Employee Motivation Methods
Non Financial
Introduction
Employers need to keep employees motivated as motivated employees are productive. Unhappy employees affect business success. This article is about non financial methods to motivate employees
Job Extension
It is generally accepted that employee motivation is influenced by the type of work the employee has to do. For example employee motivation will drop if the job involves tedious and repetitive tasks. Job extension can help increase employee motivation. Job enlargement and job enrichment are examples of job extension.
Job Enlargement
This is increasing the number of tasks that the employee has to complete. The tasks are still at the same level of difficulty as their initial tasks. A variety of tasks should decrease the monotonous and repetitive nature of the job. Job enlargement may also increase the challenge and gives the employee a greater understanding of how they participate in the success of the organisation.
Job Rotation
In a job rotation organisation employees are trained so that they can carry out a variety of tasks and responsibilities. Employees trained to do jobs at the same level of difficulty regularly swap jobs. Job rotation will help to decrease boredom as employees are not carrying out the same tasks over a long period. Job rotation will also increase the employee’s understanding of the organisation’s production methods.
Quality Circles
Quality circles are a method of motivating a group of workers rather than a single employee. A group of employees will voluntarily meet to discuss work related issues including those connected to quality. It is believed that quality circles in Japanese manufacturing have increased employee productivity and the quality of the product. Quality circles are known to increase the speed at which problems at work can be resolved.
Conclusion
As we have discussed although we may believe that offering employees more money will motivate them, there are other ways to increase employee motivation. In fact extra money will probably only motivate for the short term whereas methods that increase job satisfaction, create new challenges and improve morale are likely to increase employee motivation for longer than a simple increase in remuneration.
