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Employee motivation under the spotlight

MOTIVATION

Employee motivation under the spotlight

A well-managed incentive plan which meets staff needs can "move mountains", but if incentives don't suit the individual employee that they are aimed at, they will be worthless. That's the message from a new report published by Employee Benefits magazine.

What you will find in this report

The 14-page report brings together three pieces of research which underline the perils of rushing into incentive and recognition schemes without first doing the necessary preparatory work and setting clear objectives.

  • For the first piece of work, Employee Benefits interviewed Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at the Manchester School of Management at UMIST. Cooper's central thesis is that all too many organisations in the UK fail to look at motivation strategically.

He told Employee Benefits: "If companies were looking at real motivation they would train their managers to be more reward and praise oriented, more flexible, and to provide more autonomy and scope. They would train them on career issues — understanding that people really do want to know what their next step is, what the opportunities are for developing themselves."

  • The second study — complete with numerous practical tips — is devoted to looking at the challenges organisations face when introducing incentive programmes. It covers a broad range of issues, but one powerful message comes through: imposing an incentive scheme can be a worthless exercise if you don't really understand what motivates your employees.

What's more, employers should look at basic recruitment and retention strategies and ask themselves whether they are attracting people who can and want to be motivated.

  • The final article examines the tools which will "help you reach a motivational peak" - everything from non-cash prizes to travel, training to online points schemes.

 

Want to know more?

Title: Motivation supplement, Employee Benefits, July 2002

Availability: Contact Employee Benefits subscriptions department in London, tel: 020 7970 4000 or email: employee-benefits@centaur.co.uk

To read the supplement online, visit the magazine's web site at www.employeebenefits.co.uk. Registered users (it's free to register) click on "Archive of articles" and then select "Motivation and incentives". The online articles which make up this supplement are dated July 2002.

Posted 24 July 2002