Recession has constrained many a company to cut down on financial incentives, bonuses and hikes. However it is not bad news all around as increasing studies have shown that factors other than money can keep an employee motivated in the workplace.
A SHRM analysis reveals that nonfinancial factors play a prominent role in influencing employee motivation and engagement worldwide—a finding that could prove useful to employers facing budget constraints. Workers say that being treated with respect is the most important nonfinancial factor, followed by work/life balance, type of work, quality of co-workers and quality of leadership. Among financial factors, base pay ranks highest. Benefits and incentive pay can be important to other aspects of the employment deal—such as attracting, retaining and rewarding employees—but they are considered less important by employees when it comes to their day-to-day motivation and engagement at work.
Studies have shown that different people are motivated by different non-financial factors. The challenge lies with HR team to draw out a policy and system that would optimally make use of these to keep their workforce motivated. The relative importance of nonfinancial rewards can vary considerably throughout the employee population, so determine what appeals to which employee groups the non-financial reward is being addressed.
The following are also motivators that can be introduced in your business. To some degree they can also be seen as processes that reduce job dissatisfaction:
Job Enlargement
This involves expanding the job of an employee that has them doing more work of a similar nature to what they already do. This may be allowing them to complete the whole task instead of just part of it, for example, packaging the products as well as manufacturing them. This process ideally removes the boredom out of the job by eliminating the repetitiveness out of tasks and allowing them to complete the whole process, further increasing their responsibility.
Job Rotation
This involves allowing employees to change the nature of their job periodically. For example, you may give the employee administration duties one week, marketing the week after, and then back to their original job of sales the following week. This cycle will then be on going. The purpose of this is that the employee, again, is satisfied by reduced boredom and also motivated by the achievement of increased skills. The business owner gains from cross-training and the potential for feed-back and improvement ideas.
Job Enrichment
Similar to job enlargement, you can enrich an employee’s job by expanding their tasks to give a higher level of responsibility in the nature of work they do. For example, they can be given the responsibility of ordering materials and making delivery arrangements instead of just manufacturing the products. This will not only expand their skills, but also give them an increased challenge/responsibility.
A motivated and engaged workforce is most productive and yield better results for the company. Planning and chalking out appropriate programs to keep employee morale of the team would credit the HR department in giving the company better bottom lines and happier workforce. The good news is that this can all be achieved without large investments from the company.
