The importance of motivation in the workplace

Employee motivation is defined as: ‘the enthusiasm, energy level, commitment and the amount of creativity that an employee brings to the organisation on a daily basis’.

Having motivated employees in your organisation is invaluable. Motivated employees correlate with an organisation’s success; motivation is intangible, difficult to measure and extremely difficult to control, but very easy to facilitate if done correctly. It’s all about intention, intensity and perseverance, particularly in a climate where the majority of the workforce are working remotely.

Motivation can be contagious, if one employee is actively seen to be happy and engaged at work, morale will lift and motivation spreads within the team. To fully understand the importance of motivation, we have come up with four reasons why it should be a priority in the workplace:

Increased innovation: an important factor for a company's ability to innovate is the motivation of its employees. Innovation is key for sustaining a company over the long term, therefore nurturing creativity and motivation in your workplace is key. Motivated employees will be heavily invested in the success of the company; hence, they will often be responsible for generating new ideas and optimising business performance.

Increased employee engagement: employee motivation and engagement are intrinsically linked. If an employee feels motivated at work, they are more likely to work harder for the company. An engaged employee is invaluable for an organisation, research has shown that teams that are highly engaged result in 21% increased business profitability.

Increased productivity: employee motivation levels have a direct impact on productivity. Employees who are motivated carry out their responsibilities to the highest standard; production numbers increase as a result of this, in fact, Hay Group’s research on employee motivation proved that offices with engaged employees are 43% more productive.

Higher retention rate: in order to retain an employee, there are certain criteria that must be met; such as finding their role interesting and challenging, having the opportunity for development, having a good manager and also being motivated. Motivation acts as a catalyst for success, according to Allison Schnidman “Job switchers are most typically people who saw their job as a dead end, so they left it for one that offered a chance to grow”. It is important for employees to feel motivated to hit targets or achieve promotions; without a reason to be motivated, employees are more likely to stagnate and contribute less to the overall success of the business.

In 2020 it has been challenging to think of new ways to motivate employees. With many employees working remotely you lose the face-to-face interaction that can sometimes be enough to motivate your workforce. It is important, now more than ever, to focus on employee motivation, it should not fall by the wayside because people aren’t physically in an office. Although it can be difficult to motivate over Teams or Zoom, companies need to think outside the box, for example if an employee has worked particularly hard on a project, send a bouquet of flowers to their doorstep; they will feel recognised and that their hard work hasn’t been in vain, consequently leading to an increase in motivation. Employee motivation isn’t black and white, trial and error are key, don’t let your employees become demotivated.