Would Your Employees Keep Working if They Won the Powerball Jackpot?

You and I didn’t win the Powerball jackpot on Saturday. And now we’re back at work and the Lotto officials are estimating Wednesday’s drawing to be worth $1.3 billion. Yes, billion. That’s so big that many of the lotto signs don’t have enough digits. Whoa.

Lotto ConceptThe odds of winning are 1 in 292.2 million, and your chances of winning increase slightly if you let the computer pick your numbers. Now that you have all of the facts, you’re going to buy a ticket and win, right? After you make the difficult decision between the $806 million lump sum payment or 29 years of ridiculous annual payments, you’ll have to decide if you continue to work.

Do you love your job enough to keep working if you had that kind of money? If you are a leader, would your team members come back to work? In any event, we should create a workplace where our employees want to come to work even if they win the lotto. You may want to consider if your employees:

  • love what they do and who they work with?
  • have passion about their work?
  • use their strengths and feel fulfilled?

If you are creating an environment where your employees answer “yes” to those questions, congratulations! If not, let’s make 2016 a year to focus on creating that environment. Let’s learn more about our employees and their passion. If we can’t fulfill that passion with their job, can we make sure we know their strengths and leverage those on our teams? We may not be able to convince them to keep working if they win $1.3 billion, but we could make them consider it based on how we lead our teams.

I wish you a prosperous 2016 with a winning Powerball ticket!

Cheryl Farley is a Partner with PeopleResults. Follow her on Twitter at @CherylMFarley or connect by email at cfarley@people-results.com.