Creating a high-performance Environment 153 surveys, focus groups, exit interviews and opportunities for employees to `talk back' to managers in a candid way. Travel company Airtours solicited staff views on the actions that affected customers, what could be improved and how people felt about the company. This was based on the notion that the best way to develop a quality service was to enhance employees' abilities to improve the company's services. Some companies are tapping into official and unofficial bulletin-board websites where employees vent their feelings. do not rely on pay and conditions alone as the basis of a retention strategy Many organizations depend on motivating employees to stay via incen- tives such as pay and good working conditions. Recent surveys of why call centre staff defect to other companies indicate that pay is a major factor. Further research reveals that employees are more likely to move on if they believe that they are not receiving a fair deal. Yet relying on external hygiene factors such as pay and conditions is only a temporary motivator. Yes, it is important to get these right, but even when people consider they are rewarded fairly, they may not necessarily stay with the organization. To foster long-term, sustained engagement and motivation, recent thought is that organizations must inspire employees to draw their motivation from within rather than rely on external factors such as pay. In his book SuperMotivation, the American management guru Dean Spitzer has identi- fied eight fundamental needs that motivate employees in the long term and that are shared to varying degrees by us all. These are: The need for activity. People want to be active and involved. In our personal lives most people avoid boredom and monotony. Yet at work employees are expected to accept boring, repetitious, monotonous jobs with little autonomy. The need for ownership. Owning things makes people feel better about themselves. `Psychological' ownership is even more important than `physical' ownership. Employees want to psychologically own their work. They want to control input into their work and to feel responsible for their jobs.