Employee motivation is one of the crucial components to increase employee happiness and productivity. The success of an organization largely depends on how the team operates. Eventually, it is the people who work for your organization. So, the feelings of your employees towards their work and the company is significant for the organization. If they feel motivated, their productivity will greatly increase, which will accelerate the success of your organization. Now, the question is, what are the motivators at work? Well, we are going to explore very soon.
Employees who are motivated are indeed an asset to the organization and are directly proportional to its success. But keeping your employees motivated is not so easy. Because in an organization, different people from different backgrounds and nature work together. Therefore, it is challenging to create a work environment that can make everyone happy. This blog will help you to know what are the motivators at work.
12 Motivators at Work
According to a research by Dale Carnegie it has been found that only around a quarter of non-management staff are fully motivated at their work. This data shows us a clear picture of the feelings of the employees towards their work. However, keeping your employee motivated is not an easy task because different people are motivated in different ways. For example, some need a good pay scale; some expect flexibility, whereas some want a Family and Work-Life Balance. So, to make all of your employees motivated and productive, you should develop such a work environment where all the motivating components exist. Here are the 12 motivating factors that will help you to increase your employee motivation –
1. Good Compensation Package
The primary expectation of an employee is a good pay scale. So, in order to keep your employees motivated, you should offer them a competitive salary. Otherwise, they will keep searching for better opportunities and leave their current job if they get a new one. Offering a competitive salary is easy for some companies, but it is difficult for some companies to afford this. In that case, you can provide a performance-based bonus, special incentive, etc., to motivate your employees.
2. Meaningful and Challenging Work
Managers should clearly explain to every employee their assigned tasks. It will help the employees to know the process and purpose of the tasks assigned to them, enabling them to accomplish the tasks with higher quality. When employees have explicit knowledge of what they are doing and what will result from the successful accomplishment of their tasks, they will be encouraged to take on more challenges. Challenging tasks create a sense of importance in an employee’s mind; therefore, they s/he feel honored within the organization.
3. Happy Work Environment
Some people not just want a competitive salary; they also expect an agile work culture. So, you must create an environment where everyone can enjoy their work. Establishing a happy work environment doesn’t need a lot of things. Just a few small initiatives can ensure employee happiness. For example, you can offer simple perks like lunches, team-building activities, and happy hours to make your employees happy and productive. Also, your work environment should be free from office politics to ensure productivity.
4. Job Security
People want a secured job and want to be valued by the management. Every manager or business owner should create a work environment where every employee will feel safe and secure. Your employees will not give their best when they are worried about the future of their job. Therefore, as a manager or leader, you must communicate to them that they are important and their future is safe at your company. Job security is not only important for the motivation of your employees but also crucial for your company’s reputation. Job security will reduce employee turnover, so you will be able to keep the best talent for your organization.
5. Freedom
Freedom at work indicates that the activities of an employee should not be underestimated. A leader should be close enough to explain the process and purpose of the tasks assigned to his or her employees but remote enough to give his employees the freedom to perform the tasks on their own. When employees have freedom at their workplace, they can implement their knowledge and skills of doing their tasks in the best possible ways.
6. Recognition
Recognizing accomplishment is related to challenging your subordinates, but this strategy goes much farther. Giving meaningful challenges at work is great, but if you don’t recognize your staff when they achieve it, you’ll build a workforce that feels undervalued. Recognition at the workplace is a great motivator for your people that can boost your employee satisfaction to a greater extent.
7. Continuous Development
Employees want continuous growth and development at their work in terms of their position and skills. We’re better able to determine where we can most profitably devote work as different components of our application and infrastructure grow. We have the option of choosing long-term solutions over quick remedies. We become more steady, reliable, and capable of identifying the next objective as we solve each difficulty. We’re clearly moving in the direction of being better and more productive. Therefore, continuous development works as one of the greatest motivators at work.
8. Participation in Decision Making
When managers involve their employees in the decision-making process, they own the decision. It boosts their motivation and focuses on achieving the tasks; therefore, their productivity increase. It also helps to create a good team spirit and positive relationship between the employees and the managers. Moreover, employee participation in decision-making helps to increase motivation, productivity, ownership of decisions, teamwork, etc.
9. Flexibility
Employee motivation may be improved by allowing them to be more flexible. Flexible work hours, the opportunity to work from home, and a good leave policy may all have a big influence on employee motivation and productivity. As a result, while developing laws and regulations for employees, policymakers should keep this in mind. However, it may not always work for persons who are not committed to their profession.
10. Family and Work-Life Balance
There are some toxic bosses or managers who persuade their employees to put work ahead of everything else. It’s a completely unequal practice. People who are unable to handle their personal lives well are unable to focus on their professional lives as well. As a result, a manager or business owner should cultivate a workplace culture that allows people to strike the optimal balance between their personal and professional lives.
11. Self-actualization
Managers or business owners should allow their employees to use their skills for the greater benefit. It will give the employees a great pleasure to keep learning new things and share their experiences with others because everyone wants recognition for their potential. So, the opportunity of self-actualization pushes an employee to learn new things and share their knowledge with others so that they can be actualized for their potential.
12. No Micromanagement
Micromanagement occurs when managers start to give excessive attention to every tiny detail of the activities of their employees. It is very annoying for the employees and results in great employee demotivation. Employees working under a micromanager feel unnecessary pressure and always look for switching jobs. To stop micromanagement, managers should focus more on the final outcome rather than on the day-to-day activities of their team.
Summary
“Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
To answer the question of “What are the motivators at work” you can highlight many components. In this blog, we tried to discuss the major workplace motivators which may help you to develop an effective work environment for your employees. However, it doesn’t mean that this will work for each and every employee. As a manager or business owner, you should focus on creating an environment that contains all the motivators for your employees.
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