Motivation at Work: Is Money Really the Best Way to Inspire Your Team?

Motivation is the inner drive that encourages you to do or not to do something. Motivation comes from the basic needs of the person; they cannot do anything without getting satisfaction. So, let me get straight to my point: is money the best way to motivate someone?

The context in which you have raised this query is not understood. Are you a student or a professional? Is employee motivation a challenge in your organization? Do you have evidence to prove that the offer of money has increased employee motivation?

There is no evidence to prove that monetary benefits or remuneration motivate employees. It only serves to turn employees into "yes-persons." However, these "yes-persons" may not necessarily be motivated. Their strategy is to please their boss by always saying "yes," working long hours, sacrificing family life, and accepting work-life imbalance.

In comparison to India, remuneration is much better in the Gulf countries. However, Indians who work there are not necessarily motivated. They simply work for the money and accept whatever is offered to them. Money does not even control employee attrition. Last year, there was a report in the Times of India on why employees leave their companies. You can refer to the following link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/46511067.cms

The Essence of Motivation

The essence of motivation lies in empowerment. It also lies in allowing the emergence of divergent views and creating an atmosphere of positive conflict rather than false harmony. Motivation lies in valuing employees who have enriched the organization, not putting them on par with less-contributing individuals. Motivation lies in preventing employees from using the organization for personal gain.

Employee motivation is a complex matter, gentlemen. If it were easy, motivational factories would coexist with production factories!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

I share the perspective with Mr. Dinesh.

Meta-Analysis by Tim Judge and Colleagues (2010)

Let's learn about the meta-analysis conducted by Tim Judge and his colleagues in 2010. The authors reviewed 120 years of studies to synthesize findings from over 90 quantitative studies. The results show that the association between wage and job satisfaction is really weak. There is less than a 2% overlap between pay and work satisfaction levels. Also, the correlation between pay and pay satisfaction was just slightly higher, indicating that employee satisfaction with their salary is mostly independent of their actual salary. When the authors conducted group-level comparisons, they found that employees earning wages in the top half of their data range had the same levels of job satisfaction as those earning wages in the bottom half of the data range. According to engagement research on 1.4 million employees from 192 organizations in 49 industries and 34 countries by Gallup—a U.S. research-based, global performance-management consulting company—there is no considerable difference in employee engagement by pay level.

Implications for HR Management

Overall, the results have significant implications for HR management: if we want engaged employees, money is clearly not the exact answer. Money doesn’t really buy employee engagement. To be worse, the more employees focus on their salaries, the less they will focus on learning new skills and having fun, which are closely related to their work performance.

Ways to Buy Employee Engagement Without Money

There are many ways to buy employee engagement, attain higher productivity, and bring out a happier business culture—without money. Below are proven ways that you can refer to 10 Practical Ways to Buy Employee Engagement without Money.

Regards,