Feeling Undervalued: Why You Quit Your Job Too Soon, Reason 2

The Problem

               I’ll always remember the time Sunny Kobe Cook came to speak at my homeschool group co-op.  For those who don’t know her, Sunny Kobe Cook was the founder of Sleep Country USA.  Their iconic jingle resounded through the Seattle airwaves during my childhood as her company expanded to 28 locations with nearly $50 million in annual sales.  Sleep Country USA was the first retailer to be named “Best Place to Work” in Washington State, and it was all because of her management philosophy.   

               The talk began with Sunny asking us students a simple question: “What is the best way to motivate an employee?”  The answer was so obvious that my hand shot up before anyone else.  She called on me and I eagerly answered, “Give them a raise.”  She laughed.  It was a setup.  

               Sunny Kobe Cook went on to explain that giving a raise to improve performance would only prop up the employee for a short time and performance would soon settle back into its old status quo.  Feeling undervalued, she explained, is often misattributed to compensation but it actually results from a deeper condition of limited perception that is very prevalent in the workplace. 

               The idea stayed with me.  Over the years, I began to notice how common it is for people to feel undervalued.  It might result from performing well without satisfactory praise or the catalyst might be a negative year-end evaluation.  This is reminiscent of the quote in the timeless classic How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, which says something like, “Once I did bad and that I heard ever; twice I did good, but that I heard never.”  Carnegie wrote that in the 1920s.  This problem is nothing new and it’s worth addressing.

              According to the Gallup report, State of the Global Workplace 2023, 63% of employees who feel undervalued in the workplace are actively looking for a new job.  A manager might feel tempted to say, “Good riddance” and be glad for the loss of a disgruntled employee.  The employee might say the same and be glad to leave for greener pastures but quitting comes with costs for both parties that many fail to recognize. 

               For an employer, hiring a new employee requires time to post the job, manage applicants, and time to train the new candidate.  You may have acquisition costs as well.  Plus, you lose all the momentum, experience, and rapport of a current employee.  That deeper condition in the workplace that caused your current employee to feel undervalued will do the same to your new employee in time, if it’s not addressed.

               For an employee who feels undervalued, leaving the job sacrifices all of the career momentum and strong reputation you’ve developed with your current company.  When you polish up the old résumé, you may quickly realize that all of your years of good service are reduced to a single paragraph on a page.  You sacrifice all of that just to be the “low guy on the totem pole” all over again.  

Plus, feeling undervalued is only partially an environmental issue.  Much of it stems from your own attitudes, behaviors, etc. and those go with you into your new job as well.  If you quit a job feeling undervalued, it’s very likely that you’ll experience the same thing again if you don’t address the contributing factors in yourself.  So, what can you do if you’re feeling this way? 

The Solution: Employees

               If you find yourself feeling undervalued, the first thing you must do is take a sober look in the mirror.  You get one shot at life, and you owe it to yourself to give it the best shot possible.  There are factors you can control that will affect how you are valued externally but it all starts with that sober look inward.  There’s a good possibility that you are feeling undervalued because you are actually overestimating your own worth.  If you think you’ve “arrived,” it is time to raise the bar further. 

               If you’re accomplishing your duties at work well but still feel undervalued, look at other factors that affect perception.  I think the two biggest factors are how you look and how you speak.  You can begin improving immediately without spending a dollar.

               Pay attention to your posture.  Hold your shoulders back and your head up, even at your desk.  Avoid leaning on things when you’re standing.  Walk with purpose and increase your speed a little bit.  Slouching, leaning, and walking slowly all give the impression of laziness. 

              Try adjusting your hygiene and attire too.  Guys, if you show up to work unshaven, with bedhead, people are going to think that you are unprepared, don’t care much, and have bad time management skills.  The same goes for wearing a shirt with wrinkles, holes, or stains.  If you want to be perceived as valuable, you have to make a good impression on people.  Much of that is within your control. 

I also mentioned how you speak.  If you swear a lot, you’ll likely be perceived as unprofessional, unintelligent, or even aggressive.  If you speak intelligently, there’s a good chance you might be perceived as intelligent.  Choose your words carefully and watch your tone, tenor, and tempo.  Your word choice can open or close doors, but even good words carry less weight if you speak too excitedly.  Also, when you are talking about others, talk nicely.  It reflects well on the one you’re talking about and on yourself as well.  Easy win.

One final bit of advice: show up early.  I mentioned that in my last article, but it goes a long way to the way others perceive you.  If you show up early, you’ll be perceived as a go-getter and that’s a great reputation to have.  Everyone loves the one that shows up reliably. 

While employees have a responsibility to themselves to reflect and adjust, managers also carry a responsibility. 

The Solution: Employers

               Circling back to Sunny Kobe Cook, she had some very simple, tangible advice for employers who want to improve performance and employee retention.  She gave the example of a friend of hers who managed a distribution warehouse that was performing poorly.  In an effort to uncover the root cause, he stumbled upon a tool that I’ve found to be incredibly effective. 

               The manager began meeting with each of his employees over lunch individually.  He met with one person per week and just listened to them.  His goal was to learn so he’d ask the occasional question but mostly just let them talk.  This gave his employees a safe, personal forum to share their accomplishments and speak frankly about issues they encountered.  His mission was to find out what was wrong with his team, but he discovered a tremendous amount was going right that he simply didn’t notice before.  He also found several procedural issues that were obscured because his employees were putting in the extra effort to overcome them.  With all this, do you think performance improved? 

               If you’re a manager, I strongly recommend having weekly 1-on-1 meetings with your direct reports.  Make it their meeting, not yours.  Gary Furr is a business coach and consultant who taught me to provide them with a simple outline with three basic questions to guide the conversation.  What’s going well?  What’s not going well?  What can I do to support you? 

               One funny thing I noticed over years of using this outline was that question 2 was often left blank but, about 10 minutes into us settling into the conversation, issues would just start to emerge.  Several of those saved our company thousands of dollars.  I mention this to say keep the meeting comfortable, relatively casual, and let them talk.  It’s their time and you’ll both benefit. 

In Closing

               We are all leaders, whether we like it or not.  If you have a team, take the time to understand them and listen to them.  Even if you don’t have a team, you are still responsible for managing yourself.  Take the time to reflect and challenge yourself to raise the bar.  I'm still working on this too and here are many times where I come up short but, to quote Gary Furr, "It's about progress, not perfection." This effort will pay dividends for the rest of your life. 

Learn more about Gary Furr Consulting