One of the key objectives that should feature in any
business and organizational plan is motivation of one’s employees. It
goes without saying that a motivated workforce is a more creative and
productive one. Innovation is necessary to produce quality work. Only
driven employees would put in the effort to find better methods to
deliver quality output in the most efficient manner possible. The more
engaged and motivated your employees are, the more it helps with
reducing turnover. Those who frequently look out for better
opportunities may be the ones with great potential while the ones who
stay on could be just settling for their circumstances.
Is the current global workforce as motivated as it should be? And if
it isn’t, what is the best way to improve the situation, starting with
your company?
© Flickr | Arya Ziai
This article will take you through 1)
eye-opening employee engagement statistics, 2)
7 key reasons why employees feel de-motivated, 3)
motivation strategies differ for each worker, and 4)
the best ways to motivate employees.
EYE-OPENING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT STATISTICS
What follows are some eye-opening (and startling)
employee engagement statistics:
- Only 30 percent of employees worldwide feel inspired and engaged by their careers
- Close to half (48%) of employees across the globe detest their jobs
- 18 percent of employees globally are actively disengaged meaning though they are present at work, they hate it completely
- Highly engaged employees were 87 percent less likely to leave their companies than their disengaged counterparts
- 3 out of every 4 people who leave their jobs of their own will, aren’t quitting their jobs but their bosses
- Less than half of the workforce (40 percent) were aware of their company’s goals, tactics and strategies
- Organizations with greatly engaged employees accomplish double the
annual net income of those whose employees are not so well engaged (as
per an analysis of 64 organizations)
7 KEY REASONS WHY EMPLOYEES FEEL DE-MOTIVATED
© Flickr | Mike Lewis
Here’s a look at some of the chief triggers for employee de-motivation:
1. No Recognition or Feeling of Value
When employees are not recognized or given credit for a job very well
done or immense efforts they have put in towards a project, they become
demotivated. They lose interest and may not even want to try thinking
innovatively, get some extra work done or even just perform their role
with feelings of obligation and energy because their boss doesn’t seem
to care or notice their hard work and dedication.
2. Unrealistic Demands or Work Load
With the idea of getting a lot of work done and fast, ambitious
bosses may place heavy and unrealistic workloads upon the shoulders of
their employees. Though holding staff to high standards is not really a
bad thing, it does become bad when managers cross the line by being too
demanding or overburdening with them. Asking employees to carry out the
truly impossible, or insisting that they complete projects over the
weekends even when they’re not time-sensitive would invite low morale
and decreased productivity from them.
3. Micromanagement
Micromanagement may be defined as a management style characterized by
the manager closely (excessively) observing and supervising the work of
his employees or subordinates. The manager may not mean any harm by his
micromanagement however it can be irritating and bothersome to his
employees. The reason is that it tells them he doesn’t trust their
judgement and thereby contributes to a loss of motivation. The employees
disengaged by the micromanagement may leave for the sake of more
freedom or, if the manager is lucky, continue to stay but just muddle
through.
4. Job Insecurity
As per a survey by
Human Resource Services Inc,
job security is the most important factor for employee motivation. So
this means, insecurity in the job place can wreak havoc when it comes to
employee retention. If an employee is at an expendable job or working
in an unstable company, he may just put in the necessary effort to keep
getting his salary. The rest of his energy will be spent on updating his
resume, gossiping with co-workers, looking for a more stable job elsewhere and planning his jump.
5. No Progress
The majority of employees feel happy when there is continuing
learning potential in their company and they have a feeling of growing
in their knowledge and skills. Even progress in the form of small
workplace accomplishments are triggers for motivation. If on the other
hand, employees feel uninspired and stagnant, their enthusiasm and
engagement will drop. In addition, if an employee is trying to introduce
a new idea or change and it has to pass through lots of red tape, he’s
going to lose all the fervor and drive he began with.
6. Conflicting or Otherwise Unpleasant Co-Workers
Research from Gallup
reveals that close friendships at work cause a 50 percent increase in
employee satisfaction while having a close friend at work increased the
likelihood of engagement in work by seven times. So, one can just
imagine what would be the outcome of having bullying, intimidating or
otherwise unpleasant or conflicting co-workers. Even if the job is
well-paying and offers opportunities for career growth, if there are
back-stabbers, the result would be misery and stress.
7. Boredom
Research time and again shows that Gen X (roughly people born in the
period from the mid 1960’s to 1980) and Gen Y (roughly people born in
the period between 1980 and the year 2000) employees today long for a
job that is personally satisfying or allows them to apply their personal
interests in their job. According to a
Philips Work/Life Survey,
close to 3 out of every 4 (68 percent) working Americans are willing to
accept a salary cut in the midst of a competitive job market and
chaotic economy as long as their job enables them to incorporate their
personal interests into it. The results of a recent LinkedIn poll
support the increasing yearning for fulfillment among the people of
different geographies and age groups.
MOTIVATION STRATEGIES DIFFER FOR EACH WORKER
The level of employee engagement can differ based on variables such
as occupation or industry or more personal characteristics such as an
employee’s education level, age, gender and duration of service at the
company. So, managers face the challenge of matching their workers with
the right motivation strategy. Given below are a few of the conclusions
drawn from studies Gallup conducted in the period between 2010 and 2012
with different sections of the U.S. population:
- Employees in possession of a college degree have engagement levels
that are lower than those seen among employees in possession of a high
school diploma or even less than that. This indicates that managers need
to improve on their investment in the employees with higher degrees by
identifying ways by which they can capitalize on and honor all that they
have achieved.
- Employees in production and manufacturing are among those business
sector employees who are the least engaged. The reason could be that the
management culture in these sectors concentrates more on process than
on people. So, if some more management culture could be devoted to
people with respect to these industries, considerable benefit in
employee motivation and engagement can be expected.
- The job-hopping tendency is particularly common among millennials
(Gen Y). As such, it would be wise if the manager offered this group
lots of opportunities to learn and progress. This would contribute to
increased retention of the millennial generation.
- When compared to other generations, Baby Boomers (those people born
in the period between 1946 and 1964) respond better when their managers
devote extra effort to showing they care. So to optimize engagement of
baby boomer employees, managers may do well to show interest in them by
inquiring about their work or other key areas of their life.
Bob Nelson: Employee Motivation, Reward, Retention and Recognition Expert, Keynote Speaker
THE BEST WAYS TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEES
The best methods of motivating employees may be grouped into six
sections, each of which are described in detail in the ensuing
paragraphs.
1. Effective Communication
There are two key aspects to effective communication for employee motivation
,
Communication of information that affects an employee’s work
This is essential and would make the employee feel that he belongs to
the in-crowd (people who are aware of the happenings at work the moment
their colleagues become aware of it). Make it a point to keep your
employees up-to-date on things like customer feedback, changing due
dates, product improvements, new interaction structures or departmental
reporting, and training opportunities. By doing so, your employees would
be able to make better decisions about their work as and when there are
changes. A good rule to follow would be to share more than you consider
necessary, at least till you get the hang of it. If there are employees
who would be particularly affected by one or more changes, spend
additional time communicating with them in terms of how the change would
affect their decisions, job, time allocation and goals.
More attention and an open-door policy
As per information from a
2012 Global Workforce Study, when compared to immediate supervisors, senior
managers
had a greater role in attracting discretionary effort from employees.
The study incorporated close to 90,000 staff from 18 countries. So, it
shows that if an employee gets to spend extra time with his boss, he
would feel rewarded by the attention.
It is a good idea to initiate an open-door policy so that employees
can feel free to share their legitimate ideas, concerns or complaints
with their manager(s). Even if an idea cannot be implemented or a
particular complaint or concern cannot be resolved wholly to the
employee’s expectation, the employee would appreciate the fact that it
was looked into or addressed by the management.
Show interest in the employee’s life events by asking about vacation
trips, congratulating on a baby’s arrival and things like that.
2. Appreciation
Employees deliver parts of the overall picture and every part is
important. So, appreciation of hard work and projects delivered
extremely well will make employees feel good about themselves and also
valued, while giving them the drive to keep putting in their best. It is
good to recognize individual employees as well as show appreciation for
all employees as a group when their team effort resulted in some
accomplishment. Just a few minutes of recognition can create a great
change in an employee’s attitude to work.
Individual Recognition
If a particular employee has accomplished something really exceptional, his manager can
- invite the employee into his office and personally commend him for the good job, or,
- send him an email of appreciation or,
- praise him with a public announcement or,
- post the employee’s achievement on the bulletin board.
Group Recognition
Here are two ways to show appreciation for the dedication and solid work contributed by the company’s employees as a group:
- Once in a week, employees can be sent emails, newsletters or updates that let them know their hard work is bearing fruit.
- A meeting can be held which incorporates talk about how employee efforts are helping the company achieve its goals.
It is okay to be open with employees about room for improvement in
their work. However, ideally, it is good to provide employees with more
praise than negative feedback.
3. Rewarding Your Employees
Rewarding your employees is a great way to show them just how happy
you are with their dedication, impressive behavior (with a customer or
client) and outstanding efforts. While on the one hand, an effective
reward system will make your employees feel on top of this world, on the
other hand, it is also a tool by which you can make known the behaviors
or actions which you repeatedly expect from your employees. So a
suggestion would be to set aside a certain kind of reward or recognition
that comes with specific information about the requirements (or
targets) to be achieved to get that reward or recognition. Only a person
who performs at the standard or level described in the qualifying
criteria would get the reward.
Given below are some ideas for monetary and non-monetary rewards.
Monetary rewards
- Free lunch/dinner for just the employee or for him and his better half too,
- Sponsored car wash and a tank of full serve gas,
- Tickets to a popular sports event.
Non-monetary rewards
- Allowing the employee to work from home for a day,
- Letting him come in casual dress on a specific day,
- A plum assignment – let your employee choose the assignment he can work on next,
- A vacation day,
- Another suggestion is to personalize the rewards by thinking about
what kind of reward would make a particular employee most happy.
4. Realistic Work Load
The workload for each employee should be balanced and realistic. Too
much on an employee’s plate can demotivate him and too little can make
him lazy and/or result in attention lapses. To come up with a suitable
workload, it would help to analyze how much work an employee usually
performs, the work environment, mental and physical requirements for the
job and how much time is there on hand to get the work done. Deadlines
should be practical too. One can consider encouraging employees to be
open about when they feel their workloads are too much for them to bear
so that the workloads can be adjusted accordingly.
Apart from the quantity of work, it would be ideal if employees get
projects that incorporate aspects of personal interest to them.
According to a Philips Work/Life Survey, close to half of the American
population (47 percent) claims that the motivation for coming to their
present job is the ability to live their passions and this shows in
their work.
5. A Pleasant Work Environment
As employees spend a fair amount of their day within the walls of
their office, it would really be worth it to make the office look and
feel as welcoming and comfortable as possible. When employees feel happy
in their work environment, they feel motivated to work. Here are some
tips for creating a pleasant work environment:
Food
Keep snacks in the office, and/or ensure there’s enough coffee or tea
in the kitchen to help your employees get through the day. One can even
consider giving their employees special treats once in a week or month
such as pizza or bagels and donuts. Keep in mind that there should be
something for the health conscious and weight conscious too.
Lighting
If harsh fluorescent lights cannot be avoided, one can consider
keeping at least a few low watt bulbs that are not as harsh on the eye.
In addition, positioning employees close to windows where they can get
some natural light and fresh air will make them feel less suffocated.
Temperature
The temperature in the office should ideally be temperate (neither
too cold nor too hot). Very hot or freezing temperatures can have a
negative effect on employee motivation.
Walls
Employees will look at their walls often. So, it is a great idea to
use wall space as a canvas for stuff that motivates such as a few
motivational slogans (don’t go overboard with it) or posters that
indicate that the company is progressing. It is a nice idea to have a
bulletin board where employees can put up birthday cards, pictures or
other stuff that they can share with their colleagues.
6. Social Outings and Events
These kinds of events will help the company’s employees get better
acquainted with their co-workers and possibly establish friendships with
them. The friendly relations thus developed with their colleagues are
again, fuel for motivation. Given below are some suggestions for team
and social outings and events:
- Establish a softball league or bowling team: This is great for fostering team spirit as well as colleague-colleague bonding
- One can allow employees to have lunch together outside, once a month
- One can encourage employees to join volunteering causes in teams.
This again helps in creating team bonding while making the employees
feel a sense of satisfaction at doing something for society.
The surprising truth about what motivates us
The power of employee motivation should never be underestimated.
Devoting time and effort to improving employee engagement is definitely
worth it considering the rewards you’ll reap from doing so, in the long
term.
Image credit: Flickr | Arya Ziai and Flickr | Mike Lewis under Attribution 2.0 Generic.