What do employees want? It’s the million-dollar question at many companies. Answered correctly, it can pay off in everything from better employee retention to increased productivity to reduced absenteeism. We asked a group of experts what really works
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| Q. What does the term “employee motivation” mean? |
| Bob Nelson: The answer to this question is as varied as people themselves. Ironically, the most important items — support and involvement; personal praise; autonomy and authority — tend to have little, if any, monetary cost. I think these matter most to employees today, because in times of high stress and constant change, the “here and now” forms of recognition become more important. |
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Beverly Kaye: I think motivation has to do with two things. One is that employees leave bad managers — a bad manager is someone who doesn’t know how to manage the task and who doesn’t know how to manage the person. The second is a part we often ignore: the individual’s role. We need to create an environment where employees can say “here’s why I’m getting bored.” Employees need to take responsibility for making their jobs satisfying, and they need to feel as though they can freely communicate their needs to their employers.
Chuck Lybeer: Companies need to develop psychologically healthy atmospheres, so they can constantly create a more self-directed workforce. At Stone Construction, we have a “flat” organization [without many layers of management], with a lot of recognition and reward. Employees are involved in the decision-making process. They feel valued. |
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Q: How do you weigh the expense of employee motivation against the potential benefits?
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| Kaye: An employee who is not motivated, who does only what the job description asks, costs the organization in productivity and creativity. Also, non-motivated employees can be toxic — complainers or gripers. That toxicity slows down the efforts of others. |
| Lybeer: Motivating employees is not something that happens overnight. Stone started its move toward a culture of employee motivation 20 years ago. In the last five to 10 years, we’ve seen significant profit-performance improvement; improved productivity and quality, because people care; reduced injuries, which results in lower insurance premiums; less absenteeism; and a marketing advantage — we have more respect in the industry because of our cultural dynamics. You can’t afford not to create a motivated team. |
| Nelson: You can track your return-on-investment by comparing the costs of incentives to the gains that are derived in behavior, performance and results. For example, a national bank set up clear goals around customer service excellence, which they systematically reinforced through an employee recognition program. This led directly to steadily increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty scores over six years, drastically improving their revenues and profitability. |
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| Q: What types of incentives might businesses consider? |
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| Nelson: Whatever their employees report as being most of value to them. My research has found that the top five things that employees want are support, praise, autonomy, flexibility and professional development. My book, 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, has some 2,500 real-life examples that companies have used successfully. Among the possibilities – especially good if personally handed out by a senior manager — are “welcome aboard” flowers or cards for the first day of work; one-on-one lunch with a manager for a job well-done; and soda or ice cream. |
| Kaye: Employees want to be recognized. They want to be thanked. It’s not necessarily a monetary thank-you, although you do need to pay them fairly within the industry. But the power of a verbal thank-you and the power of a written thank-you last longer than any monetary raise that we give. It says, “I see. I notice. I appreciate.” |
| Lybeer: We call our supervisors “coaches.” They are trained to be mentors and not adversaries to our employees. Coaches use 10 to 15-minute “huddles” at the beginning and end of every shift. During this time, employees who did a good job are praised, and the incoming team is completely briefed on problems or issues that need to be resolved. This improves communication and makes different shifts feel like one big team instead of “us” vs. “them.” |
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| Join the conversation by e-mailing special.sections@newsweek.com. |
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