How to motivate workers to be more productive?

Introduction

Motivation derives from the word motive which is the reason for doing something in particular, in our case employees being more productive in their assigned tasks. It is one of the many significant roles of Human Resource Department in making a business successful. When a person is motivated to do something they do it with great interest and dedication towards exceptional results.

A well-motivated workforce will have low absenteeism, low labor turnover rates and low strike actions thus it will lead to a noticeable increase in quality and quantity of their output. Furthermore, labor motivation towards teamwork can help encourage division of labor and specialization leading to an increased productivity. This will lead to an increased productivity and will greatly decrease the costs of business and reduce wastages.

Due to its massive significance towards the well-being of a business many people have struggled to find out most efficient and effective methods to motivate employees. These theories are different in nature and are effective to different types of businesses depending on their workforce and operations. I have listed below two of the well-known and most useful theories.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Maslow introduced his hierarchy of needs in 1943 and it stated that there is a specific pattern of needs according to human psyche. The basis of Maslow’s motivation theory is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs and certain lower factors need to be satisfied before the higher needs can be satisfied.

First of all as stated by Maslow, the main concern of a human being is to ensure he has all the basic necessities including food, water, clothing and shelter. A business can take this to their advantage and motivate employees by giving them reasonable wage rates which can fulfill their essential needs, which Is usually minimum wage rate set by the government.

After they have fulfilled their basic necessities they will advance to the next stage in which they demand security and protection of their job. In this stage a worker is concerned for his job security and tries to maintain their living standard. This can be achieved by providing them with a contract of employment which ensures their job security for a certain period of time.

After they are confident about their future income, they start to socialize with their co-workers. A rich social environment can be encouraged by setting up occasional events and creating social groups. This can encourage team work within the workforce and can result in greater productivity.

Now, as they have developed their social circle, next thing to motivate them will be standing out in within their fellows. Employers can setup different programs such as promotions and employee of the month. These will encourage the employees to work hard, improving quality and quantity of their output in order to get the reward and be praised between their subordinates.

Last but not the least, after going through all stages mentioned above the only thing that can motivate an employee is an opportunity to discover their true potential which is also known as self- actualization. A business can grant this opportunity to the employees by letting them decide to work with the method they are best at until the business needs are met. This will motivate the workers to work harder to discover their true potential. At this point the employees will be producing their maximum output with maximum efficiency leading to an increased production and minimum costs.

Drawbacks

However, things don’t always go as planned, as after some surveys results showed that some people don’t follow the definite hierarchical order. It varies from person to person depending on different cultures and psyches. For Example, some employees may give privilege to their social needs instead of security and protection of job.

Demotivation can also arise among other employees if they fail to win any of competitions or monthly awards, which can lead to lower productivity and higher labor turnover.

Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory

In 1959, Frederick Herzberg introduced his two factor theory which suggested two group of factors, motivators and hygiene factors. Motivators can encourage workers and lead to more job satisfaction but their absence will not cause demotivation. Whereas, hygiene factors are those which are essential at any workplace. However, they don’t motivate employees but their absence can cause demotivation.

Motivators

· Achievement

A job must give its employees a sense of achievement to make employees feel that they have accomplished something significant. Once they achieve something they will always set their next goals higher thus, constantly improving their skills and making them more efficient.

· Recognition

As discussed before recognition gives employees a sense of pride and they will try to go the extra mile in order to be praised in front of everybody.

· The work itself

If the type of work doesn’t interest the employee, then they will never be motivated to work harder and will always work with a perspective of making a living and not enjoying the job itself.

· Responsibility

The work should give them a sense of responsibility and every employee should own their work. This will prevent them from feeling like they are micromanaged.

· Advancement

A business should give its employees opportunities for advancement and growth so that they would work hard in order to get that position.

· Growth

Business should give their employees opportunities to grow and make themselves better by enhancing their skills and learning new techniques and more efficient methods.

Hygiene factors

· Company policies

Company policies have a major role in employee’s opinion about the job e.g. number of holidays, working hours etc. If they are too harsh and inconvenient, they can cause demotivation among the workers.

· Supervisors

Employees should always have supervisors that are dedicated and friendly, who should always correct their mistakes and teach them new techniques with an appropriate leadership style.

· Subordinates

As mentioned above social aspect of a job will maintain the interest of employees during work and they will not feel bogged down with workload. Moreover, it will also encourage teamwork, making them more efficient.

· Working conditions

In order to prevent higher absenteeism and labor turnover rates, employers must maintain suitable working conditions i.e. proper safety equipment, comfortable temperatures and clean work space.

· Salary

It is most obvious factor that has a huge impact on employees’ motivation. If the workers think that they get well paid for the work they provide then they will not be dissatisfied

· Security

Employees will work with full determination if they feel that their job is secure for the foreseeable future which can be done by providing them a contract of employment.

Conclusion

To recapitulate, there are different theories built by intellectual people but it largely depends on the HR department to mold these to the need of their business and the nature of their employees so that they can get maximum benefit out of them.