The Forgotten Importance of Motivation in HR

The very first term that comes to a person’s mind, the moment we hear Human Resources is “Recruitment”. Its soo often that most of us perceive that hiring employees is the most imperative function of the HR department, and once that is fulfilled the work is accomplished. This is where most organizations make the biggest slip-up. All the time and effort for months together is done in planning and of course, most HR departments effectively hire the best employees, but they are never taken care of. The element of Motivation is ignored as most organizations see financial rewards and bonuses being the solution to all problems. This in nature leads to foremost challenges which every HR Department in any organization faces over time:

- Inconsistency in work output

-Continuous degradation in the quality of output

-Lack of professionalism with a very high absenteeism

-Constant demand for financial rewards and quick promotion

-Very High attrition rate

There are accumulating hurdles and problems for HR departments, the key lies in understanding the concept of motivation in detail. Motivation in simple terms is reasons for our course of action. Intrinsic motivation is the internal passion, interest & love for what we do. No matter the time spent, or financial payment, it’s the satisfaction and enjoyment an employee gets that cannot be matched with the financial perk provided. How many of us remember the last time we felt like that at our work place? Its either, we have landed up in a job that is not of our interest or the absolute boredom and continuous work repetition. In contrast extrinsic motivations are the external factors that influence an employee’s motivation and drive to do work.  They consist of Salaries, bonuses, and fringe benefits varying from accommodation, transportation and group insurances. 

 Companies set aside Lakhs together in the annual budget preparation to provide financial rewards just to reduce the attrition rate, the effect or benefit of the financial reward to employees is very minimal and it does not prevent the employee from leaving the organization. Any form of financial reward is immediately seen as a accustomed financial payment in just another form. There are various factors that influence an employee’s decision whether to resign the current job or not, but the most determinant factor is work satisfaction (Intrinsic motivation).

The most powerful, cheapest and effective form of motivation is intrinsic motivation. There is absolutely no financial cost at all, but it yields in abundance of benefits for both the employee & employer (Win-Win). To ensure this is achieved, there are some essential components that have to be implemented by organizations:

I.       Aligning employees to the organization’s Mission & Vision Statement:  Every organization has its own Mission & Vision statements, but what defies the best organizations in the world from the rest is ensuring every employee is conscious of the organizations future goals and works every day towards it. In most cases the Mission & Vision statements are just a creation for a official purpose, a one day thing and it’s forgotten. It’s up to the organization to make employees realize the value and importance of achieving the goal and it’s the effort from every single employee and togetherness that would help attain the long term Vision. Every organization has to make that effort to develop a high quality Mission & Vision statement that is realistic. It’s a challenge for the companies to constantly inform, persuade and remind employees of the Mission & Vision statement. This over time would eliminate the financial rewards driven work and make every single employee want to make a difference to the organizations future with a real intention and purpose.

II.     Creativity: How many of us remember the last time we have done something creative at our work place? Every employee has a regular routine with the same work repeated over and over again. The common perception towards lack of creativity is either the particular job has no creativity at all or the existing creativity within an employee is constantly restricted by the work environment. The thought of only a few select jobs having creativity has to be eliminated. Every job has massive scope for innovation, creativity, and coming out with something new or improvising. That extra effort and time has to be invested. Employees who do posses the creativity and innovation are considerably restricted in their work environment. For creativity to transpire an employee has to be given that freedom, flexibility and a very good work environment. But sadly this is very infrequent as employees have a very congested work place, time restrictions & deadlines, constantly monitored, and a very strict standard operating procedure with very less flexibility.

Its only when creativity exists, that employees are going to enjoy what they are doing.

III.  Passion/Interest: The number of employees who land up in jobs which are of their passion and interest has become radically abundant. In the modern day and age, the importance for job seekers has shifted from a career of interest to any job that yields the maximum salary and financial reward. Its all centered around enhancing the lifestyle and meeting the essential needs and abundant wants. Therefore it’s a immense challenge for every recruiter to find an employee who has the passion and interest for the job with less priority towards financial benefits. Along with a job description and job specification, it’s a motivated centric criteria match sheet that allows the employer to find the apt & passionate employee. The motivation criterion has to be given more importance than any other aspect for the job and look for the employee who has the passion for the job. It’s the zeal for the job that would give way to the best quality output and consistency from employees and that in return enhances the entire organization.

IV.  Work Recognition: The self-confidence boost, fulfillment and love for the job can only be obtained when you’re recognized for the work. The natural human tendency in any work place is when your respected, appreciated with a sense of belonging. But sadly most employers and employees associate work recognition to promotion or financial bonus or reward. Given importance in a team, appreciated by the team lead or manager in front of others is a larger boost and happiness  then a financial bonus or reward that is common in every work place. But sadly this is rarely practiced by organizations.