Maximizing employee motivation is essential, especially during tough economic times. However, what motivates employees is sometimes difficult to determine as people are motivated in different ways. Employee motivation can be broken down into two basic sub-groups known as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation occurs when people engage in their chosen profession or career without obvious external incentives. Research on this form of employee motivation has found that it is usually associated with knowledge-sharing communities and organizations. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the employee. Cash incentives are the most common form of extrinsic motivation for employees.
Depending on the specifics of your workforce demographics, employee recognition can be given for many reasons. I find that most clients recognize employees who have reached milestone anniversaries and also give on the spot recognition. Usually recognition of milestone anniversaries are more ceremonial while on the spot recognition is spontaneous and can be as simple as saying “thank you” to an employee.
A Gallop poll revealing the top ten motivators for employees had public praise and recognition at the top of their list. Despite the gloomy economic outlook, most of my clients are continuing to recognize employees in the upcoming year because of the feeling of top management, and confirmed by the Gallop poll, that recognition and motivation are inherently always hand in hand.
Consistent employee recognition boosts employee motivation which translates into higher productivity, lower absenteeism and increased employee and customer loyalty. Recognizing employees truly impacts organizational bottom line results and that can make all the difference in a tough economy.
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