Motivating Factors for Employees

 

Motivating Factors for Employees

Figure 1: Motivating Factors for Employees

1. Reward and recognition 

Rewarding and recognising employees are crucial to building motivation (Hansen, Smith and Hansen, 2002). Once an employee receives acknowledgment for his or her performance, the impact of that recognition begins to wane over time. To maximise the effectiveness of recognition, it should be followed with adequate rewards. In certain instances, recognition alone may be adequate, but rewards are more effective at fostering long-term drive.

The value of rewards might vary dependent on their cost and impact. It is optimal to give a variety of prizes that appeal to various employees based on their interests. Employees may place a different value on trips, gift certificates, and an extra day off as potential rewards. The primary purpose of recognising and rewarding employees is to motivate them to improve their performance and to encourage them to demonstrate positive behaviours. There are several methods of rewarding staff.

2. Opportunities for Growth/Development

There is a tendency for employees to feel motivated when there are possibilities for skill growth and development (Weng and Zhu, 2020). With opportunities for advancement and a career ladder, people will be driven and committed to their job. Possibilities of raises, promotions, and perks maintain their productivity and devotion. This opportunity-based motivation is an intrinsic sort of motivation.

3. Salary

Employees' regular remuneration is a fundamental requirement, which they expect their employer or organisation to meet (McLean, Smits and Tanner, 1996). Nevertheless, income is seen as a short-term extrinsic motivator. Regular compensation increases may not always enhance employee performance over the long run.

However, if an employee's wage falls below their expectations, they will be dissatisfied and unmotivated. Earning a fair wage or a wage that they deem adequate for their labour will prevent employees from becoming dissatisfied. However, it may not drive them.

4. Leadership style

An organisation's leaders consist of supervisors, managers, and team leaders. These characteristics significantly affect employee motivation (Roßnagel, 2017). The proper leadership would encourage people to establish their goals and objectives and to work tirelessly to achieve them.

Leaders must determine the leadership style that best suits each type of employee, since the approach to employee management should be based on their personality attributes.

Typical leadership styles include the following (Gemeda and Lee, 2020):

ü  Autocratic

ü  Democratic

ü  Coaching

ü  Authoritative

ü  Affiliative

ü  Laissez-faire

ü  Transformational

ü  Servant

5. Relationship with Colleagues

Considering that the majority of employees work eight hours every day, they spend one-third of their day dealing with coworkers. Therefore, the connection with coworkers may have a significant impact on their performance motivation, as well as their attitude and conduct (Ariani, 2015). Negative connections lead to isolation and loneliness, resulting in unhappiness and a lack of ambition.

An employee's social requirements are tied to their need to be accepted and to be a part of a society that is focused on attaining greater outcomes. Good work connections would also provide them the chance to advance their talents and reach their full potential.

6. Work life balance

A component that provides employees with high levels of motivation is a healthy work-life balance (Simmons, 2012). This equilibrium would encourage people to labour without complaint for the business. They would be less prone to experience exhaustion if a healthy work-life balance were assured. Exhaustion may cause employees to lose enthusiasm and commitment, which is extremely bad to the firm in the long term. Therefore, it is essential to allow them to work for a suitable amount of time while encouraging their health and well-being.

7. Processes and operations within the company

The company's processes and operations are dependent on the employees' desire, devotion, and passion. These operations and procedures determine the workload, access to resources, division of labour and responsibility, and accountability (Lemaska-Majdzi and Okrglicki, 2015).

(Syed Ibrahim et al., 2019) Processes and procedures that are efficient can be a motivating factor for staff, encouraging them to perform more effectively. It is vital to decrease variables that disrupt or impede operations in order to maintain efficiency levels. At each stage of a process or activity, personnel must be informed about the available resources and the expectations placed on them. This helps people feel accountable for their activities and encourages a better level of productivity.

References

Ariani, D. W. (2015)' Relationship with Supervisor and Co-Workers, Psychological Condition and Employee Engagement in the Workplace', Journal of Business and Management, 4(3), pp. 34–47. doi: 10.12735/jbm.v4i3p34.

Gemeda, H. K. and Lee, J. (2020) 'Leadership styles, work engagement and outcomes among information and communications technology professionals: A cross-national study', Heliyon, 6(4), p. e03699. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03699.

Hansen, F., Smith, M. and Hansen, R. B. (2002) 'Rewards and Recognition in Employee Motivation', Compensation & Benefits Review, 34(5), pp. 64–72. doi: 10.1177/0886368702034005010.

Lemańska-Majdzik, A. and Okręglicka, M. (2015) 'Identification of Business Processes in an Enterprise Management', Procedia Economics and Finance, 27, pp. 394–403. doi: 10.1016/S2212-5671(15)01011-4.

McLean, E. R., Smits, S. J. and Tanner, J. R. (1996) 'The importance of salary on job and career attitudes of information systems professionals', Information & Management, 30(6), pp. 291–299. doi: 10.1016/S0378-7206(96)01059-2.

Roßnagel, C. S. (2017) ‘Leadership and Motivation’, in, pp. 217–228. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-31036-7_12.

Simmons, S. (2012) 'Striving for work-life balance', AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 112(1), p. 25. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000410173.98529.f6.

Syed Ibrahim, M., Hanif, A., Jamal, F. Q. and Ahsan, A. (2019) 'Towards successful business process improvement – An extension of change acceleration process model', PLOS ONE, 14(11), p. e0225669. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225669.

Weng, Q. (Derek) and Zhu, L. (2020) 'Individuals' Career Growth Within and Across Organisations: A Review and Agenda for Future Research', Journal of Career Development, 47(3), pp. 239–248. doi: 10.1177/0894845320921951.