Hello, davidabrowne-ga!
Each time I passed by your question it caught my eye! I knew there
had to be factors far more important than financial compensation
packages and company incentives that were integral to employee
motivation. If not, there would be many companies without employees!
Many employers, small businesses in particular, are financially
unable to offer compensation packages of any sort! Yet, they are
blessed with motivated and loyal employees who take pride in their
work and strive to perform to their best ability each day.
However, I knew that intuition would not suffice as grounds for an
answer, so I was finally prompted to do a little digging. I was not
surprised with the information I uncovered!
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VALUE AND APPRECIATION ARE THE KEYS TO MOTIVATION
=================================================
"Factors in Employee Motivation/Satisfaction," by Steve Falkenberg.
Department of Psychology. Eastern Kentucky University (1997)
http://www.psychology.eku.edu/FALKENBE/motive.htm
Some excerpts follow:
"There are two factors which operate to determine if an employee will
be a "problem" employee or if they will be a "motivated" employee. One
of these factors has to do with meeting needs and achieving
goals--Getting that BMW, swimming pool, etc. The other factor has to
do with how meaningful the work is and whether the person feels they
are appreciated for what they do."
A Fair Agreement - Entitlements
**"The salary and benefits do not serve as motivators. The workers
motivation doesn't depend on the salary. The workers view is that
she/he is entitled to the salary and benefits. It is an entitlement,
not an incentive."**
"If the agreement is perceived as unfair, the worker will be
dissatisfied and poor morale will result. But if the agreement is
fair, it will play little role in determining whether she/he is a
motivated/satisfied employee."
Value and Appreciation: The Key to Motivation and Satisfaction
"Even when the agreement is fair and understood it takes something
more to motivate the worker-- to keep the worker interested and
committed to perform. It is quite common for someone to be getting an
excellent salary and benefits, to not have to work too hard, and to
hate every minute of their job. Some of these individuals quit that
job and take one with lower salary and worse benefits because it is
motivating to them."
"Kiersy says that what motivates people is appreciation (Kiersy and
Bates, 1978). A motivated employee is one that feels appreciated. Most
people will spend a lot of time (after work and on weekends) working
for no pay, and often working a lot harder than they do at their job,
to do something that will be appreciated."
(Read more!)
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IMPORTANCE OF REWARD AND RECOGNITION, ENVIRONMENT AND CONTRIBUTION
==================================================================
"Rewards, Recognition, Motivation and Turnover." Medical Surveys.net.
http://www.medicalsurveys.net/tips/employee_satisfaction_tip2.htm
"There is a definite link between the intention of people to stay at
their place of employment and reward/recognition. Indeed, some of our
recent lab studies have shown that the correlation between the length
of time people intend to stay with their current employers and the
recognition given for work that is well done is .27 -- a positive and
statistically significant relationship. The relationship between
monetary rewards and intention to stay also is , but somewhat less
so."
"From this we can extrapolate that rewarding and recognizing positive
results is an important factor in retaining employees."
* However, we would be negligent if we did not state that there are
other even more important factors.*
"Our data suggest that creating a nurturing environment, one in which
everyone seems to be pulling in the same direction and in which
peoples' contributions are valued, is even more important than reward
and recognition. The strongest relationships between the intention of
people to stay and other attributes include such items as pride in the
employer, the employees' affinity for the type of work, the leadership
skills of management, trust, and teamwork."
(Read further and see accompanying chart)
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SECURITY, ADVANCEMENT, TYPE OF WORK AND PRIDE IN COMPANY ARE KEY
MOTIVATORS
============================================================================
"Employee Motivation in the Workplace." Section 2. Approach.
Accel-Team.com.
http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/
"In one of the most elaborate studies on employee motivation,
involving 31,000 mean and 13,000 women, the Minneapolis Gas Company
sought to determine what their potential employees desired most from a
job. This study was carried out during a 20 year period from 1945-1965
and was quite revealing. The rating for the various factors differed
only slightly between men and women, but both groups considered
security as the highest rated factor. The next three factors were;
Advancement
Type of work
Company - proud to work for
"Surprisingly, factors such as pay, benefits and working conditions
were given a low rating by both groups. So after all, and contrary to
common belief, money is not the prime motivator."
==
** If you think the Minneapolis Gas Company study might be outdated, I
refer you to two key findings in another article I have referenced -
"New Research From WorldatWork/Sibson & Company: Study Identifies Five
Focus Areas to Keep Employee Retention, Motivation High." Pressroom.
WorldatWork (May 2000)
http://www.worldatwork.org/pressroom/generic/html/press-rowstudy.html
"There is relatively little evidence that "Generation X" (those born
between 1964 and 1973) are different from the Baby-Boom generation in
their pattern of satisfaction or in the types of rewards that motivate
their retention or performance."
"Generation Y", the newest generation to enter the workforce, is
different from other cohorts in some respects. Contrary to the popular
wisdom, cash rewards and work content are less useful for retaining
members of this group than others. This group is also less satisfied
than its older counterparts, especially with direct financial and
career rewards."
===================================================================
WORK ENVIRONMENT, GOOD MANAGEMENT, CHALLENGE ARE KEYS TO MOTIVATION
===================================================================
"Motivation 2000: Employee Motivation Results." Goal Manager.com
http://www.goalmanager.com/i101internal30.asp
This series of articles focuses on the reasons employees like their
job followed by factors that might lure them to another company. As
the authors point out, salary (and compensation packages) are not the
prime motivators for employees.
Full Survey Results:
GoalManager Employee Motivation Survey 2000
Percentages are based on multiple responses to each question and thus
will not add up to 100%.
http://www.goalmanager.com/i101internal33.asp
What do you like about your current job? What are the things that keep
you there?
=========================================================================
People and work environment - 66%
The management cares about me/Good relationship with management - 33%
Challenging and exciting job - 33%
Flexibility - 24%
Salary - 19%
Autonomy and creative freedom with job - 16%
Training and learning opportunities - 13%
Stock options - 9%
I like the product/technology - 9%
Team work - 8%
I can express my ideas and management listens - 8%
Perks: ie. Company outings, lunches, early outs, travel, dress code,
etc. - 8%
We have great benefits - 6%
Absence of hierarchy and red tape - 5%
I can use my skills - 5%
Recognition - 4%
I like my commute - 4%
I like working with our clients - 3%
===================================================
TRUST AND OPPORTUNITY OUTSHINE COMPENSATION PACKAGE
===================================================
"Employee Satisfaction Proves Crucial to Shareholder Value." by Bruce
N. Pfau, Ph.D. Strategy@Work.
http://www.watsonwyatt.com/strategyatwork/articles/2000/2000_04_ai.asp
According to Watson Wyatt's WorkUSAź 2000 study of more than 7,500
workers: "companies whose workers are highly committed to their
employers and have confidence in their top management deliver
dramatically higher returns to shareholders."
****
"Employees rated trust in senior leadership and the chance to use
their skills on the job as the two most important (factors), followed
by job security and a competitive compensation package."
*****
======================
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
======================
"New Research From WorldatWork/Sibson & Company: Study Identifies Five
Focus Areas to Keep Employee Retention, Motivation High." Pressroom.
WorldatWork (May 2000)
http://www.worldatwork.org/pressroom/generic/html/press-rowstudy.html
"There is no magic potion - no single type of reward -- that is
overwhelmingly important in satisfying and motivating employees, or in
retaining them. Rather, employees are motivated by and seek to remain
employed by companies that offer five different and complementary
types of rewards. These are among the findings of "Rewards of Work
2000: What Do Employees Value at Work", a survey of the American
workforce, conducted by Sibson & Company, in partnership with
WorldatWork (formerly the American Compensation Association). The
findings are being released here at the 2000 WorldAtWork International
Conference & Exposition.
The five types of rewards examined in the study are financial (that
is, monetary) rewards; indirect financial rewards (benefits);
satisfying work content; affiliation with an admirable organization;
and long-term career opportunities.
* All five types of rewards are important to employees and none is
more important than the others are in general. *
....
"The most important predictors of retention were career opportunities,
feedback from the supervisor, job security, satisfaction with job
title (an indication of respect for employees) and training and
development opportunities."
One of the key findings, in fact, revealed that financial incentives
such as stock options are "more effective at shaping organizational
culture (for example, giving everyone a feeling of being an owner)
than in motivating performance."
========
I hope I have provided you with some interesting and useful
references. If you need additional clarification, please don't
hesitate to ask and I will try to help if I can.
I must admit I am greatly encouraged that excellent work ethics are
not simply rooted in mere financial gain. Imagine the brain power that
would go to waste if money was necessary to turn on the "neural
switches"!
umiat-ga
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