How to assess the degree of motivation of employees

In the view of most people's motivation - it is something ephemeral, strange and unknown reason the right. In fact, statistics show that there is a direct correlation between the involvement of employees and profits of the company. Graber Sean (Sean Graber), founder and CEO Virtuali, talks about two factors that will help assess the degree of motivation of employees in your organization.

Every year, companies in the world spend almost three-quarters of a billion dollars to increase motivation employees. But if you ask managers what it means to "increased involvement of employees", you get a very contradictory answers. The definitions can be as simple ( "extra effort"), and too arcane ( "Integrated nomonologicheskaya communications, including characteristics of the status of the employee and his behavior model ").

This opacity is a problem because it suggests that the motivation - whatever it was - needs to be managed.

According to the survey Gallup, among organizations whose employees reported high motivation, costs were significantly decreased - from 25% to 65% - as compared with similar companies costs (depending on the size turnover). They also received a higher evaluation of performance and quality of customer service.

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Therefore, the search for a more precise definition of motivation - this is not just an exercise in philosophy. As a result, employee motivation significantly affect the company's profits.

Often, the company's management approach to the issue simplistically: polls the staff of the degree of job satisfaction and on the basis of these replies is taking any measures to increase motivation. As a result, lose sight of the most important - cues. For example, what use is that Mary appreciates his manager, if it is not making every effort to work every day?

Other companies involved in the work of analysts who study the behavior and productivity of workers. The disadvantage of this approach is that analysts in their report may not indicate how workers perceive the situation themselves. John can stay in touch with clients and outside working hours, but whether he likes it or he feels burned out, so miserable?

It is crucial to consider all these factors together - the opinion of workers and their behavior, as well as the efforts that they applied to improve the performance of the company - to determine which levers to use to motivate people working on you. After all levers that are relevant to Mary, will not have the same values ​​for John.

When my colleagues and I work with companies, we conduct surveys and interviews to assess the opinion of employees on the following six areas: culture, job responsibilities, promotion, The company's management, the management and the whole of the benefitsWhich gives them a job. We also check the behavior of respondents in six categories: level of performance, personal development, loyalty to the company, recreation, Environment and temperament.

We have come to such a system of indicators, studying the scientific literature on the motivation of employees and filling gaps with through surveys: what makes people not only to perform their professional duties, but also to do more than required. This approach allows companies even without the involvement of analysts to find a connection between the expectations of employees and their activities. Those who have collected and analyzed data on the behavior of employees at work, can get more information - for example, if searching for employees of the company, new jobs or not. Then, over time, the company will be able to track how the motivation of employees.

Returning to our hypothetical example with Mary and John, we can see how the assessment is only the views of staff, or only of his behavior could lead to misinterpretation of their motivation. We know that Mary appreciates his manager, but does that make it an employee of the month? Maybe she does at work is only a necessary minimum, ignoring requests from colleagues for help and giving up additional opportunities for learning and development. This tells us that may not need the extra push she and other workers. John shows external signs of motivation - working with clients in the private time. But maybe he is a workhorse or a martyr, suffering in silence? We can learn about it and see what he thinks about the significance of their work, their own accomplishments and salary.

A holistic approach to understanding motivation gives more detailed information about what causes people to remain in the company and to work as best as possible.

Instead of estimating the motivation of both low, medium or high, companies will be able to understand how employees perceive themselves organization, their opinion influences behavior and how these factors combine to affect performance and profits firm. If companies do not pay enough attention, they risk to come to a misunderstanding with the staff and miss out on all the benefits that provides increased motivation.