Stimulate To Innovate – Empowering And Motivating Your Staff

29/09/2011

By Guy Rigby, Director & Head of Entrepreneurs, Smith & Williamson

All growing companies want to improve performance, productivity and efficiency. With the right motivation you can achieve all three, yet many companies lack an explicit reward strategy and haven’t considered which incentives their employees respond to best.

Although it’s obviously an important factor, it’s not just about the money. Research shows that as long as people feel they are being paid fairly, how much they are prepared to give depends on how well they are understood, appreciated and treated. And, the more employees you have, the more impact motivation, or the lack...

...of it, will have on your business. The better you treat your staff, the better they’ll treat your customers and you as a business.

With today’s organisations being far flatter in terms of hierarchy than the multi-layered businesses of yesteryear, there are fewer opportunities for promotion through the ranks. This means that business leaders need to seek out alternative methods to motivate their people.

For most people there will be four key motivating factors: financial security, the job itself, scope for learning and development, and recognition and reward. A company’s ‘total reward’ offering may encompass each of these areas and include salary, bonuses, share awards, benefits, pension, life cover, training, career development, company culture and the working environment.

Financial security

Although money isn’t always the most important consideration when deciding to join or stay with a business, we need to pay our bills, put food on our table and feel adequately secure before we can be motivated to achieve more demanding or superior objectives.

Rather than eating into your profits, paying the right people well can have the opposite effect, not only by encouraging loyalty and reducing staff turnover, but by boosting motivation and performance. So make sure you are competitive and... continued on page two >

 

 

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