The main idea behind motivation and engagement programmes is to make employees happier” — Teal HR Team.

Employee motivation has remained a hot topic for many companies over the past few years, because it's no secret that motivation has a direct impact on business, HR and marketing performance, even if you don't measure it.

Companies are investing in developing their own motivation programmes, testing third-party platforms and practices, realizing that people are a company's main resource. But in doing so, some practices often don't work. Why is this the case? Let's explore this issue in this article.

According to a McKinsey & Company study, the pandemic has dramatically impacted employee work expectations and what companies must do to make employees want to stay. Managing employee satisfaction and engagement is no longer enough. Companies must evolve their paradigm to focus on a holistic employee experience that places equal emphasis on growth, engagement, and well-being. Familiar motivational tools are becoming less effective: annual cash incentives, for example. Non-financial recognition is coming to the fore, every employee wants to feel valued in the system of a large organization and understand that their actions have an impact on the company. 

What is motivation and employee engagement for you?

We asked this question to the exhibitors at the HRSE conference held in Dubai on October 23-24. Frankly speaking, many were stumped by this question. “It is an interesting but complex question,” they answered , and yet each participant had a different point of view on what employee motivation and engagement is.

For example, here's what Denzil Washington, Head of Corporate at Wondergifts, notes:

“For me, motivation is not only about something materialistic. It's about how management deals with situations. As an example, I'll give you a live example. The CEO of this company is on the stand speaking to people who would never know. That, to me, is motivation. Yes, a salary is necessary and yes, bonuses are necessary, but in any company,

Motivation comes from the front. For me, that is the most important thing that I would focus on. Our CEO can stand and talk to people like a normal person. You would never know, right? But that is, for me, a main example of actions speak louder than words.” 

From this you can see that the first point of view is that motivation for staff should come from management first. By his personal example, by his behavior, the manager should guide the employees, inspire them, be on the same level with them. Unfortunately, this is not possible for all managers, because everyone has different management styles and values. That is why it is important not only to demonstrate something by personal example, but also to talk to employees. 

Somya Gupta from VINSYS mentions the importance of communication:

“One of our tools is employee motivation and engagement trainings, where we talk about the importance of two-way communication. It is important to us that employees are motivated to work, increase their productivity and support the development of the company. 

We also categorize employees to determine what type of motivation they are interested in: for example, monetary motivation or non-monetary motivation.” 

Training is a good tool, but what if some employees aren't comfortable expressing themselves in a large group? That's when 1-on-1 meetings with HR or a manager and surveys come to the rescue. For example, the Teal HR platform implements a flexible employee survey tool. An advanced set of parameters allows you to manage your audience, and analytics and results are available in real time so that a manager or HR can immediately draw conclusions and find out what employees are concerned about. 

A bit of statistics to understand the need for motivation

A little statistic that I'm sure will get you thinking: Are my employees motivated? And what have I done to make them feel happy? For some it is enough to say “Thank you” for their work, some are interested in material motivation, and some are interested in non-material motivation. But we will discuss what type of motivation your employees need and what types of motivation exist next.

— According to Gallup studies, employees work 20% better when motivated. If you have a goal, if you know what you are working for and what awaits you in the end, if you have this very motivation, then of course you will work more efficiently. You will make every effort to achieve a great result.

— According to HRZone, Employee engagement and motivation also reduce absenteeism by 41%. Companies with actively motivated employees realize a 27% higher profit, and a 5% increase in the employee recognition rate can increase profitability by 25% to 85%.

Companies that want to retain employees and improve their business performance need to think about implementing relevant types of incentives. What can they be?
 

What types of motivation are there?

A motivational programme consists of a variety of activities that can be globally divided into two parts — material and non-material.

Material motivation — monetary or non-monetary rewards in the form of salary, bonuses or bonuses, life and health insurance, compensation for food and sports, training and more. Like any type of motivation, tangible motivation should be relevant and important to your employees and aligned with their values. 

Employees have long looked beyond salary levels to the benefits companies offer when they are hired. It is important for an employee to feel valued and important so that their services are appreciated. Rewarding an employee has the following benefits: it allows them to work harder and increases productivity. In addition, job and company satisfaction increases, meaning the employee becomes more loyal to the company. 

Within a company, the following options for this type of motivation may be present: 

— Training at the company's expense (sometimes referred to as non-material motivation) — some practice of learning and improving hard and soft skills. This includes attending conferences and exhibitions, webinars and master classes.

— Benefits and discounts on various entertainment, events, etc. not only for the employee, but also for his/her family.

— Gifts to employees and children for holidays.

— Relocation assistance, etc.

— Referral programmes — for a successful recommendation of a new colleague, the employee receives a cash bonus.

One example of motivation is shared by Shahana K, HR Consultant at LEO International HR Consultancy:

“We can't motivate people all the time, but yes, we need to motivate our employees. For example, after six months, we need to take them to some vacation spots so they really enjoy it. We don't know people who will enjoy it. So we have to give them some packages where they can relax, and their family can relax too. We are not only taking that person, but their family as well. When the target is reached, I want everyone to be happy, have a holiday and let them enjoy their families as well as their colleagues in the company. That's what I want to do. Then they will be motivated.”

Non-material motivation includes all those benefits that are not monetary and are mostly aimed at satisfying top-level needs — respect, recognition, self-expression, support and belonging to the company. This system allows the employee to maintain work-life balance and feel his/her own value. These benefits can be:

— Creation of hobby clubs where employees can not only share knowledge and experience, but also spend time together outside of work.

— Organizing trips, charity work, social projects, sporting events.

— Recognition and the opportunity to express gratitude to an employee in front of the entire company — in person or on the corporate portal.

In addition to non-material motivation tools, the trend of gamification in personnel motivation is becoming popular.

Gamification is the introduction of game elements in business that help to increase its efficiency and employee engagement. The term is not new, and gamification has long been used in marketing, healthcare and business. Gamification techniques motivate employees to achieve goals. How does this happen? 

One of the traits of gamification is to capitalize on people's natural inclinations toward competition and rivalry. With gamification, you can see what psychotype your employee belongs to and what element of the loyalty program is missing. For example, some activities or bonuses for these activities.

The advantages of gamification are that it simplifies work processes and makes them pleasant. Let's highlight a few principles of gamification:

— Motivation. Employees need to be motivated to interact, because this is the basis of gamification. When organizing a contest in the company, think about the reward. It may depend on your field of activity: it can be a discount from a partner or some gift from the CEO of the company.

— Status or rating. By performing some actions, an employee gets points and occupies a certain position in the rating among colleagues, thus gaining the appreciation of the team and management. 

— Rewards. This principle is the best gamification tool. Rewards increase engagement, but it is important that they are interesting to the employee.

How to measure employee engagement and motivation?

It's not enough to implement a system of motivation and engagement. You need to measure metrics to understand if the system is right for your employees, if the types of motivation are right for your company, and if anything has changed in the workplace? Here's what the experts surveyed used to measure engagement:

“I like to conduct weekly catch-ups. I do this normally on a Monday, sets the tone for the week. Monday morning, I do a team meeting. I normally like to do this off-site, so I go and have a coffee or an avocado toast or something like that. I like to make sure that every person that works beneath me has an open door to me. So we start on a Monday, we set the tone. Hey, what do you need help with? This deal, that deal, this, that, whatever.

What I then do is I try to make sure that if they need support, or they need help, I'm there to help.” notes Denzil Washington.

Also sharing her experience is Annie Selva Kumar Perinban, Marketing Manager at Zoho Corporation:

“I think motivation and engagement is the key that makes employees go forward. It's key for employer retention and for employee satisfaction as well because only when we get motivation from external sources do we feel satisfied that our work done has actually yielded results. So it's a very important factor.

The challenges I've faced so far is it's about dealing with different generations because motivation means one to a different generation and the other, particularly coming from a company which involves multi-generational workforces. This is a challenge that's predominantly present.

When it comes to measuring employee engagement, we have these quarterly employee engagement surveys that are sent. So we check on it periodically to ensure that, you know, one quarter is over, and then the grievances are rectified, the engagement factors are rectified, and then we move on to the next quarter. That's how we work, so quarterly. And these are via surveys.

I think you have to start to motivate your employees if you haven't started yet because there's nothing like listening directly to the employees because an HR person is anyway a third person who stands away and looks at the employee. So it is the employees who tell us what exactly they need, what areas in which they need support or motivation, and what's exactly lacking in the current company scene. It is important that companies start and when they start, start directly from the employees. Even when we ask them, they will feel motivated that hey, you are listening to me, and I'm valuing you.” 

Opinion Piece:  Julia Voloshchenko, Teal HR 

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