Motivating employees

What is Motivation ?

Its defined as the will to work. Its the desire by an individual to work hard and carry out a job as a effectively and efficiently as possible.

What are benefits of employing a highly motivated workforce?

• Staff retention rates will increase - Staff will feel happier at work therefore will not be tempted to look or change jobs when they see a vacant post advertised by a firm.

• Lower levels of absenteeism - Staff wont take days off as they will be keen to work.

• Easier to recruit new staff - Having a motivated workforce will give businesses a better reputation as an employer. This means that when job vacancies arise in the future there will be a large amount of applicants applying for positions.

What are financial methods of motivation ?

Salaries - a fixed yearly payment to an employee for doing their jobs

Wages - when staff are paid on an hourly basis. Staff are paid on an hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours they have worked.

Piece rate - A payment that is made according to how much a member of staff produces. This encourages staff to work quicker increasing labour productivity and output levels

Commision - When staff are paid a set percentage of the value of sales they have made. This encourages employees to try and make more sales

What are non financial methods of motivation?

• Training - This allows staff to develop new skills which enables them to perform jobs better. Staff feel more motivated from this as they feel the business is investing time into them personally therefore will feel more valued.

• Greater responsibility - Job enrichment involves employees being given a role through delegation. This can motivate staff as the ability to take on more challenging roles will result in them feeling a sense of achievment.

• Styles of management

  • Autocratic - Where managers tell others what to do. Staff may prefer this as they may be unskilled or new to the business meaning they wont know the job requirements

  • Democratic - Where managers give junior managers more freedom to take part in the decision making process. This means that staff will fell more involved, helping them develop their skills for the future.