Employee motivation is key to organization’s success. It is the level of commitment, drive and energy employees bring to the role every day. Without it, companies face reduced productivity, lower levels of output and it is likely that the organizations will fall short of reaching their key goals too.

‘I have been getting a promotion in every two to three years; my salary increment is good enough. I do not have any other problems in my life. Whereas many of my colleagues do not get promotion even for a long period but are quite complacent.”, said an employee. She added, “But still I wonder why I am dissatisfied in my job”.

I pondered this matter deeply and ultimately figured out some clues based on the research conducted by Frederick Herzberg. Herzberg has proposed that the best way to motivate an employee is to organize the job so that doing it provides the feedback and challenge that helps satisfy the person’s higher-level needs for things like accomplishment and recognition.

Recognition and challenging work provide a sort of built-in motivation generator. However, satisfying lower-level needs for things like better pay and working conditions just keep the person from becoming dissatisfied. Herzberg further says the factors that satisfy lower-level needs are different from those that satisfy or partially satisfy higher-level needs. He says these needs are the motivators.

Here, it is worth mentioning that if salary, the working conditions, the job itself are inadequate, employees become dissatisfied. Relying on these factors only is insufficient for job satisfaction, rather the management interested in creating a self-motivated workforce should emphasize on job content or what s/he calls is motivator factors. It can be possible by enriching workers jobs so that the jobs are more challenging. 

By providing feedback and recognition, they can make the job intrinsically motivating. Intrinsic motivation is a motivation that derives the pleasure someone gets from doing the job or task. It comes from within the person, rather than from some externally applied motivator such as boss’s order. 

Now based on Herzberg's suggestion the query raised by the employee can be well addressed through providing recognition, participation in the decision-making process and delegation of authority and so on.

Motivation is the set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways.

Myths of Motivation:
There are certain misunderstandings about the motivation that may lead to the wrong conclusions such as everyone agrees in a motivated workplace; motivated employees work overtime; motivated employees do not need much input from the management; a formal plan for motivation is not necessary; money motivates best etc.

I do not think there is any ready-made formula to motivate the employees because motivation is much of a psychological process. However, the importance of motivating employees is rising day-by-day due to some of the obvious reasons.

Motivation is important because of the high cost of employee turnover, maintaining the competitive edge and happy employees keep clients happy which ultimately pays back to the company.

Characteristics of a motivated workplace:
The managers need to understand some of the characteristics of a motivated workplace and endeavor to implement the same. They are - the commitment to results and responsibility for actions; open communication; reducing the rate of employee turnover; fostering creativity and ingenuity- especially solving problems; collaboration; and providing excellent customer service.

Rewarding employees:
tRewards can be financial or non-financial, or both. Employees respond to appreciations expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work valued by others. When they and their works are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rise, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work. Twenty-five per cent of human resource executives said that a lack of recognition is the most likely reason for a good employee to leave a job.

Still, the challenge to motivate employees remains unaddressed without considering the factors such as offering a positive work environment, keeping lines of communication open, providing opportunities for advancement, having fair compensation packages, recognizing and rewarding employees, and promoting teamwork in the organization.

Human resource professionals have the roles and responsibilities to motivate themselves and ensure that employees are motivated. For this to happen they need to find personal motivation. They should take pride in their work, practice good time-management, indulge employees' passion in the work and so on.

Things that do not motivate employees:
Things that do not motivate employees are worth mentioning here which are never advised to implement in the workplace. They can be personal attacks, embarrassing employees, governing them by fear, shouldering all responsibilities and overworking employees.

Leading by example:
Managers are role models whether they want to be or not. Their actions and conduct set the stage for others. People will look to them as example of what is expected. Hence, they need to show they care by remembering birthdays, taking employees out to lunch on occasions, and regularly thanking them for a job well done.