The origins of the term, “bucket list,” vary. But there’s little doubt that the eponymous 2007 movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson put it on the map.
Although the film characters’ bucket lists were travel and adventure focused, others shouldn’t be limited to just that. A good list includes an assortment of personal and professional goals the author wants to achieve in life. For some, earning an academic degree may rank as high as taking a dream vacation or accomplishing a physical feat.
Everyone’s bucket list will be unique because everyone wants different things. Moreover, bucket lists aren’t something most employers consider addressing with their employees. But when workers prioritize work-life balance like they do now, it may be time to pay attention to them.
Employees who can tick off the items on their bucket lists will be happier and more productive. You can help even them do it. Here’s how.
Help Make Dreams More Affordable
Bucket list items tend to be big. A weekend on the beach probably won’t make it. But spending a couple of weeks at a dream destination will. Big budgets accompany those high hopes, so help make them come true.
Even if you could send the employee of the year to Paris, that might not be what that employee really wants. In other words, generalizations are out when it comes to bucket lists. Flexibility is key.
The easiest way to gain that kind of stretch is to offer an employee discount program. A great one will include savings on travel, entertainment, and those big-ticket items employees may yearn for. Offer those discounts to all your employees, but also use them to reward ones who excel at work.
Employee discount programs provide a great way to make a trip, event, or purchase affordable. The best ones are stress-free for you and easy for employees to use, so partner wisely. You will be the hero in the end.
Feed Their Need to Succeed
You hire employees where they are at that time. Educational attainment, skills, and experience are a snapshot of the day they agree to work for you. But that doesn’t mean they’re where they want to be.
Many people put education, training, promotions, and job aspirations on their bucket lists. But while working full-time and tackling the activities of everyday life, finding time and money to check them off is tough. Employee development goals shouldn’t just be their dream. It’s good for your business as well.
Providing tuition assistance and flexible scheduling are always sound strategies. So is help with paying off student loan debt, as a growing number of companies are doing in various ways. In either case, you’ll be providing them with the financial support they need to afford the cost of lofty goals.
And don’t forget to provide your own training that will allow your employees who want to advance to do so. If those entry-level workers with high school educations have “manager” on their bucket list, feed that desire.
Pour the Bucket List into the Job Bucket
Employees have a lot of buckets to fill. There’s the family bucket, the work bucket, the social bucket, the personal development bucket, and more. As an employer, you may not be able to help them juggle them all. But you can encourage them to pour their bucket list into their job bucket.
Your management team should be sitting down with individual employees to conduct work performance reviews. During that time, managers will discuss progress on previous goals set, wins, and losses. Each employee leaves with a new set of goals to work on.
Bucket lists are an inventory of goals. Because they are important to your employees, discuss those goals with their job-related ones. You’ll learn more about your employees, what motivates them, and how their personal lives intersect with their professional ones.
Combining the content of these buckets will also help employees with their outside goals. Instead of just a bullet point, they will apply the principles of job performance goal setting to their bucket list. That will make their work goal setting stronger as well.
Host “Bring Your Bucket List to Work Days”
Creating a bucket list-friendly company culture is a great way to lift satisfaction, improve engagement, and increase teamwork. Employees will think twice about underperforming or leaving a job where their interests are valued by their employer and shared with coworkers.
Employees who want to reveal items on their bucket lists are likely to find others with the same dreams. You won’t have to work hard to build teams of those with shared interests. Foodies will find other foodies. So will adventure travelers, and those who want to learn to speak another language fluently or finish a marathon.
Encourage engagement between employees who have already checked off similar items on their bucket list with those who haven’t yet. You’ll be building mentors and cheerleaders for their coworkers’ pursuits, on the job and off.
In the spirit of friendly competition, offer a prize to the employee who manages to tick off the most on their bucket list. And recognize other employees who have perhaps partnered with them to do that. A little taste of success builds stellar employees.
Help Employees Empty Their Buckets
Because employees who are personally fulfilled tend to perform well at work, find out what’s making their bucket lists. Remove obstacles in their paths when you can. Then, you can determine how you might help them start checking off professional and personal goals. After all, the goal is that when they kick the bucket, it’s an empty one.
