7. Non-financial Techniques of Employee Motivation in an organization.

Employees are the most important resources in any organization. They are needed to use inputs to enhance outcomes (Dugguh, 2014).  Employee motivation is a critical aspect at the workplace which leads to the performance of the department and even the company motivating your employees needs to be a regular routine. There are companies that sadly fail to understand the importance of employee motivation and many companies have disengaged employees with low motivation (Hughes et.al, 2009).

Need for study on employee motivation, every successful organization is backed by a committed employee base, and the commitment is the outcome of motivation and job satisfaction. It is the energy that compels employees towards organizational objectives.  It would be impossible for the organization to generate performance without commitment (Lam and Gurland, 2008). In order to create a competitive advantage, organization need to have a competitive employee policies and practices. Motivation is an important stimulation which directs human behavior. No individual has same attitude or behavior, hence the organizations need to follow a frame practices which will be able to satisfy mostly the individuals and not just only the groups (Jssir, 2017).

Many employees have different motivations for coming to work and doing a good job, and it's up to organization to get the best outcome of all of them. One of the most obvious motivational strategies is of course money, whether in the form of pay increments, bonuses or other allowances. However, these may be neither necessary nor always the best type of reward. Once offered, cash bonuses can come to be expected and quickly forgotten, especially if they are the only recognition employees receive. According that most of organizations follow some other technics for their employees to motivate them without using financial benefits (Mandell and Klein, 2007).

Non-financial Techniques

According to Young et.al (2012) money alone isn't always enough to motivate employees to do well. As a business leader, you must create a company culture that promotes career fulfillment. Sometimes, people are less motivated by money as they are other things. There are many different ways to incentivize your team. Take the time to find out what makes your people tick to find the best incentive programs that will work to motivate them. Understanding your team is far more important when determining incentives, rather than merely raising the monetary incentives. You'll find the balance of good money with other incentives will create the best environment of performance and job satisfaction.

Job security:

According to Poston (2009) nothing can motivate a worker, appointed temporarily, better than provision of job security. Even if a temporary worker puts in greater efforts, lack of job security will always pose a threat. If such a worker is given job security, he will be more committed to the organization. People want to experience order, predictability and control in their lives. Like emotional security, financial security, employment, law and order, freedom from fear, social stability.

As an example: Most companies provided a better grievances handling process for their employees for increasing their emotional safety, personal loans and other salary advances for their financial safety, medical covers for health safety with job confirmations with promotions. Most BPO companies allowed to listen a good music to their employees to minimize the stress and for maintaining a good work place environment to continue their tasks with in a free mind. And also most of companies provided free transportation for their night shifters when concern their protection as well. Target depending companies mostly trust their senior employees somehow they can go for the final output of the company as expected and always the management maintain a good relationship with their senior employees to minimize their issues.

Better job Titles with promotions

According to Kosteas (2011) Job titles and promotions are important for any organization as it helps in representing a formal structure in the company and the employees do show preference for certain designations. Job titles are based on positions help by employees in the company and the positions in the hierarchy are based on employee seniority, work experience, responsibility, department, decision-making capability etc. Job titles help in identifying the post or the type of work or the responsibility held by an employee in the company. In terms of a career, a promotion refers to the advancement of an employee's rank or position in a hierarchical structure. In marketing, promotion refers to a different sort of advancement.

As an example: When considering the annual promotions of the employees most BPO organizations have a better point schemes to monitor their productivity and also they are considering the individual performance of their own tasks and also the educational background of their employees and these reports are accomplishments by their team leaders and their managers according to the knowledge and the point schemes of the employee annual performance appraisals. Some organizations change the same job titles from their market competitors and give a proper designation for their front line team members. As example inputters designation changed as data analyzing associate, and QA designation changed as quality analyzing specialist like that. Sometimes A salesman would like to be designated as a sales executive and a sweeper to be Sanitary Inspector.

Employee of the Month

According to Poston (2009) designating an Employee of the Month award gives employees something to work toward and serves as a great token of appreciation to the employee with the best performance from month to month. On the first or last Friday of each month, plan an appreciation party for this employee, whether a pizza luncheon or a simple cake in the break room. In addition, designate a bulletin board with past and current winners so people can see the award every day. The conspicuous placement of the display will assure that all of the employees see it and possibly inspire another worker to improve his performance. Consider allowing other employees to write congratulatory notes in a separate section of the board to the current employee being honored.

As an example: most companies select the employee of the month and publish their photo in the public places inside the organization to show his/her achievement to the others. And also annually reward them considering to their several performance with appreciation letters, different gifts and with other benefits. Some organizations provide lunch outs or some hotel tours to their best employees with their family members to increase their self-dignity inside their teams and the organization. Also the best employees are invited to the CEO’s club for a dinner and respect them for their positive commitment of the company.

Visit from the Owner or the Manager

According to Fuhrmann (2006) it is important that the employer recognizes hard work. Even a word of appreciation from him/her would motivate the employees to maintain the same level of performance or do even better. Employees ranked a personal thank you or good job as the most sought after form of recognition, followed by a handwritten note of appreciation from the boss. If the company planning to recognize an employee for his/her efforts, need to do it in a very public way. If employees feel too disconnected from the ownership of the company, it can lead to lower morale in the office. Another idea for employee recognition is to schedule a special surprise visit from the owner or the immediate supervisor to their desks or while them performing their regular duties. Shake the hand with a pat and personally congratulate their work. In addition to visiting the employee, seek the input on what is happening at the firm. Ask them if they have any suggestions for how the company can improve as related specifically to their job duties or other concerns. This type of recognition will not only help the employee feel more connected to her job, but it will also help the organization establish a positive and stronger connection to your employees.

 

Social and occasional activities for creating a friendly work environment.

According to Bayoumi (2012) it is time when managers should learn how to create an atmosphere that is challenging, creative and fun for employees as well as for themselves. People love their environment are calm, stress-free and happy all day. Laughter creates a bond that brings others together; people like to be with employees who are having fun. Creativity, intuition and flexibility are key to successful operation of organizations. Don't limit employee rewards to the annual functions and other events in your employee's lives. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money, and the goodwill gained toward management is immeasurable. If money is available, offer special prizes as employee rewards that you can all celebrate together.

As an example: most companies give opportunities to make better internal relationship in each other for their employees and as well as in between the production teams as well. They are arranging company nights and get together, religious and festival function like New Year celebrations, Sinhala Awurudu Ulela, Bhakthi geetha programs to them and their family members to grow up love and internal relationships each other. Most of companies arrange annual outing, internal cricket matches, and some charity programs for their employees as well. And also some companies provided a special lunch for the teams for their deadline achievements and also Friday dinner or lunch for the new comers on their first six months. Movie evening also provided inside the office for some selected team members from the company every two weeks after a raffle draw.

Create a career path with learning and development

According to Maurer (2001) when employees have an idea of what is provided or what the incentives are, they become further motivated. This will lead to increased commitment towards their employer. The members of your team will be more valuable to your organization, and to themselves, when they have opportunities to learn new skills. Provide your employees with the training they require to advance in their careers and to become knowledgeable about the latest technologies and industry news. Also most of companies have a proper designation tree and a well manage internal structure of the ranks to maintain a good career path to their employees inside the organization.

As an example: Most companies provided internal knowledge sharing session for their employees to get an idea of the tasks of the other departments  and also the senior employees can make leadership programs to their  juniors to develop the duties of the company and as well as the personal goals of the employees. They send their employees for internal and external training sessions according to their job tasks and also allow a loan facility to them for their higher studies as well. Not only that when considering the promotions, increments and other benefits which expect to give from the company the educated employees can earn an extra marks for their educational knowledge as well.

Don’t let employees become bored and welcome their ideas

According to Pradhan et.al (2014) some employees have a short attention span. Host a cupcake bake-off, plan a happy hour every Friday, have company lunches together in the office on alternate Wednesdays or allow a different person to run the weekly meetings to break up the dreariness. Everyone is unique and unpredictable and each with individual desires and some with complicated ideas. Remember not to shunt away ideas or suggestions no matter how silly or meaningless they may sound. No single strategy can ever hope to please all of your workers all at once. A tiny silly idea could be brainstormed into something brilliant sooner or later.

As an example: when considering my organization, the operational staff have main discussions in every Monday and every two month with the team leaders, team in charges, HR departments and finally with the management team to know their new ideas about the advantages and the disadvantages of the current production process and the other job and administrative related tasks in the organization like internal facilities, grievances, personal and team issues and the developments what they are expecting from the company end.

Motivate Individuals Rather Than the Team

According to Aguinis and Kraiger (2009) aligned incentives and other benifits are the only true way to ensure everyone on a team is working toward a common goal. But framing the individual strategy for each and every one in multiple ways ensures each stakeholder has a clear, personal understanding of how working together benefits himself and then the team. This technique allows you to motivate the team to accomplish amazing things have an Open-Door Policy It's amazing how a simple "please" and "thank you" fares with individual employees. We simply speak to staff the way we would want to be spoken to. We also have an open-door policy when it comes to suggestions and ideas. When every single employee feel that his/her voice matters, they in turn feel confident about their positions in the company and that they have more at stake than just a paycheck. It directly gives a positive feedback of the total outcomes of the team then the company.

References

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·         Young, GJ, Beckman, E and  Baker, E (2012) Journal of Organizational, Wiley Online Library