So, we’ve established that employee motivation is the interest that drives them to contribute towards achieving the company’s goals. A motivation system is a carefully designed and structured process integrated into the organization’s HR policy. It not only encourages work achievements but also identifies insufficient activity and superficiality in the work of certain employees.
The effectiveness of the motivation system is reflected in the effectiveness of each employee’s participation in the overall work process. The key word here is effectiveness! In this context, the productivity of each employee is not measured by the number of actions they perform, but by the results they achieve in their work. Only this allows for an appropriate and timely reward for the employee, thereby strengthening their motivation. It’s no secret that there are employees who, for a significant part of their workday, actively move around the office, shuffling papers, engaging in seemingly busy work, and holding unclear phone conversations, yet bring no practical benefit and merely waste the company’s time. These same individuals often later boast (during endless smoke breaks and coffee pauses) about how much effort they put into their work and how their efforts go unnoticed by management. Sound familiar?
The cause of this empty “flapping of wings” goes deeper than just a flaw in the organization’s HR policy. This category of people is nurtured by the flaws in the employee motivation and incentive system, where the rules encourage seeking rewards and promotions from management, where first impressions count more than substance, and where empty, but beautiful, words are believed. This same flaw justifies a low level of work discipline, where work time is effectively used only 20-30%, and the quality of the work produced is so poor that it can be considered sabotage. Inadequate rewards breed dissatisfaction among diligent employees, which in turn affects staff turnover and increases conflict within the team. Naturally, these phenomena give rise to a lack of initiative and a reluctance to pursue self-realization and improve production levels. You might say: “But that’s how most workplaces operate!”
We won’t delve into a detailed analysis of employee activity in various enterprises, especially since it’s unlikely that adequate, and most importantly, objective data could be obtained. Our task is to explore how things should be. You can then decide for yourself how your motivation and incentive model aligns with the one we propose and whether it yields positive results for your organization.
It’s clear that you can’t expect an ordinary employee to be inspired by the overarching idea of your business—that’s more the domain of the organization’s owner. An ordinary employee should be interested in the results of their work indirectly through material or non-material rewards. To achieve this, the employee must be given a goal to reach within a reasonable timeframe. Moreover, the employee should know that upon achieving this goal, they will be guaranteed an adequate and meaningful reward that they value. This means that the employee’s work results must be objectively assessed, which is only possible by setting specific goals and tasks. The reward for their work should be commensurate with their performance and level of qualification (for example, you shouldn’t ask a school principal to sweep the yard and then give them a bonus for it); the reward should be timely (not a year later when the results have long been forgotten); the reward should be anticipated and desired by the employee (whether it’s money, a travel voucher, days off, rather than a pennant or a statuette of the boss).
If these conditions are not met, the “reward” could have the opposite effect, and fixing the situation could prove difficult. This is already a separate topic for another article, “The Problem of Motivation — A Current Issue in HR Management.”
