Motivation

Motivation is defined as, "the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior." Motivation is key in personal life as well as the career world. Motivation in the work place is highly dependent on employers being able to understand the needs and wants of their employees. When employers can understand and satisfy an employee's needs, the employee is more inclined to perform well in his position. "The ranked order of motivating factors were: (a) interesting work, (b) good wages, (c) full appreciation of work done, (d) job security, (e) good working conditions, (f) promotions and growth in the organization, (g) feeling of being in on things, (h) personal loyalty to employees, (i) tactful discipline, and (j) sympathetic help with personal problems." (Accel-Team) In order to achieve all or some of these key motivating factors in the work place, an employee generally will want interesting work, good wages, and recognition from superiors and peers.

Interesting work is most important to employees. Surprisingly it beat salary as a motivating factor. The easiest way to find out what stimulates and inspires an employee to do his best is to simply ask the employee what his interests are and what he enjoys doing. A superior can then take that into consideration when the right assignment for that person comes along. Employers should think long term when hiring an employee in the sense that they need to see the employees motivation and where they stand. If the employee is not easily motivated and the employer finds it a chore to have to keep after the employee to do well on assignments, this can turn into a recurring problem and may cause additional problems in the long term.

When an employee finds his or her work more interesting, the employee wants to be more involved and therefore increases employee productivity. Thus the employee tends to exert an increased amount of effort for longer periods of time towards an individual as well as a company-oriented goal. Companies have begun to realize this and act accordingly to benefit the company and its desired long-term objectives. There are plenty of employees that just "punch the clock." They go to work just for the paycheck and nothing else. Not only are these employees hurting themselves, they are hurting the company. It is no longer a 9-5 workday world. Many of today's jobs demand more than 40 hours a week. Many employees spend more time with office co-workers than they do with their own families. Therefore with this constant demand on employees, it's crucial that they are happy and content with their workload.

Another motivating factor, and the most obvious, is wages. This includes, but it not limited to salary, benefits (including medical and dental), bonuses, stock options, and 401K plans. Employers motivate employees with these incentives to make them want to come to work everyday and perform their tasks well. Incentives like a 401K plan can also motivate employees to not only come in everyday, but also grow within that company. For instance, at places such as assembly plants, persons who have been there for a good length of time know how each station operates and is able to move around more freely and teach newer employees the way things work. As a personal example, I was recently awarded a bonus from my company because of a major deal that we just completed. It felt good to be given a monetary reward. It also felt great to know that my ideas and input helped to bring this deal to a successful close. Before I received my surprise bonus I was planning on taking a day off "just because". However, since I have received the bonus, I decided against it.

People want to feel self worth and feel like they are needed or "in the loop." Employee motivation is basically a cycle. Interesting work motivates the employee. When the employee is motivated, it increases that employee's productivity. When the productivity increases, this generates higher earnings for the employer. When there are higher earnings for the employer, he can then pass it back to the employees.

Employees, as well as any individual, yearn for recognition for tasks that they feel are worthy of praise. Employees need