Employee Motivation

Employee motivation refers to the extent of dedication, drive, and innovation an employee brings with him to the workplace for his routine duties. Motivated employees do anything and everything to get their jobs done to the best of their abilities.

They improve their productivity and serve as examples to the rest of the workforce. Motivation can be cultivated at the workplace by taking up different initiatives to help the employees feel a sense of accomplishment.

Imagine a workplace with low-motivated employees. You can visualise an environment where they work slower, produce substandard work, restrict themselves from taking responsibility, and remain unfocused while engaging in their routine tasks.

They might also plan to quit the organisation for a better place to work, engage better, and expand their job profiles. This behaviour can have a negative impact on the organisation concerning shortfalls in reduced quality, meeting the targets, and satisfying the clients.

The impact is profound in small and medium-scale enterprises, where the number of employees is limited, but their collective effort is crucial to success.

On the other hand, motivated employees figure out the different means and ways to accomplish a given task, bring in innovative solutions to manage work responsibilities, and produce timely and quality results for the organisation. The effect of motivation on employee performance remains consistent as long as the workplace remains enjoyable and conducive to growth and fulfilment.

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory that reflects human needs arranged in a hierarchical order. It starts with the psychological needs, such as food and water. It progresses through safety requirements, intimate relationships and belongingness, esteem needs, which mean the pride of feeling accomplished, and finally, self actualisation, which refers to achieving one's fullest potential.

According to Maslow, individuals feel motivated to the highest extent only when the lower levels are satisfied.

Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation

Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation reflects two factors, namely the hygiene factors and the motivators that influence employee motivation. Hygiene factors refer to salary, company policies, work conditions, and management that can lead to job dissatisfaction, and motivators refer to recognition, career advancement, and responsibilities that inspire employees to work harder.

Expectancy Theory of Motivation

Expectancy Theory reflects three factors: Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence. Expectancy refers to the belief that efforts lead to the desired performance, Instrumentality refers to the performance that brings a specific reward, and Valence refers to the reward being of immense importance or value to the employees.

McClelland’s Need Theory

The McClelland Need Theory reflects three types of needs: Need for Achievement, Need for Affiliation, and Need for Power. Employees motivated by the need for achievement will prefer taking on challenging tasks, those who are motivated by the need for affiliation will prefer working in a collaborative work environment, and those who are motivated by the need for power will prefer influential positions leading or controlling processes.

Every employee working in an organisation is unique and has different traits. Therefore, understanding the different types of employees and categorising them will help introduce and apply the right methods of motivation to enhance job satisfaction and engagement.

Employee motivation has two types: Intrinsic and Extrinsic. The choice between the two depends on the nature of the employees and their unique preferences, whether in small and medium-scale enterprises or large companies.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation refers to being motivated by oneself or within one’s strong personal belief system. Such employees adhere to the guidelines and perform to the required standards because it aligns with their thought process of accomplishment. Such employees need to be praised and provided with positive feedback.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation refers to using external factors such as rewards, bonuses, perks, and recognition to ignite employees and motivate them to accomplish their job responsibilities better. It can even encourage employees to enhance their skills and pursue better opportunities.

By taking the right approach, the impact of motivation on employee performance can be optimised.

Elevate Employee Engagement to New Heights

Highly motivated employees engage better with their assigned task and complete it on time. Employees can either be engaged, not engaged, or actively disengaged with their routine tasks.

Engaged employees give their maximum efforts to complete a task, not engaged individuals are not happy about their work and get it done for the sake of completion, and actively disengaged employees are those who are not happy about their work and also express the same to their coworkers.

Employers need to identify the levels of engagement and follow the right approach to staff motivation to increase the standards.

For instance, an actively disengaged employee will be unhappy at work and also express the same to their colleagues, creating a negative work environment. In such scenarios, the root cause needs to be identified and handled by communicating with them and providing additional support with training and better opportunities.

Maximise Productivity and Performance

A highly motivated employee workforce will be determined to complete their assigned tasks in time using the best of their abilities. It will help them work harder and better to identify new levels of accomplishment to maximise productivity and overall performance. It will help organisations plan and produce better results to expand their business initiatives.

Better Work Culture and Positive Company Reputation

Motivated employees foster a well-connected work environment. They help each other accomplish a task, work in tandem to introduce new processes and collaborate effectively to solve issues. This is especially true in the case of small and medium-sized businesses.

A compassionate work environment will create a happy place to work, which in turn enhances the company’s reputation positively. Employees might naturally speak highly of their organisation and express their satisfaction at work. This will attract new talents and also create a rewarding brand reputation.

Improve Employee Retention

Employers can also benefit from improved employee retention by creating a positive work environment and offering rewards for employees to motivate themselves. Motivated employees experiencing an improved employer-employee relationship are punctual at work, take on a higher volume of work when needed, and stay longer with the organisation.

Fostering Innovation and Creativity

When employees are motivated to work, they try to think out of the box for issues that can be solved at their end by thinking creatively. It will not just solve the problem but bring in innovative business ideas that can foster growth over the long term. As they keep themselves open to new perspectives, their willingness to accept and handle new challenges drives organisational advancement.

Now that we have discussed the objectives of employee motivation and its benefits, it is time to know the motivational factors to find ways to better employee motivation.

Creating a Positive Work Environment

A positive work culture with superiors encouraging employees to take up challenging roles, appreciating them for their sincere efforts, and giving consistent feedback will motivate employees in the long term. In addition, a clean and spacious environment with the necessary facilities will keep the employees comfortable and motivated throughout their day to accomplish their tasks.

Acknowledging Employee Efforts

When employees work hard for longer periods of time or engage in challenging tasks, acknowledging their efforts is a key factor. It can be in the form of appreciation, incentives, or a well-established employee recognition program.

Career Growth and Development

Employees who are given a learning platform to grow and establish a better career are likely to be motivated. It will urge them to perform beyond expectations to grab the right opportunities to scale better.

Balanced Work Responsibilities

Employees are generally motivated to perform to the best of their abilities when they are given a manageable workload. Anything more can introduce stress, which over the long term, can deteriorate job satisfaction, leading to demotivation.

Strong Management Connections

A strong relationship between management and employees can establish a positive, supportive, and comfortable environment that will keep the employees motivated. It will also ensure that the employees communicate their difficulties and seek opportunities to resolve them and perform better.

Recognising and Celebrating Achievements

Employers should have an employee recognition program that will help identify employees who worked exceptionally and praise them for their efforts. A formal recognition and an informal celebration can significantly boost their morale.

Incentivising with Tangible Rewards

While appreciation and recognition are powerful ways to motivate employees, providing incentives offers tangible rewards that can encourage employees to perform better. Incentives can be in the form of bonuses, rewards, annual salary hikes, etc. These rewards for employees can drive better productivity and increased job satisfaction.

Empowering with Autonomy

Employers can empower employees to scale up high levels of commitment through motivation by providing the flexibility and freedom to work and take on responsibilities, setting individual objectives, offering training programs, and creating paths to career advancement, The effect of motivation on employee performance can be seen in their efforts to enhance their skills and become more ambitious and productive at work.

Fostering a Collaborative Work Environment

A highly unified and motivated workforce will create an environment where employees cooperate, collaborate, and mutually benefit among themselves. Therefore, managers need to create a system where employees help each other with their tasks; senior employees mentor new joiners to set the processes onboard and create paths for leadership and development.

It will motivate the employees to strive better to achieve organisational goals and stay bonded for their personal and professional growth.

Promoting Open Communication

Communication is the key to fostering a workplace culture with motivated employees. Managers should regularly communicate with their employees to understand their concerns and focus on strengths over weaknesses. Having regular one-to-one sessions can help employees build positive relationships with their managers and approach them to eliminate frustrations.

Improving Employee Engagement

Engaged employees contribute new ideas, drive innovation, and compete to enhance their job profiles. When employees are more engaged in their routine tasks, they perform better and feel motivated. Meaningful work assignments, opportunities for career growth and development, and effective communication can improve employee engagement.

Ensuring Financial Security

When employees are involved in high-risk tasks, financial security becomes a serious cause for concern not just for them but also for their families. An insurance plan that compensates for such unprecedented events can be a great source of motivation.

At Tata AIG, we offer SME insurance policy solutions with different options, such as the workmen’s compensation policy to compensate for accidental deaths and disabilities that have led to a loss of earning capacity.

Securing Well-being with Group Health Insurance

Providing access to comprehensive health insurance policies gives employees a sense of security. While it offers timely medical assistance to help them maintain their health and well-being, a group mediclaim policy will also alleviate stress and anxiety, allowing the employees to focus better on their work.

Employee motivation is fundamental to an organisation’s success. Understanding its importance and finding the right approach is crucial to defining best practices. Employers can introduce employee recognition programs, foster a collaborative work environment, promote open communication, and ensure financial security to improve employee engagement, motivate them to experience job satisfaction and drive growth over the long term.