Employee motivation?! 4 things you have never heard about it
Businesses know that motivated employees have better performance and being more satisfied and productive. Gallup reported that 80% of employees are not engaged in their works. Accordingly, companies lose $65 billion a year as a result of employee disengagement. So employee motivation is the main subject of many HR’s meetings and discussions. Managers started to do surveys, gathering feedbacks, using engagement apps and whatever they think can be helpful for this area. But maybe these four facts can show some more truth about employee motivation:
1. Employee Motivation is not just about the surveys and feedbacks
Many organizations provide yearly, monthly or even weekly surveys for their employees. They have found the “20 essential employee engagement survey questions” and yes, that’s it. The surveys are ready for boosting the engagement inside the company! They gather all the feedbacks, mood charts, analysis and then? The managers wait for the engagement to appear from those charts. The employees also wait for their feedbacks’ response and improvements! In reality, none of those cases happens! This will cause unrealistic expectations for the staffs that provided the feedback through the surveys. If an organization starts to do the surveys where staffs give feedback about their teams and managers, they need to be prepared. They should consider how they plan to deal with the information received. If the organization does not plan for this, the result could be more disengagement from employees after providing important feedback.
2. Employee disengagement is not just because of lack of interest
Most of the time employees are not tired of hard works and complicated tasks. The lack of belief that their direction is the right one to achieve the main goals of the project are the issue. They should see the clear vision of the projects and feel their value to receive to the goals. If they recognize how their contribution positively impacts progress, they feel much more motivated to their tasks and responsibilities.
3. Nothing is a good alternative for the old-fashioned pat on the back or congratulatory handshake
Sometimes there is a place for technology but it is not always a replacement. You can send a “Thank you” message to your employees! You can “like” their progress and improvements online! But the fact is that none of them is as valuable as a congratulatory handshake in their office after accomplishing a long project…
4. Employee Motivation and engagement don’t have the same meaning for all
If you are searching for a recipe which can improve the engagement in all types of your employees you are on a wild-goose chase. The study from Hense, Mandl and Klevers breaks down motivation into different categories; some workers become motivated by achievement, others by power, and some by a feeling of affiliation with a group or a sense of competence. The list is extensive, but it shows that motivation isn’t one size fit’s all proposition — and most workers will fit multiple categories. That means any motivation method needs to have a feature that will appeal to each type of personality. You have hired different types of skills and personalities; therefore you should plan for their engagement in different ways.
