Employee mo­ti­va­tion: better working at­mos­phere, higher turnover

Employee mo­ti­va­tion is an economic factor that should not be un­der­es­ti­mat­ed. Motivated employees achieve more and therefore bring their company more revenue. Mo­ti­va­tion is strongly related to the com­mit­ment of the employee to the company. A lack of com­mit­ment is sometimes clearly no­tice­able.

Small and medium-sized en­ter­pris­es – which make up the majority of the US economy – in par­tic­u­lar, have struc­tures that enable them to motivate employees at a low cost. However, most of them lack effective strate­gies. Only those who correctly un­der­stand mo­ti­va­tion as a psy­cho­log­i­cal concept and apply mo­ti­vat­ing methods in practice can lead their employees and sub­se­quent­ly, their company to success.

Employee mo­ti­va­tion is an economics term, while the concept of mo­ti­va­tion comes from psy­chol­o­gy. With regard to employees, it has also been a topic in economic circles since the 1890s, because it plays an important role as a growth and in­no­va­tion factor. In order to talk about employee mo­ti­va­tion, the term “mo­ti­va­tion” must first be clarified.

Mo­ti­va­tion cannot be measured or directly observed. The concept describes a state of being that causes people to invest their strength and time in pursuing a goal. The higher the mo­ti­va­tion, the more likely it is that the person will work towards the result with constant or in­creas­ing strength. Mo­ti­va­tion is therefore the force that triggers behavior and keeps it on course.

The degree of mo­ti­va­tion depends on how ef­fec­tive­ly a person views their chosen action. Whoever sees them­selves as unlikely to achieve their goal may lose mo­ti­va­tion. Action can either move towards or away from a goal. The re­spec­tive action is therefore chosen according to whether one wants to achieve a positive goal or avoid a negative state. Reward and pun­ish­ment partly influence mo­ti­va­tion.

Over the years, two ex­plana­to­ry concepts have been used to explain the causes of mo­ti­va­tion. A bi­o­log­i­cal de­ter­min­is­tic approach is based on the as­sump­tion that instincts and external in­flu­ences control people. The opposite thesis declares man to be a com­plete­ly free being, who is able to control their mo­ti­va­tion only by their ability to act. Both basic ideas cannot fully cover all aspects of the subject. In modern psy­chol­o­gy, therefore, both ap­proach­es are usually used, depending on which ones make sense in the given context.

Not to be confused with mo­ti­va­tion is motive. As a term in psy­chol­o­gy – in contrast to mo­ti­va­tion – it does not stand for a change­able state, but for com­par­a­tive­ly stable char­ac­ter­is­tics of the human per­son­al­i­ty. It is assumed that motives usually control the general ten­den­cies in the sub­con­scious that shape a par­tic­u­lar way of life. Motives are either innate (biogenic) or acquired (so­cio­genic).

Mo­ti­va­tion­al factors can be extrinsic or intrinsic.

Intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion comes from within. The acting person does not need any external in­cen­tives to work towards a result. The action itself moves the person to continue with this activity. Intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion is therefore in the execution of the action itself. Whatever their own motive may be, the person in­ter­est­ed in this par­tic­u­lar activity might be having fun or just curious about what the result will be.

Employees often already have an intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion for their work. The cor­ner­stones of intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion are:

• Ex­pec­ta­tion of success
• Curiosity
• Positive emotion towards the work as an incentive

A person applies for a job or takes on a task because they imagine that they can carry out an activity regularly, and to a good standard. For example, a young IT graduate chooses a trainee position as an IT auditor because they like to work ac­cu­rate­ly and find mistakes. They therefore have positive emotions about their work and are curious about the chal­lenges they face. The trainee position is a good place to start, since the ex­pec­ta­tion of success of learning something new and being prepared for higher positions can be fulfilled.

A sense of ef­fec­tive­ness is important for intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion. If an action has an end result for someone, they will likely have a feeling of achieve­ment, of having affected change (for them­selves, but possibly also for others). Feelings of pow­er­less­ness (no matter what you do, nothing changes) or sense­less­ness (no matter what you do, nothing matters) hinder intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion. In extreme cases, they can lead to burnout.

Extrinsic mo­ti­va­tion is a factor that superiors can influence. Negative re­in­force­ment, however, should only be used in cases of mis­con­duct. It would not be expedient to threaten employees with holiday cuts as a pre­cau­tion if they don’t manage an important project within a deadline. Instead, an ap­pro­pri­ate reward like a trip together or an extra day of vacation is a better incentive. After all, intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion must be main­tained, and this is achieved through positive feelings about the job. The threat­en­ing pun­ish­ment promotes fears and can lead to a defensive attitude.

Re­in­force­ment by external stimuli can only happen for a small while. Anyone who tries to motivate employees with bonuses will see that their behavior will only change for a short time. Pun­ish­ments can prevent mis­con­duct by de­ter­rence. For example, a threat­en­ing warning can motivate an employee to be punctual and avoid lateness. However, pun­ish­ment does not tackle the problem at its root. Why does the employee often come too late? The person probably lacks intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion. This can be damaged by external stimuli. This happens when certain basic needs are not met.

Instead of then threat­en­ing with pun­ish­ment, it might be more sensible to deal with the in­di­vid­ual. If the work at­mos­phere is bad because the su­per­vi­sor does not allow employees any freedom or does not show any recog­ni­tion for the work they have done, their mo­ti­va­tion drops. This is where extrinsic mo­ti­va­tion and intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion mix. Honest recog­ni­tion, i.e. an external stimulus, gives the person the feeling that their actions are valued. If the action itself has a stimulus for the person, they can maintain their intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion. However, even the most hard-working employee is de­mo­ti­vat­ed when they get the feeling that their effort is worthless and their manpower con­tributes nothing to the company.

Extrinsic mo­ti­va­tion is the means of in­flu­enc­ing, which superiors and man­age­ment can actively use to strength­en the intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion of their employees. Experts in employee mo­ti­va­tion now assume that a lack of intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion in most cases results from mistakes in lead­er­ship style. Whether it is a lack of trans­paren­cy, recog­ni­tion, or creative freedom: de­mo­ti­va­tion is often due to external factors. The good news: as managing director or a superior, you have the power to shape the work at­mos­phere so that your employees feel com­fort­able and motivated.

Employee mo­ti­va­tion is a term used in in­dus­tri­al and or­ga­ni­za­tion­al psy­chol­o­gy. Oc­cu­pa­tion­al psy­chol­o­gy analyzes ac­tiv­i­ties psy­cho­log­i­cal­ly in order to evaluate them and design work processes ac­cord­ing­ly. The aim is to promote com­pe­tence and the ability to act in the best possible way.

In this context, there are parallels to the concept of work mo­ti­va­tion. It deals with the basic needs that have to be met in order for employees to be motivated.

Employee mo­ti­va­tion, on the other hand, is the active exertion of influence on employees in order to ensure both their well-being at work and their en­thu­si­asm to reach the company’s goals. This can be achieved by main­tain­ing or in­creas­ing per­for­mance. Changes may need to be made if the per­for­mance of certain employees shows negative results.

However, employee mo­ti­va­tion is a contested term. In itself, it is con­sid­ered to be positive. However, experts continue to disagree on how best to motivate employees – or at least stop them from becoming de­mo­ti­vat­ed. Various studies suggest that employees usually begin their jobs feeling motivated. Employees only develop into people who just work according to the rules or have given up in­ter­nal­ly when their direct superiors and man­age­ment de­mo­ti­vate them through faulty man­age­ment methods. This is one common thesis:

According to Marco Nink, mo­ti­va­tion can be lost if certain basic employee needs are not met. Employee mo­ti­va­tion measures will only be fruitful if these basic needs are satisfied. According to the 2016 Gallup study, things are looking good in this respect. Most employees rated their jobs as secure (49%) or safer (41%) than a year ago. 77% of re­spon­dents said they would continue to work even if they no longer had to work because of a sub­stan­tial in­her­i­tance.

Nev­er­the­less, fewer employees feel a close bond to their employers. The vast majority feel little to no ties. In times where more and more flex­i­bil­i­ty is being demanded of employees, many of whom are self-employed or in temporary em­ploy­ment, this is not sur­pris­ing. However, a lack of com­mit­ment to the company shows a cor­re­la­tion with a lack of mo­ti­va­tion. Employees often cite the same reasons for both sit­u­a­tions.

• Poor com­mu­ni­ca­tion
• Lack of trans­paren­cy
• Reduced job mobility

Employees with little or no com­mit­ment to the company are often at a lower level of mo­ti­va­tion. Experts dif­fer­en­ti­ate between three levels.

• With heart and hand: Highly motivated, close ties
• Service by the book: Mo­ti­va­tion as high as the salary and as long as the con­trac­tu­al­ly agreed working time – not a minute more
• In­ter­nal­ly resigned: Very un­mo­ti­vat­ed, hardly any notable work per­for­mance, behavior can harm them­selves or the company (example: bored and rude in important dis­cus­sions with customers); no loyalty

In 2016, the number of employees with little company loyalty was on the rise. Instead of being highly motivated workers, they only work according to their con­trac­tu­al oblig­a­tions. Although employees might not have had concerns about job loss, they lacked the basic pre­req­ui­sites to keep their intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion high. The problem often lay with their superior’s lead­er­ship qualities. Those who want to do things better and inspire their team should pay attention to the in­di­vid­ual needs of their employees.

Motivated employees with a strong sense of company loyalty are more willing to perform, more in­no­v­a­tive, and less likely to become stressed. In the end, this will lead to higher sales – on average about 10% more for your company. There are three levels at which employers or superiors can influence employee mo­ti­va­tion:

• Material values and in­tan­gi­ble benefits: Measures and means directly related to work, like working hours, salary re­mu­ner­a­tion, safety, and workplace clean­li­ness or health services
• Psy­cho­log­i­cal in­flu­ences: Behavior that in­flu­ences the work at­mos­phere, like man­age­ment style, team makeup, anti-bullying measures
• The private sphere: Enabling worklife balance, fa­cil­i­tat­ing leisure ac­tiv­i­ties, taking family into account

The most important aspect of employee mo­ti­va­tion is the focus on the employee as an in­di­vid­ual. As pre­vi­ous­ly mentioned, people only regard in­cen­tives as valuable if they recognize them sub­jec­tive­ly. In addition, different kinds of people have different basic needs and ex­pec­ta­tions of their workplace. The current level of mo­ti­va­tion and its direction (warding off disaster or pursuing positive goals) also vary.

It is still common practice to motivate employees with in­cen­tives – bonuses, company cars, gym discounts, or canteen priv­i­leges. In­cen­tives of this kind will certainly increase employee well-being. However, the actual or­ga­ni­za­tion of work is key when it comes to strength­en­ing intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion. The US economics magazine Inc.com quotes studies from the 1950s which already showed that jobs with mo­not­o­nous, simple work – e.g. on the assembly line –strongly reduce employee mo­ti­va­tion and pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. In addition, there is increased ab­sen­teeism and employee turnover. These findings resulted in measures called “Job En­large­ment,” and are still being used today.

Job en­large­ment is one of the four ap­proach­es that assume that by struc­tur­ing work ac­tiv­i­ties, you can increase pro­duc­tiv­i­ty or mo­ti­va­tion. This method is known as job design. The way work is dis­trib­uted among in­di­vid­ual employees and how much wiggle room and variety the activity allows, in­flu­ences the sub­jec­tive value employees assign to this work. This increases the like­li­hood that they will do the task for their own sake (because they actually want to do it) and therefore strength­ens intrinsic mo­ti­va­tion.

Job en­large­ment aims to motivate employees by giving them variety in their work. In­di­vid­u­als work on a com­bi­na­tion of different ac­tiv­i­ties. The opposite of job en­large­ment is job sim­pli­fi­ca­tion. Employees spe­cial­ize in a stan­dard­ized task that they perform re­peat­ed­ly – including, for example, assembly line work. Machine-ex­e­cutable tasks ex­pe­ri­ence increased pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. People who work in these mo­not­o­nous en­vi­ron­ments suffer more often from work-related illnesses and are generally less motivated.

Job rotation is often used in ap­pren­tice­ships and in­tern­ships. The employees change their activity at regular intervals. This gives them a holistic picture of a company. This method is also intended to prevent ex­haus­tion, es­pe­cial­ly during physical ac­tiv­i­ties.

Job en­rich­ment is a suitable method for par­tic­u­lar­ly de­ter­mined employees. They see the value of their work when they feel like they are striving for something great. By giving them more re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, they feel more valued and chal­lenged. Those who do less when they are un­der­chal­lenged may flourish with ad­di­tion­al tasks.

These methods enable a targeted workplace and a good work structure. The following methods will con­cen­trate on lead­er­ship styles. These are the most important building blocks for positive employee de­vel­op­ment:

Em­pow­er­ment is a human need that makes people strive for higher goals. Employees should feel that their work is important and valued. If, however, they do not have the power to decide on their area of re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, their sub­jec­tive as­sess­ment of their achieve­ments will de­te­ri­o­rate. If a manager or boss is con­stant­ly mi­cro­manag­ing, employees will not feel like they are being taken seriously. If the employee then is held re­spon­si­ble for a bad result, they will feel frus­trat­ed. If you trust your employees to make their own decisions and grant them the necessary resources, their critical faculties and will­ing­ness to learn will increase.

Teamwork can be a curse and blessing when it comes to mo­ti­va­tion, depending on how the team is struc­tured. A badly organized team gives employees who have in­ter­nal­ly checked-out a chance to hide behind their more pro­duc­tive col­leagues. A clear dis­tri­b­u­tion of tasks helps to ensure that nothing is forgotten and nobody is over­bur­dened. Your different team members will also influence pro­duc­tiv­i­ty. If employees slow each other down, this is def­i­nite­ly an issue that should be addressed.

Projects usually require several people to work together. However, some tasks are easier to complete on their own. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, there are employees who prefer to delve into a topic and work on the fine details. Use a mixture of teamwork and in­di­vid­ual projects. Ap­pre­ci­ate your employees’ re­spec­tive con­tri­bu­tions ac­cord­ing­ly and draw on the potential that your employees generate in the various groups.

Recog­ni­tion for good work is one of the cor­ner­stones of employee mo­ti­va­tion. It is important for self-con­fi­dence, but it can only come from someone else. Employees need con­fir­ma­tion from other people. They show that they ap­pre­ci­ate someone’s work by showing respect for their opinions in daily meetings. Your employee is more than the sum of their abilities, they are a person you should recognize and ap­pre­ci­ate as such. If you want to show your ap­pre­ci­a­tion, a well-con­sid­ered feedback dis­cus­sion will help.

Praise, as opposed to recog­ni­tion, is selective and should be for­mu­lat­ed in concrete terms. Ap­pre­ci­a­tion and spon­ta­neous praise, as long as it is meant honestly, are good ways of rewarding mo­ti­va­tion. However, some superiors confuse praise with recog­ni­tion. Managers who are con­stant­ly treating their employees neg­a­tive­ly should not expect praise they may give to be effective. It will likely be regarded as dishonest instead. If you regularly show your employees recog­ni­tion, then praise will also assist with their mo­ti­va­tion. 

A feeling of pow­er­less­ness leads people to resign and avoid chal­lenges at work. If employees are simply given in­struc­tions and results without knowing the reasons for decisions, they will even­tu­al­ly become frus­trat­ed. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, a lack of trans­paren­cy en­cour­ages company whispers. Small bits of mis­in­for­ma­tion quickly lead to major unrest among the workforce.

Criticism should always be expressed in private and in a fair manner. Crit­i­ciz­ing someone in front of others can produce a variety of negative emotions like shame and antipathy, as well as possible loss of respect and de­mo­ti­va­tion. This in turn leads to a bad work at­mos­phere. Instead, you should foster a con­struc­tive, positive error culture. Mistakes are in­evitable, and should be learned from. However, this is only possible if you develop strate­gies to deal with them be­fore­hand.

You can optimize feedback by men­tion­ing the employee’s positive char­ac­ter­is­tics, as well as criticism. Take an example of how the person’s talents can com­pen­sate for possible points of criticism, since it is usually easier to promote positive qualities than to work on bad ones re­peat­ed­ly.

Since employee mo­ti­va­tion is largely about the in­ter­per­son­al, companies with a man­age­able number of employees can implement flexible mo­ti­va­tion strate­gies.

Teamwork has to be learned. One of the most effective ways to learn is through play. Give your team a common task or goal to achieve and reward teamwork, not in­di­vid­ual members. Some train together for a charity run, others create a work of art together. A bit of friendly com­pe­ti­tion is also possible, by setting up teams and letting them compete against each other during a sports day, for example. It is important that man­age­ment include them­selves in these ac­tiv­i­ties. Informal sit­u­a­tions like this allow you to get to know your employees better.

Being paid well provides a certain basic con­fi­dence in one’s own work. Nobody is going to refuse a bonus either. However, various studies suggest that simple, timely, and in­di­vid­u­al­ly valuable signs of recog­ni­tion motivate people better. Pizza for the whole team when a project is completed, for example, can work wonders. Managers who make sure that vegans or people with dietary re­stric­tions in the team are also provided for show interest and con­sid­er­a­tion for their employees. Other superiors may praise their employees with hand­writ­ten notes, sometimes even with a personal birthday greeting, including flowers, which they need to send to their home address.

A good example is Four Pi Systems (now a part of HP): Jennifer Wallick, a software developer and excellent employee, was treated to an ap­pre­ci­a­tion day by her de­part­ment. Every 15 minutes, someone came by to say thanks and provide small tokens of gratitude for her hard work, like flowers and con­grat­u­la­tions.

If the work itself is fun, inspires curiosity and seems valuable, employee mo­ti­va­tion increases. But how exactly can this theory be put into practice? Some employers not only give their teams a lot of leeway to make decisions, they also give them control over a project budget. At Chaparall Steel, the error culture was based on the principle that in­no­v­a­tive ideas can only be im­ple­ment­ed with a certain risk of error. According to an ap­pli­ca­tion study described in the pub­li­ca­tion “De­mys­ti­fy­ing Or­ga­ni­za­tion­al Learning,” a team designed new machines for the Texan company for $60,000, far below the budget of the old machines which was $200,000.

Employee mo­ti­va­tion is an easy to implement, cost-efficient means of promoting a work at­mos­phere. Recog­ni­tion and praise hardly require a budget. However, it is not so easy to create an optimal work at­mos­phere, es­pe­cial­ly when self-as­sess­ment and external per­cep­tion of managers diverge. A good lead­er­ship style needs to emerge first. The first step is personal com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the employees. If you know what drives them and what your company needs, you can start in the right place. Trans­par­ent decisions and clear corporate values that create an identity increase the bond between motivated employees and the company. Let your employees enjoy their work and celebrate their successes. If you have motivated employees, you will be motivated too. 

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