Sue Shellenbarger is best known for writing the "Work & Family" column in the Wall Street Journal for 40 years. She retired on January 3, 2020, which was the 40th anniversary of her first day at the newspaper. Shellenbarger wrote primarily for working mothers and covered a mix of topics over the decades, such as family-friendly jobs, helicopter parenting, and the effect of business travel on families. In 1999, she published a book Work & Family: Essays from the Work & Family Column of the Wall Street Journal, which was a collection of her best articles from the column.

As I was reading the book, one particular article stood out from the rest. While that article was originally published on November 19, 1997, it could have been published yesterday. The title of the article is Employers Are Finding It Doesn't Cost Much To Make A Staff Happy. In it, Shellenbarger explains that many employers assume that giving people a raise is the only way to keep employees happy and prevent them from leaving. As Daniel Pink noted in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, if you do not compensate employees fairly and adequately, they will leave. However, beyond that, money does not motivate most people. Shellenbarger agrees. She also says that you should never try to pay rock-bottom wages. This is not a way to increase employee loyalty. At the same time, similar to Pink, she does not believe giving out raises is an effective way to engage employees, especially when people are becoming more lifestyle conscious.

Shellenbarger provided five strategies that organizations can use to make their employees happy, and none of these strategies costs much, if anything.

Allow manageable schedules

Shellenbarger gives two examples illustrating the sheer impact of this idea. The first example is an automotive-glass plant in Auburn, Indiana, which was able to reduce turnover by 50% when it allowed its employees to switch schedules to better align with the child care needs. The second example is a hotel in Nashville, which significantly reduced the quit rates when it permitted its food-servers to choose their own shifts whenever possible.

This ties to Pink's research on autonomy and intrinsic motivation. "Without sovereignty over our time, it's nearly impossible to have autonomy over our lives," says Pink. People excel more when they have a choice when to complete their work.

Reward longevity

Shellenbarger suggests that instead of rewarding employees who are just joining the company with sign-on bonuses, organizations should reward those who stay. While I agree with the general premise of this recommendation, this is one idea that shows its age, having been written in 1997, and could use some adjustment. We now live in a world where changing jobs is a lot more acceptable than in the past. Also, most employers no longer show loyalty to their employees, which makes it hard to expect loyalty from the employees. It feels a bit hypocritical.

Provide flexibility

Shellenbarger lays out this point from the perspective of work-life balance. It reminded me of The Meaningful Work Model developed by Dr. Neal Chalofsky. Dr. Chalofsky has done a lot of research on meaningful work and has published many academic papers. In a book Meaningful Workplaces: Reframing How and Where We Work, he described The Meaningful Work Model. The model consists of three pillars:

1. The sense of self
2. The work itself
3. The sense of balance

"The sense of self" deals with how we can find our purpose and fit it with our work. "The sense of self" is also about developing our potential and being in control of our lives.

"The work itself" pillar addresses how we can fulfill our purpose, master our performance, seek out challenging, creative, and continuous growth as well as have autonomy, empowerment, flexibility, and a sense of control over our environment.

Finally, "the sense of balance" element, as the name implies, examines balancing our work and the rest of our life and the tensions that arise as a result of it. In his book, Dr. Chalofsky discusses a common misnomer that many people have with the term work-life balance. Dr. Chalofsky argues that balance is not about work versus the rest of our life. In contrast, balance is about accepting all parts of our life and learning how to manage the tensions among them. He believes that work-life balance is built on the foundation of meaning and purpose, and "meaningful work requires the interplay of all of these elements."

Make employees feel valued

In my research, I found that many authors and scholars have raised this particular point. Donde Ashmos and Dennis Duchon of the University of Texas at San Antonio developed a Finding Meaning and Purpose at Work Questionnaire, in which they specifically ask whether a person feels valued for who they are at work as one of the measures of meaningful work.

Improve communication

"The power of a supervisor talking to an employee one-on-one is profound," is a quote from a senior vice president of a bank who spoke with Shellenbarger for her article. Managers who are trained to communicate with their subordinates in a way that builds stronger relationships with their organization help to reduce turnover and increase a sense of meaning and purpose for the employees.