Employee motivation plays an essential role in their productivity and in achieving their goals. However, it is not always easy to properly meet the expectations and needs of your employees in this regard. Here we invite you to discover what is behind the principle of motivation in business and the various factors that influence it. You will see that working on employee motivation has many benefits, provided you adapt well to your employees.
Motivation in business: what is it?
Definition
Motivation in business refers to all the personal, environmental, social and economic factors that encourage an employee to invest fully in the missions assigned to him.
It is important to note that Motivation is not based solely on the personal will of the employee. Anything that motivates a person to reach their professional goals should be considered.
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
There are usually two types of motivation: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
When motivation is intrinsic, it is the personal satisfaction linked to the accomplishment of a task that interests the employee. It is not the expectation of a reward that motivates us to act, but the fact of accomplishing the mission itself. Values, the work environment or even passion are factors that can lead to intrinsic motivation in an employee.
For extrinsic motivation, the logic is quite different: this time, actions are guided by a benefit that is independent of the person. This can be material (a financial reward for example) or intangible (recognition, the fact of obtaining more autonomy or responsibility, etc.).
Finally, when an employee is unable to detect a link between his work and a result, we speak of motivation. There is then no self-determined motivation.
Motivational factors in business
To motivate your employees, it is therefore important to fully understand the factors and levers that can influence their behavior when faced with a task at hand. Here are the motivating factors that are most frequently found in business.
Working conditions
Above all, it is essential to ensure the good material conditions of your employees, by providing them with all the elements they need to successfully carry out their missions.
It is also essential to ensure a good quality of life at work by providing your employees with pleasant rest areas, by sharing leisure activities or even by offering them planning arrangements when possible.
A pleasant and caring atmosphere can also have an influence on how employees feel about their working conditions.
Recognition
Recognition is a factor that is often forgotten, but it nevertheless has a significant impact on motivation. Indeed, receiving positive feedback from peers or managers allows employees to feel valued. Recognizing their work makes them want to continue to excel on a daily basis.
Recognition can come in verbal form (congratulations, compliments) or in material form (financial bonus, extra rest time, gift vouchers, etc.).
Values and the meaning of missions
The value lever is very personal, but it is very strong. An employee who finds meaning in his missions and who shares the values of his company is naturally more motivated to achieve his goals.
Even if the values are specific to each person, the company has a role to play: it can adapt the missions and roles of each person to their aspirations, their sensitivities and even their passions. It is important that everyone succeeds in finding interest in their work.
The management
The type of management also has weight in motivating employees. For example, some people need autonomy, trust and responsibility to feel fully invested in their mission. Others, on the contrary, need a more rigid framework in order to evolve more calmly.
There are different forms of management: everyone must find the one that best fits their teams. If a company wants to promote engagement and Taking the initiative, the establishment of a participatory management can be particularly interesting.
Personal development
Finally, many employees have the ambition to evolve during their career, to accomplish missions with more responsibilities, for example. It can therefore be interesting to help employees who wish to do so to develop their skills and to evolve in the positions they occupy. Having prospects for growth can be an important motivator.
Why is motivation essential in business?
Taking motivation into account in business has a multitude of advantages, both for the organization and for employees. Here are the main ones:
- Increased productivity. Motivated employees are more likely to be fully committed to their tasks and to ensure that they are completed successfully. They are more likely to go the extra mile to reach their goals.
- A reduction in the rate of Turnover. If they are sufficiently valued and motivated, employees tend to stay with their company longer. This is beneficial for the stability of your workforce and the continuity of missions. It is also very profitable financially, as it is very expensive to recruit and train new employees.
- A better corporate image. Caring about your employees is positive both for the brand image and for The employer brand. It can also have an influence on how your customers or partners feel about you.
- More than creativity and innovation. A climate with motivated employees and a caring atmosphere stimulates creativity. It is interesting to set yourself apart from your competitors.
- A reduction in absenteeism. Motivation plays an essential role in the attendance rate and the number of sick leaves. Again, employee motivation makes it possible to reduce the costs associated with absences and ensures better monitoring of missions.
- Better commitment. Motivation and commitment are closely linked. Engaged employees are generally more proactive and productive. It is a major asset for businesses.
- Better overall performance. Finally, we can say that all these benefits make it possible to improve the overall performance of an organization.
How to increase motivation at work for employees?
If you want to improve motivation within your company, it is important to properly align the needs of your employees with the actions you are going to put in place.
For this, it is interesting to make a study to obtain general data on the motivation rate of employees and on the aspects that can influence their motivation within an organization. It is important to know this data before launching actions. This can be supplemented by more in-depth questionnaires, possibly during personalized interviews if the climate of your company allows it.
The results obtained during this type of survey make it possible to highlight the strengths of your company and its priority areas for improvement. Thanks to this, you can define an action plan with temporal objectives: improvement of working conditions, implementation of participatory management, training proposals for volunteer employees, etc.
Motivation in business is essential to the successful achievement of its goals. Various factors influence employee motivation: working conditions, recognition, values, etc. If you want to encourage your employees to invest more in you, it is essential to choose your actions carefully according to their needs. Some tools such as Crowdfunding platforms can help you engage your employees more. So do not hesitate to inquire about this type of solutions!
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