8. Personal loyalty to workers

9. Good working conditions

10. Tactful discipline

What Bosses THINK Their Employees Want (starting with the most important)

1. Good wages

2. Job security

3. Promotion / growth opportunities

4. Good working conditions

5. Interesting work

6. Personal loyalty to workers

7. Tactful discipline

8. Full appreciation for work done

9. Sympathetic help with personal problems

10. Feeling “in” on things

Because we have always been in a business with razor thin profit margins, we are always trying to control costs and therefore think that money is the most important thing. It’s not. The top three most important things to employees cost virtually nothing but some time and effort. The results of that time and effort are amazing employee morale, productivity and job satisfaction.