What Is Employee Motivation?
Employee motivation is the desire of the employee to complete their day-to-day jobs successfully. They can be motivated by various external and internal employee experience factors. These may include compensation and benefits, recognition and rewards, empowerment, career development opportunities, corporate culture, relationships with peers and seniors and others. Selection of the right motivational technique depends on the type of role, personality of the employee and resources available to you.
Why is employee motivation important?
A good deal of research work have shown that demotivated employees are not focused and do not put effort into their work. They waste the time and resources of the company, impacting productivity and timeline. On the other hand, a motivated employee is enthusiastic about their work. They complete tasks on time, gives suggestion, take action and always crave success, both for themselves and the company. These are the reasons why employee motivation is so important:
- It increases employee engagement and leads to better productivity.
- It helps to utilise human resources to their fullest.
- It improves overall efficiency and reduces the costs of the operations.
- Helps to build a positive work environment and enhances the company’s reputation.
- It helps in employee retention and boosts their morale.
How to motivate employees in the workplace?
Every employee is different and hence the same strategy cannot motivate them. However, some common strategies help to improve employee happiness and keep them motivated. These are the top five ways for positive employee retention at the workplace:
Define the goals and purposes
It is important to establish clear goals and purposes for each employee. This helps them to understand how they can contribute to the growth of the company. Clarity of goals aids in motivating the employees to achieve them. The goals and purposes should be realistic, explaining the reason for each task. If every employee is aware of the actions they have to take, it brings motivation for even the simplest of tasks. Defining the purposes of different job roles makes employees more cooperative and reduces conflicts among them. It creates a positive working environment.
Recognition and reward
The employer needs to tell their staff about their accomplishments. Recognition for hard work increases self-confidence and promotes a sense of being valued. Employers can use a recognition and reward platform to highlight the best performers every month. This can be done with team-building exercises, well-being schemes and reward programs. Reward programs can include monetary payments, a gift card, or a food coupon. They promote employee motivation, ultimately enhancing job satisfaction.
Build a positive work environment
Employees are more likely to stay in a company that provides a healthy work environment. A positive employee motivation strategy tends to provide autonomy to the employees and the teams. People like to work in a place where they can talk freely, feel valued, trust their managers and leaders and have good relationships with peers. Employers need to create a welcoming environment, such as providing rest or play areas. This can uplift a poor mood and help increase the focus on work.
Create better development programmes
Employees are always concerned about their career development. They want to learn new things and get promoted. Thus, employers need to create better learning and development programmes. Track their tasks, teach them new skills, recognise their efforts and promote them to higher positions. This will help them feel that they have a long and productive journey ahead with the company.
Support employee well-being
Employers should care about the employee’s quality of life and work-life balance. Best-performing employees are more likely to feel burnout. Addressing their mental, emotional and physical health is a great way to keep them happy and content. A healthy and happy employee is more likely to be productive and have a creative approach towards work.
What are the benefits of employee motivation?
The new workforce is quite demanding. Employers are very well aware of their expectations, requests and needs, making employee motivation programmes a must-have. These programmes can have many benefits for the company, which are as follows:
Productivity
Implementing employee motivation programmes encourages people to stay focused during work. It helps to increase productivity and generate more revenue. These techniques positively influence the employees and promote higher job satisfaction.
Better problem-solving
A motivated employee works harder to solve problems and issues arising during work. They display greater problem-solving skills to overcome the challenges. This avoids delays and helps the tasks and projects to stay within budget and timeline, saving costs and resources for the company.
Enhanced employee retention
Employees are likely to stay in a place where they feel valued and cared for. Employee benefits and motivation contribute to high retention rates. When employees receive extra perks and rewards, they are unlikely to search for new jobs.
Lower levels of absenteeism
Managers should look after the well-being of the employees. They need to keep a check if someone is overwhelmed or tired and if they need rest or a day off. It is important to be supportive rather than being critical. This motivates the employees and they feel less stressed. This results in lower levels of absenteeism.
Adaptability
Every employer is striving to achieve agility in a fast-paced working environment. Employees with higher motivation rates are more open to changes and more adaptable. They quickly adapt to the changing roles, increasing the overall efficiency.
Enhances reputation
Organisations offering exceptional employee experiences have a strong reputation. Employee feedback helps to create a good brand image. Companies with happy and motivated employees retain and attract top talent.
How to measure employee motivation?
The simple way to measure employee motivation is to ask employees how they are feeling. There is no fixed metric to measure employee motivation. However, there are some common ways to do this:
Performance reviews
Performance reviews help to measure employee motivation. A good performance review result shows a high level of employee engagement. On the other hand, a bad performance review result helps employers to figure out the cause behind low motivation and engagement.
Employee surveys
Annual surveys are the most popular way to measure employee motivation. Employers should ensure that employee engagement surveys are anonymous. They should select the questions carefully and use different combinations of questions.
Customer satisfaction survey
These surveys measure how satisfied your employees are. These are helpful when employees are in direct contact with your customers. This technique is successful mostly in sales and customer experience success.
Employee motivation hierarchy
According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, motivation is the result of a person’s attempt to fulfil five basic needs: physiological, safety, social esteem and self-actualisation. This theory helps in understanding employee motivation in the workplace.
Why employees lose motivation?
Employers need to identify the reasons that cause employees to lose motivation. These are some common causes that can be at the root of the issue:
Lack of flexibility
Distorted work-life balance is a great cause of concern for the employees. The lack of flexible work options leads to employee dissatisfaction and burnout.
No career vision
Most employees want to have clear career objectives as they lead to career progression. Career visioning is useful in establishing clear and long-term goals. Lack of career vision can cause one to lose motivation.
No development opportunities
Training and development is an important part of employee engagement and motivation. If your workplace is uninspired, non-progressive and static, your employees’ motivation levels will quickly decline.
Poor leadership
If leadership is negatively affecting the team, then some employees may start to feel demoralised. Good leadership that communicates fosters confidence and focus among employees.
Excess workload
Excess and impossible workloads can lead to employee burnout. This makes employees lose focus and interest in the work. This causes stress and results in low motivation.
Motivating employees is a key component of the business plan. You need to have a clear vision to design an effective employee motivation programme. Employers who receive regular employee input will be better able to comprehend their needs and feelings. As a result, managers will gain a comprehensive understanding of employee motivation strategies and tactics. Although no reward programme works 100%, your business can benefit from a combination of the strategies discussed.
