Employee motivation is a hot topic in corporate circles at the moment. Why? Because recent research from Aon Hewitt tells us that 40% of employees globally are disengaged and demotivated. The situation is at its worst in Europe where 43% of employees are disengaged, compared to 37% in North America and just 26% in Latin America.
Since there is plenty of evidence linking employee motivation to productivity, its vital that HR professionals, (in Europe especially), work on raising employee motivation levels in their business.
So, what steps can HR take to begin increasing engagement and motivation levels in their business? We have outlined 3 key steps below.
- Measure employee engagement
The first step an organization needs to take to start increasing motivation levels is to start measuring employee engagement, ideally by conducting an employee engagement survey, usually around once a year. - Create engagement goals
Conducting an engagement survey, but then taking no action as a result, is a sure way to demotivate employees even further. So, by establishing post survey employee engagement goals and ensuring that managers are targeted and held accountable for meeting these goals, you can ensure that the employees environment and conditions are improved as a result of the findings of the engagement survey. - Target the key engagement drivers
You will of course find some motivational issues which are unique to your organization, but its likely your organization will benefit from addressing the three key engagement drivers as identified in the Hewitt Study, which are: career opportunities, pay and recognition. Here's how to address these key drivers.
Increase the number of career opportunities
A good way to enhance career opportunities is to ensure that, as far as is possible, job vacancies are advertised internally so existing employees can apply. Other studies have shown that internal employees often outperform external employees and it could therefore make sense to favour internal applicants in the hiring and selection process. It may also make sense to intensify or even introduce career coaching sessions with staff, particularly your high potentials.
Pay
Due to the results of pay freezes and restricted bonus payouts over the last few years in the Netherlands, due to the global recession, many employees are feeling under-paid and this is believed to be seriously impacting employee motivation levels throughout the world at the moment. Now, more than ever, organizations may need to be engaging in salary benchmarking to assess how competitive their pay levels are at the moment – as they may be negatively impacting motivation levels.
Recognition
Employees in today's climate are looking for acknowledgment of the hardship they have experienced over the last few years, in particular taking on more work without additional pay, as a result of the tough economic climate. The survey found that only 48% of employees feel that their additional effort has been recognized by their employer. So, focusing on developing an employee recognition programme could be a very effective way to drive motivation levels in your business in the current climate where employees are not feeling especially well recognized.
Good luck with driving motivation levels in your business.
Author: Kazim Ladimeji