by Bob Urichuck
http://www.BobU.com
©
2008
Employee motivation is not always the easiest of tasks,
but it does pay off for you, your customers and the employee.
Recognition
is ranked the number one motivating factor when it comes to employee motivation
in the workplace. If you want to maintain motivated employees, and encourage others
to do better, recognizing them publicly may save yourself the time and money of
having to find and re-train new staff.
One of the best techniques
to build and maintain employee motivation is to make it a practice to have an
event or period end staff meeting, followed by a employee, & maybe spouse
dinner, staff recognition awards and a closing party. This will build and maintain
employee motivation though ongoing sincere recognition and deserving reward.
You
may find it hard to believe, but recognition is the most powerful employee motivator
of all. Research has shown that there is a stronger need in society today for
recognition than there is for sex and money. Now, that says something about employee
motivation.
Let's think about it.
We
could provide employee motivation through a bonus in the form of money at the
end of a period. Sure they'll be happy and thankful. They may even perform better,
but what are their expectations at the end of the next period? Right; more money.
External employee motivation is temporary - it is never lasting.
Money
is an external employee motivator and it is never lasting. It's an incentive that
once acquired, leads to expectations for more, bigger or better. But if you have
a bad period will they care? They'll want a bonus at least equal to what they
got last year, but preferably more, not less.
A survey of
thousands of workers around the world compared rankings by supervisors and employees
on employee motivating factors. The typical supervisory group ranked the factors
in the following order:
- High wages
- Job security
-
Promotion in the organization
- Good working conditions
-
Interesting work
- Personal loyalty of supervisor
- Tactful
discipline
- Full appreciation of work done
- Help on personal
problems
- Feeling of being in on things
However,
when employees were given the same exercise and asked what affects their morale
and employee motivation the most, their answers followed this pattern;
-
Full appreciation of work done
- Feeling of being in on things
-
Help on personal problems
- Job security
- High wages
-
Interesting work
- Promotion in the organization
- Personal
Loyalty of supervisor
- Good working conditions
- Tactful
discipline
Note that the top three employee motivating
factors marked by the employees are the last three felt to be important for them
by their supervisors.
Do you think it would be any different
in your business?
So it is fair to say that money, over
and above wages, is not a main motivating factor, but full appreciation of work
done is. This is recognition: the number one employee motivating factor in building
and maintaining a motivated employee.
Why is it so important?
When
someone gives you a compliment or recognizes you for doing something, how do you
feel? Imagine, for a moment, being complimented by all your family, friends, staff
and customers all day, every day.
What would it do to your
self-esteem your self confidence and your self respect? Without it going to your
head, how do you think you would perform? Would you be outstanding or what? Is
this not the basis of employee motivation?
Employee motivation
through recognition is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement of actions
gets those actions repeated. Recognition and praise reinforces our beliefs about
ourselves and helps make us think we are better than we thought we were. That
is what employee motivation is all about.
Employee motivation
is positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcements is what builds our self-esteem.
Our self-esteem is the way we see and feel about ourselves either internally,
through our own beliefs, or externally through what we accept as the beliefs of
others.
If we feel good about ourselves and we believe others
feel good about us, we perform better than we would when we see the opposite side
of the coin. Employee motivation starts from within.
People
perform in a manner that is consistent with how they see themselves conceptually.
So, the key is to help people build their self-esteem. That is the foundation
of employee motivation.
