Methods for Motivating Employees for Employee Satisfaction

Heights of Reward for Motivation : 

Source: Nov-11-2012 TOI Jaipur (India): 

Jaipur traffic police officials decided to motivate a group of eight hardworking police by paying them Rs.11 (0.20$) as a bonus for motivation and appreciation. This has made group to surprise and left them in a state of question of motivation or humiliation for their hard work done. A police from group of eight who rejected to disclose his name, expressed his extreme dissatisfaction and actually felt humiliated and demotivated. Same of group of eight said that this is not first experience to them, earlier they got cash price of Rs. 51 (1$) for solving serious crimes like recovering stolen vehicle.

Despite of this sort of cash reward, one police official said that amount is not a criteria.

Who ever puts his efforts in discharging his duties and does hard-work  in his job, its human tendency expects some sort of motivation in return, which same was expressed by victor Vroom in his expectancy theory of motivation.

Need big pay hikes, not high variable: IT staffers vent ire

ET Bureau | Updated: Apr 25, 2018,

Employees at Indian IT services companies have seen single digit salary hikes even when companies are paying out a greater portion of their variable pay component in response to faster growth and higher people attrition. Many employees are unhappy over marginal hikes on fixed pay and that they have to fall back on their quarterly bonuses for a pay boost. The displeasure has spilled out on to social media, with many contrasting their hikes against large payouts made to investors on one hand and the rise in IT company.

2. Using Merit Pay:

A merit raise is a salary increase, usually permanent, that is based on the employee’s individual performance. It is a continuing increment rather than a single payment like a bonus. Relying heavily on merit rewards can be a problem because the reinforcement benefits of merit pay is usually only determined once per year.

"Recognition is like a small drop of oil in the machinery of business. It just makes things run a little smoother." -– Obert Tanner

Awards Systems

Setting up an awards system in the workplace encourages a positive working atmosphere but also gives employees something to strive towards.

‘Employee of the month’ or ‘employee of the week’ awards can be shared around the office—with guidelines on how to achieve these titles. Such awards can also be incorporated on a wall of fame—this will give employees a fair idea of how public these systems can be, so they are prepared.

Giving Prizes

Sometimes, you don’t have to make the recognition process very public—especially if you want to encourage them for a small victory.

For these situations, giving prizes is a great way to recognize the employee’s work without going overboard. Giving company swag can work as positive reinforcement within teams—not every task has company-wide implications but can make a difference to the team and should be awarded.

In-Meeting Shoutout

Meetings are a key part of workplace life—of course, there are a few occasions when a meeting could have easily been distilled into an email chain.

However, meetings must be had, especially internal ones where the company shares the latest updates and what direction teams should be heading towards in the next quarter. These meetings are a great place to make a public announcement about one employee who has done an exceptional job.

A simple ‘thank you for your work’ or ‘well done’ can make a person incredibly happy and encourage them to continue their good work. For everyone else, it will act as a motivating factor to be the next person mentioned in a meeting.

Gamification

Gamification is becoming an important part of work culture—turning work into a game can make it more fun and rewarding.

Managers can bring several game elements into the workplace—such as badges for completing a task a number of times or giving people scores for their interactions with customers.

Undergoing training in a skill can lead to an employee ‘leveling up’ in the workplace—this can be tracked using a timeline maker. And these rules don’t need additional management—employees can be given guidelines to track themselves so they know what to do to get better, a motivating factor in itself.

Peer Recognition

Focusing solely on recognition from managers isn’t the best way to motivate employees—while it is great to be recognized by higher management, day-to-day work is accomplished with colleagues.

This is why peer recognition is so important in the workplace—your peers will know better than anyone else how much effort you are putting into a task.

They see you taking calls, answering questions, brainstorming, firefighting, and accomplishing tasks and goals.

Instituting a system where colleagues recognize each other’s successes can be a massive motivating factor—and it will create bonds between employees, thus making the company stronger.

Social Recognition

Social media is a necessary part of work culture—individuals may use it for entertainment and news but organizations must use it for brand building.

And while showing the best sides of your company and all the amazing work you do is one way of showcasing your business on the social sphere, there is another asset that needs to be used—employees.

People no longer want to give their patronage to faceless brands—they need to know that companies treat their people well and recognize and reward their talents. A great way to do that is through a social media shoutout to an exceptional employee—don’t just write a text post, though. Take a picture of the employee or a video—show users the faces behind the company. It will help to humanize your brand.

And for employees, the post will be a tangible asset that they can share with their friends and families that shows how valued they are.

Indulge Hobbies

Just because people are working a job doesn’t mean that they don’t have any other interests. Most people have hobbies outside of work—and it’s up to managers to find out what those are. Because when it comes to recognizing the work of employees, it isn’t always enough to thank them or add their name and picture to a wall. Sometimes, you need to go above and beyond.

Why not find out what your employees’ hobbies are and treat everyone to a day of indulging that interest? It can be a special day named for that employee as a way to recognize their success—and it shows everyone that managers are paying attention to the people around them.

Idea Sharing

Has an employee done something completely different from standard practice? Have they conducted an experiment that worked? Why not share it with others?

One way to recognize employees is by asking them to hold a course or a meeting on their recent experiments—what worked, what didn’t, what can others do to try it?

This is a way to highlight an employee’s work and success in front of everybody while giving the rest of the team a learning experience that can boost the company.  You can also facilitate this process by giving your employees the tools they need—such as infographics, presentation makers, and more.

Key Takeaways

We have outlined 10 different ways to motivate employees through positive recognition. Positivity always trumps negativity in the workplace, which is why these methods need to be incorporated by companies as soon as possible.

Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic template and design platform. Ronita regularly writes about HR, content marketing, small businesses, pop culture, and representation.

Twitter: @Venngage

Giving recognition makes employees confident in work: Report

Even as receiving recognition is the usual norm, many organisations are now opening channels for employees to give regular recognition to their co-workers and 90 per cent respondents said by doing so they feel more confident in their work, a report has said. "Those who give recognition at work are more confident in their work. About 90 per cent of employees who noted that they always give recognition to employees feel that their work in the past 12 months has represented significant innovations," according to a OC Tanner report.

The report also revealed that 94 per cent of employees noted that they always give recognition to co-workers are proud to tell others they work for their organisation. OC Tanner conducted the study among 3,496 employees, who were over 18 years working full-time at companies with more than 500 workforce, in multiple countries across four continents, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, India, Singapore and Germany." Creating opportunities for giving, receiving and observing recognition, and devising a programme that focuses on all three, will help organisations increase employee engagement, wellbeing, innovation, work results and revenue," the report said. 

6. Using Job Redesign:

Job design refers to the number and nature of activities in a job. The key issue is whether jobs should be more specialized or more enriched and no routine. Job design has been implemented in several ways. Job enlargement assigns workers to additional same-level tasks to increase the number of tasks they have to perform. Job rotation systematically moves workers from job to job. Job enrichment means building motivators like opportunities for achievement into the job by making it more interesting and challenging. Job enrichment may be implemented by forming natural work groups, combining tasks, establishing client relationships, vertically loading the job, and having open feedback channels.

7. Using Empowerment:

Empowerment means giving employees the authority, tools, and information they need to do their jobs with greater autonomy, as well as the self-confidence to perform new jobs effectively. Empowerment boosts employees’ feelings of self-efficacy and enables them to use their potential more fully.

8. Using Goal-Setting Methods:

People are strongly motivated to achieve goals they consciously set. Setting goals with employees can be a very effective way of motivating them. Goals should be clear and specific, measurable and verifiable, challenging but realistic, and set with participation.

10. Using Positive Reinforcement:

Positive reinforcement programs rely on operant conditioning principles to supply positive reinforcement and change behavior. Experts claim it is better to focus on improving desirable behaviors rather than on decreasing undesirable ones. There are a variety of consequences including social consequences (e.g., peer approval or praise from the boss), intrinsic consequences (e.g., the enjoyment the person gets from accomplishing challenging tasks), or tangible consequences (e.g., bonuses or merit raises).

11. Using Lifelong Learning:

Lifelong learning can be used to deal with problems of downsizing and employee commitment, and to counterbalance their negative effects. It provides extensive continuing training and education, from basic remedial skills to advanced decision-making techniques, throughout the employees’ careers, which provide employees the opportunity to boost their self-efficacy and self- actualization.

Facts [+]

Presenteeism is the loss of productivity that occurs when workers are present but not performing. Causes of presenteeism include medical issues, personal and family-related issues, and negative workplace perceptions. Presenteeism can be reduced through employee satisfaction assessments, occupational and disability management, employee assistance programs, and work/life programs.