Employee motivation is a close cousin of employee engagement. You’ll need to optimize both in order to make the most of your workforce’s skills and energy. But while they are similar, they are not synonymous, and require different approaches. 

What Is Employee Motivation?

Employee motivation is the drive that propels employees to put effort and thought into their tasks. A motivated employee has the willpower to work hard and remain dedicated. There are two types of motivation:

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is based on a “can-do” mentality. An employee with intrinsic motivation has a goal that they want to achieve, often regardless of external factors. For instance, an employee who runs a volunteer program at work simply because it gives them a sense of accomplishment is demonstrating intrinsic motivation. Other reasons for intrinsic motivation include:

• A desire to be part of the team
• Enjoyment of being competitive
• Identification with the company culture and mission 
• A strong work ethic  

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation is when an employee reaches for something that has been offered to them for good performance (positive motivation), or threatened in case of bad performance (negative motivation). The most common form of extrinsic motivation in the workplace is a desire to maintain or achieve good pay and conditions. Other types of extrinsic motivation include:

• Recognition and rewards
• Fear of punishment (e.g. criticism from the boss)
• Leadership roles

Positive extrinsic motivation is only effective in the short term. You might give an employee a raise today, but in a few years, they will want another one. The use of negative extrinsic motivation is similarly practical only for limited periods of time. For example, threatening an employee with being fired if they don’t perform to a certain level can work for a while. But if that employee receives constant threats, they are likely to quit. 

A Theory of Employee Motivation

An interesting combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is described by Forbes as “self-driven extrinsic motivation (SDEM)”. This concept maintains that, under certain conditions, employees can eventually internalize extrinsic motivators. The result is a worker who takes the initiative to complete a task independently because they see value in it. Such an employee is accountable, satisfied, innovative, and loyal. 

Examples include telling an employee to acquire a certain skill regardless of their interest in that skill; and then over time, they come to understand how much they benefit from that skill. As a result, they are happy to attend more L&D courses. 

This behavior does not occur on its own. Leaders must develop SDEM according to the “ARC” principles of self-determination, which are:

• Autonomy: Controlling your own behavior and goals
• Relatedness: Feeling secure and that you belong
• Competence: Handling difficult tasks 

Managers should conduct regular discussions with employees to determine if their ARC needs are being met, and if not, to make sure that resources are made available to correct the situation. For instance:

• Autonomy: Are your opinions being considered, or is someone interfering with your ability to make decisions?
• Relatedness: Are you satisfied in your position, and do you feel connected to your teammates?
• Competence: Have you been given clear instructions, and do you have the skills needed to succeed?

Motivation vs. Engagement

In a phrase, engagement is what leads to motivation. Engagement can be defined as “the emotional connection between workers and their job, coworkers, and organization.” When an employee feels a strong connection to the workplace, they tend to develop the kinds of enthusiasm that characterize motivation. 

An employee may show up to work fully motivated, but they can lose that motivation if they don’t feel engaged. An employee on their first day of work might be very enthusiastic, even before they have any idea of how engaging their job is. But, if they have a negative experience, they will lose motivation rapidly.  

The Benefits of Motivated Employees

There are many initiatives that an organization can take to improve motivation. These require investment, time, and effort. But it’s worth your while, considering the large number of advantages connected to high levels of employee motivation:

Organizational Goals

Motivated workers enjoy their jobs and participate in the operations of a successful company. This is reflected by their tendency towards higher productivity and profitability levels and reduced rates of absenteeism. Plus, the close connection between motivation, managers, and teams (see below) equals improved relationships between leaders and employees, as well as better teamwork. 

HR Goals

Satisfied workers usually stay at their jobs longer and tell their friends about it. In turn, this boosts human resource objectives related to retention, branding, employee experience, and recruitment. 

Individual Satisfaction

Working within a team of motivated employees builds a feeling of belonging on an individual level, which is also the ultimate goal of DEIB programs. Similarly, HR should ensure that motivated employees receive recognition, even through nonfinancial benefits, which leads to greater engagement. According to some experts, an important factor in optimizing motivation involves increasing individual autonomy, which in turn improves the ability of employees to be flexible, engage in individual problem-solving, and work in more productive ways. 

The Effect of Engagement on Enhancing Motivation 

The strong link between motivation and engagement means that many of the initiatives that are meant to increase engagement will also apply to motivation. 

However, as described, internal motivation is generated by a certain mentality. This is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, if HR wants to maintain the internal motivation of employees, they simply need to meet the expectations that inspired their dedication in the first place. But on the other hand (especially in the case of unmotivated employees), discovering the factors behind their motivation can be a challenge because it is often very personal.

How to Improve Employee Motivation

McKinsey looked at the issue of how to motivate employees, in light of the difficulty of examining individual differences, through surveys and interviews with various corporations. They found out that the best method for increasing motivation is a performance review system based on clearly defined metrics, consistency, and simplicity, supported by four critical factors.

Goal Setting 

Similar to learning and development programs, a quality process of goal setting is essential for motivation, with 72% of survey respondents explaining that it is a “strong motivator”. Employees prefer a quantitative performance review system that accounts for: 

• Individual achievements
• Team objectives
• Contributions to company goals

It is vital for companies to explain how goals are set and how to achieve them. It is even better when employees can contribute to the process. Other expectations include frequent updates; advising workers on how workplace changes affect goals; and making it clear where individual goals take priority over team objectives. 

The Messenger

McKinsey’s study also showed an aspect of motivation that goes against some recent HR trends. There has been a move over the past few years by companies to change employee feedback mechanisms away from complex numerical scores and towards simpler metrics like pass-fail, descriptive reviews, and even eliminating rating systems completely. The idea is that employees will perform better if they are not subject to any form of negative feedback. 

But what seems to count more for employees is who is delivering the performance review. Almost half of workers prefer to get their performance review from a skilled manager who is respected and informed about the efforts of both the individual and their team. Employees want such managers to be a part of the initial goal-setting process. 

Feedback Skills and Timing

Another interesting finding is the importance of feedback skills. Particularly in large companies, a significant number of employees report that their managers lack the ability to deliver clear and informative advice. In addition, workers want feedback sessions on a frequent basis instead of the yearly reviews that many companies use. 

However, it is also true that managers tend to avoid giving feedback. This is because they find it to be an unpleasant task that takes up a lot of their time. HR should provide professional development courses that enhance managers’ ability to use their time more effectively, understand the essential nature of feedback, and build the communication skills that support diplomacy and advising.   

Non-financial Rewards 

Connected to the idea of performance reviews is compensation. Many companies stay away from continuous financial bonuses because they change employee expectations and don’t necessarily increase productivity. In addition, with many employees putting more emphasis on issues such as work-life balance and job security, companies should focus more on non-monetary benefits. McKinsey found that a customized learning opportunity related to upskilling or professional development is particularly appealing to workers. 

Organizational Changes to Build Independence

Feedback allows employees to understand how they need to change. But what about the organization itself? It also needs to adapt in order to accommodate the employees who are willing to take responsibility and initiative. To this end, the MIT Sloan Management Review recommends these steps to increase self-determination and motivation among employees, including:

Flatter Hierarchies

By reducing the number of decision-makers in a company, organizations can save time, improve communication, and reduce expenses. Additionally, this move allows employees at lower levels of a company to make decisions based on their direct knowledge of operational matters. These decisions are likely to be made according to a better assessment of a situation compared to those who are not closely involved with production. 

Established Authority

The risk of enabling more decision-making power is that employees with such power will come into conflict. The answer to this issue is for the company to delegate decision-making abilities to a certain number of employees. But, to maintain motivation, this role can be rotated among workers so that everyone gets leadership experience. 

Rational Policies

Similar to the problems caused by complex hierarchies are those related to regulations. When employees need to follow various policies and procedures, it’s important to make sure that the paperwork is justified. For this reason, management should conduct occasional policy reviews with an eye towards minimizing them. 

Manager Monitoring

Some of the above steps might not be liked by managers, as they can be seen as taking away their power and influence. HR should check that managers at all levels understand the advantages of improved motivation, including the increases in performance that will reflect well on them. 

HR Strategies

Beyond promoting and supporting organizational changes, the HR team can take its own steps for enhancing motivation, including:

In-Depth Interviews and Relationships

Figuring out what really drives an individual employee borders on taking the role of a psychologist. But for a worker who is already motivated, you are actually discussing something that is positive about their attitude. 

The more difficult case is interviewing an employee who shows low motivation, especially when standard engagement programs don’t seem effective. Talking about what motivates them in their personal lives and/or previous jobs can help.

Another approach is to use the managers and leaders in the organization to do some digging. Managers often establish strong relationships with employees, and they might have ideas about the factors behind their staff’s behavior. 

Presentations and Role Modeling

In a way that is similar to reverse mentoring, highly motivated employees can be nominated to explain what makes them productive. This can be accomplished, for example, through presentations to coworkers, a mention in a company newsletter, or after receiving an award. The goal here is to inspire other employees to model their attitudes and behavior after their motivated peers. 

Side Projects

A few major companies are famous for their practice of allowing employees to work on their own initiatives while getting paid for them. Google in particular is known for “20% time”, in which employees can spend one day a week developing their own professional ideas. For creative workers, this can be an excellent way to increase motivation and benefit the firm by inviting employees to present their concepts to a board of selection. 

The Big Picture

Awareness of how an organization benefits society, or else does its job without harming society, is a powerful motivator for some. This is reflected, for example, in the high engagement rates of non-profit employees. Explaining a company’s mission – assuming it is based on a meaningful goal – can result in more employees feeling inspired and dedicated.  

HR’s Most Essential Task: The Role of Skills in Motivation

Workplace skills play a critical and interesting role when it comes to motivation. To succeed in any job, an employee needs the right set of skills. Then, when a worker experiences the satisfaction and rewards of completing tasks successfully, they are more motivated to gain additional skills and take on complex responsibilities. In this sense, professional skills are both a precondition for, and a result of, employee motivation. 

But not just any skills. Employees should be trained in the abilities that:

• Are relevant to their work
• Lead to chances for upward mobility
• Are missing from or poorly formed in their personal “skills inventory”

Although this seems like common sense, the more usual situation is one-size-fits-all L&D programs. 

According to the Association for Talent Development, 68% of employees feel that their corporate training programs are not customized. Instead, these programs are given to large numbers of employees at once, regardless of their individual experience or abilities.  

The downsides go beyond increasing skill gaps. Workers who spend time and effort in learning and development courses that are not relevant or career-boosting can feel as though: 

• They have wasted their efforts
• The organization is not competent enough to develop effective training programs
• They are at risk of falling behind and/or missing opportunities for promotion

This is obviously the opposite of promoting motivation. 

HR teams that want to increase motivation will design and implement L&D programs that meet the career goals of employees and the skill requirements of the organization. Although the specific skills that you should target for customized L&D depends on an individual’s abilities, there are a few that build motivation specifically. 

For instance, when looking at the connection between independence and motivation, L&D courses might focus on decision-making, problem-solving, and time management skills. We have also examined the importance of achieving team goals, so teamwork and professionalism are vital here as well. Similarly, due to the role of managers being crucial in motivating workers, feedback and related skills in communication, empathy, and active listening are essential.   

Growthspace and Motivation

Dedicated employees have the drive to succeed, but do they have the skills? One way to defeat a motivated employee is to give them training that doesn’t match their professional needs. Without the right L&D courses, even top workers become frustrated because they aren’t being enabled by the very organization for which they are putting in so much effort.

Growthspace is the precision skill development platform that automates customized learning and development programs. It matches domain experts with employees who need an exact type of skill development, and not a one-size-fits-all approach. Growthspace operates with a consistent and intuitive evaluation methodology for grading skills, courses, and instructors. With Growthspace, businesses of any scale can provide the new skills that employees need to succeed and stay motivated.