Motivating Your Employees

I read human resources for my second degree, so my blog definitely won’t be complete without a little employee related issues (laughs).There is a general believe that human beings have the natural tendency to be lazy with regards to work and is being forced by circumstances to work.

   Motivation by definition refers to what activates, directs human behavior and how this behavior is sustained to achieve a particular goal. It is also the process of supplying an incentive, adequate to induce deliberate and purposeful action.

     Employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity that a company’s workers apply to their jobs. In the increasingly competitive business environment of recent years, finding ways to motivate employees has become a pressing concern for many managers.

What motivates Employees?

WAGES /SALARIES: Money can motivate, that is, it can influence action and encourage extra effort, extra creativity or any other kind of non-routine performance. But, money can only motivate workers if it is substantial and comes regularly.

JOB SECURITY: Until recently, university graduates preferred the securing of jobs which the civil service provides to the white collar jobs in the industry. This is to say then that the more a job is secured, the more one is able to work harder since the ultimate is known. However, to allay fears of workers, procedures for promotion, grievance, discipline and termination must be spelt out within the work place.

PROMOTION: Promotion is given as recognition of the individual’s performance on the job. However, to justify this recognition, the employee promoted puts in more effort in his work. Promotion puts new life in the individual and activates his knowledge and skills. However, the motivating effect of promotion is high.

JOB ENRICHMENT : Job enrichment means that additional motivators are added to the job so that it is more rewarding , although the term has come to apply to any efforts to humanize jobs. It is an improvement on job enlargement that sought to give workers a wide variety of duties to build their roles. However, the two terms are used interchangeably. In fact, the result of job enrichment is really a role that encourages growth and self-actualization. The job is built in such a way that natural activation is encouraged. Because motivation is increased, work performance should also improve, thus providing both a more human job and a more productive job. In this manner, both the worker and society benefit. The worker performs better, has more job satisfaction, and is more self-actualized, thus being able to participate in all life roles more effectively. Society benefits from the more effectively functioning person as well as the more effective job performance

FEAR MOTIVATION: Fear as a motivator is one of the oldest and perhaps the most widely used form of motivating workers. This type of motivation plants fear in the minds of employees and employee get things done in the platform of threat or punishment, loss of job or dismissal, loss of facilities to the workers who does not conform to laid down rules and regulations and loss of status.

The Importance of Motivation

Motivation can have an effect on the output of your business and concerns both quantity and quality. See it this way: your business relies heavily on the efficiency of your production staff to make sure that products are manufactured in numbers that meet demand for the week. If these employees lack the motivation to produce completed products to meet the demand, then you face a problem leading to disastrous consequences. The number of scenarios is extreme but you get the general picture.

Your employees are your greatest asset and no matter how efficient your technology and equipment may be, it is no match for the effectiveness and efficiency of your staff so motivate your staff.