Employee Motivation revolves around Initiation, Enthusiasm, Intensity, Dedication, Perseverance, and Productivity through which an organization motivates its employees to work with wholeheartedness and commitment to optimizing the performance and revenues.
The motivation of the employees has a direct connection not only with the performance of the employees but also with the performance of the organization.
It is important to offer constant motivation to the employees so that the better performance of the employees can be seen each time and the organization can be benefitted with great results and profits.
By the right channelization of Employee Motivation, businesses can ensure-
- The positive, constructive and productive work environment
- Employees are ready to work hard with full enthusiasm
- A driving force that optimizes performances of both employees and employers
Why Is Employee Motivation So Much Important?
The motivation of employees is held to be very much important in any organization.
There are three types of employees that you will find in an organization. They are-
- Engaged ones
- Not engaged ones
- Highly disengaged
1) Engaged Employees
The ones who are engaged are the employees who are very much active in the activities of the organization and are known to be the main reasons for the high production of the company.
2) Not Engaged Employees
On the other hand, the ones who are not engaged are someone who may involve themselves in completing the regular works but are not much interested in offering the company with a benefit.
3) Disengaged Employees
Apart from these two types, there are also ones who are disengaged employees. These are the employees who are actually not happy working in that particular environment and are looking out for ways to quit the job and get a better position somewhere else.
Does this mean that the second and third category of employees needs employee motivation from the company?
Of course, they need a much higher motivation but the engaged type of employees also cannot be ignored.
It may happen that they are happy now but after a certain point of time; they may also start feeling disengaged or not engaged enough. Hence, keeping them motivated always will keep your employees happy so that they can perform great for the organization.
Examples of Employee Motivation
There have been a lot of examples of various big brands motivating their employees in different ways.
1) Deloitte
Deloitte believes that making the work environment comfortable for the employees can help them stay motivated for the work.
Hence, the company makes sure to analyze the work pressure of the employees from time to time and then taking steps to make the work much easier. This is often done by the company by having a conversation with the employees from time to time.
2) Disney
Another great example was of Disney. The company up with the ‘Magic Kingdom Club’ and offered its corporate members with a particular discount to visit the club.
3) Google
Google is always known to keep its employees happy. It has come up with some of the most amazing motivation options to keep its employees boosted up all the time.
From time to time, it comes up with various strategies such as reimbursement for legal expenses, maternity benefits, free services such as hair stylist, bike repair, gym, healthcare, and many more.
Apart from this, there are other motivational facilities too that the company offers for its employees such as inspirations at work, work flexibility, and so on.
Importance of Employee Motivation
There can be a number of reasons why and how such employee motivation can be actually helpful. Some of the important benefits of providing such motivation to the employees in an organization are mentioned here.
1) Increased Commitment Of The Employees
When the employee is motivated well and is quite happy in the work environment, of course, there are high chances that the person will show a much higher commitment to the company.
Such employees will put in their best efforts and will take special initiatives in providing the best results to the company. Such type of candidates only becomes the star employees of the organization in the future.
2) Enhanced Satisfaction Of The Employee
When the employee is highly motivated and as a result puts in the best efforts to complete a task, of course, the best results are out of it. This is not only a satisfaction for the employers and the organization but also such a situation satisfies the employees also who are actually involved in the task.
Increased employee satisfaction also leads to a happy employee and hence the organization gets an efficient employee.
3) Employee Development
When an employee gets motivated, he or she is actually sure that better performance can be offered to provide the best results to the organization. When the employee reaches and attains a goal on completing a project, they realize that what their potential is.
Knowing and realizing their capabilities, they soon aim towards a goal that is much higher than the previous owner. In this way, they go for a continuous self-development that is always better for the performance of the employees.
Apart from the employees, such a development is also great for the organization as they can the best products and also can come up with great results.
4) Improved Efficiency And Better Work Environment
When the employees are not happy and motivated, they are seen with gloomy faces and low confidence. This also makes the environment of the office less energetic. It is always required that the employees should be always cheered up so that they can be seen always with lesser stress and a smile on their face. When the employees are happy, they feel good working and hence better results can be yielded.
Hence, employee motivation is directly linked to the efficiency of the employees. When the employees are efficient and high on energy, the office environment is also filled with positive vibes that others can also feel.
Now, comes the question of how you can ensure employee motivation in your company.
How to Motivate your Employees?
1) Know the basic needs of your employees
The first thing that you need to do is understanding the basic needs of your employees. Let us have a look upon some of the common employee basic needs-
A) Certainty of Career is a major factor for Employee Motivation
Having certainty about their jobs and associated benefits motivate employees to work with full dedication.
B) Variety in work instead of same dull work
Constantly doing one task can be quite boring and that is why, time and again, offering some sorts of variety as per the inclination of employees will ensure better motivation.
C) Feeling Valued and Important
If you let your employees feel that they are valuable for you, they will feel more motivated to work in a productive fashion. Public appreciation, Acknowledgement, Flexible Working Arrangements, Free or subsidized meals, etc. are some tricks that can be useful here.
D) Growth in Career
Everyone wants to grow in their lives and the same would be the desire of your employees. Provide them a mechanism where they can grow in both ways professionally and economically.
E) Being a contributing member
When employees see that company needs their contribution and participation in making something important, big or special, they get motivated to come up with something more productive.
2) Understand the difference between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Generally, employee motivation can be divided into two categories and they are- Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation. Let us understand the significance of both-
A) Intrinsic Motivation
When motivation comes from the inner self of an employee, it is understood as intrinsic motivation. If employees feel engaged with the given responsibility and enjoy working on that, it will ensure intrinsic motivation.
Means, if their jobs are making them indulge their creative side with full emotional quotient and action, then such employees will stay motivated with their job.
So, knowing the area of interest of your employees, and offering them their choice of work where they love working and doing something productive play a key role in making employees stay motivated. Fulfillment comes through the work in such type of employee motivation.
B) Extrinsic Motivation
In Extrinsic form of motivation, fulfillment is not associated just with the work but also with the related benefits. Such sorts of motivations come from outside.
Good salary, work environment, job security, and monetary incentives are the prime factors of extrinsic motivation.
Proper Learning and Development Opportunities that empower employees to grow in their careers and get promotions will also be helpful here. This way, you can educate and guide your employees about the areas that can help them get promotion and enjoy a better package.
3) Working Culture of the Company and Nature of Leadership
Employees design their working goals as per the goals of their company. So, if employers are having clarity in their vision, their employees will also be more motivated to work in the right direction.
So, if an organization is not very clear about its goal, its employees will also be having a negative and passive attitude. In such situations, employees work with lower commitment.
Working culture is also very much decided by the nature of leadership. The way seniors communicate with juniors, relationships with the colleagues, etc are the parts of human resource management that play a key role in motivating employees.
Proper team building exercises will be useful here. Brainstorming sessions in which all the employees are allowed to speak and their voices are heard carefully will also be very productive in motivating employees.
4) Pay Attention to the Personal Issues of your Employees and try to Resolve them
As per the stats, around 47% of employees believe that their personal problems are the main impediments in their performance. Because of personal issues, your employees may face problems like lack of concentration, absenteeism, lack of engagement, and so on.
Here comes the role of the employer to ensure a healthy environment where employees can feel free to share their problems without any hesitation. Having a proper policy that can help employees in their difficult times can be very effective in such situations.
Flexible working, paid time off, employee assistance programs are some of the ways that are being quite useful in turning the workforce stay motivated in all kinds of situations. This will also be an impetus for building trust and developing loyalty within the workforce.
Conclusion
A number of companies often forget that they need to keep their employees happy in order to bring out the best from them.
Employee motivation is very much important so that the employees can have boosted confidence throughout the year and they can perform well throughout the year.
Just appreciating the employees for the work that they have done is a great initiative. But you can also provide them with some extra benefits so that they can make use of such benefits in their personal life and can think well about the company.
This also maintains and grows the goodwill of the company in the outer world.
So, what according to you are the key factors to ensure employee motivation? Share with us in the comments below.
