Employee wellbeing, motivation and development are some of the most important responsibilities of a company and its leadership. After all, a company’s success stands and falls with their employees‘ engagement and commitment. How to build employee motivation and what is the role of human resources?
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Successful leaders know that trying to increase their employees‘ engagement through purely financial incentives is not a sustainable endeavor. Bonuses usually only lead to short-term effects. Intrinsic motivation methods are more successful in the long run. The aim is not to influence employees from the outside, but to enable, foster and grow the basic motivation they already have. This approach is based on the fact, that people are already motivated by nature to perform a certain action.
Employee engagement accountability
Employee engagement is still commonly understood as a human resource accountability. It is expected for the Human Resources department to solely create, implement, own and follow up on an engagement strategy and its action items. It is too often forgotten that employee engagement needs to be embedded in the base of an organization, it’s culture, and it needs the involvement, contribution and commitment from everyone in order to succeed. Only by a tight collaboration between departments, leadership and business we can create a truly impactful sense of motivation, long lasting engagement and loyalty.
Leadership and communities matter
Leadership buy-in is imperative. Leaders are role models, intentionally or not. Their actions and commitment often serve as a benchmark, inspiration or demotivation for employees.
People are individuals wanting to contribute, build, engage, but above all, we want to belong. This is a fundamental human need. Since the very beginning of the human race we have naturally formed communities. In a community, engagement develops automatically. Communities are theme-based and have a common purpose to achieve results. Employees who are active community members are more satisfied, and more engaged.
Identify the needs
Actively encouraging employee engagement requires an understanding of their needs in the first place. Let’s take Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs, which divides human needs into five levels that form the tiers of the pyramid from bottom to top:
Meaningful motivation
When it comes to employee motivation in the context of current management topics, the purpose-giving aspect comes into play. Experiencing meaning is the strongest motivation for a person.
An example: A consultant in the company may not have the salary he/she/they wishes. Moreover, he/she/they may work and live in an environment where Maslow’s basic and security needs are covered. Nevertheless, he/she/they is highly motivated and fulfills his/her/their task with high personal commitment. First of all his/her/their accountabilities are meaningful to him/her/them, he/she/they feels part of the community, valuable to the team and experiences a purpose beyond his/her/their job role. Such employees act out of inner conviction and work with above-average success.
Provide more than a job! HR measures and activities
The company can offer a wide range of opportunities to foster well being, motivation and commitment. As diverse as the offers are, it is important not to lose sight of the goal. A few examples from a HR business perspective:
- Leadership: Make sure leaders understand the value of employee engagement and the importance of them following through on their promises by providing leadership development programs
- Allow young talents into leadership positions creating an “Early Leader” program. This can bring change from within, allowing a different perspective in a circle with similar mindsets.
- Enable round tables and leadership connect sessions to give a platform to your employees to raise their voices.
- Create a 360 feedback culture
- Offer Mentoring and reverse Mentoring
- Benefits: Move away from static benefit offerings. Let employees choose from a range of benefits depending on their current live situation.
- Personal development: Provide ongoing opportunities for development and internal rotations
- Learning: Provide continuous learning, but above all, provide the time employees need to learn.
- Communities: Encourage interests by establishing theme based communities with Leaders as community sponsors.
- Communications: Establish continuous open and transparent communication. Provide information platforms and contact points where employees can seek support or place questions
- Wellbeing: Encourage a healthy lifestyle, not only by offering mental and physical wellbeing programs but by offering your employees the flexibility they need to achieve this. Leaders need to lead by example.
- Social responsibility: Give employees the opportunity to give back.
Conclusion
In today’s world, there is no right or wrong; it’s all about a true commitment to employees and respective actions. The acme of employee engagement is the ability to tap into the discretionary effort of the individual and team, this requires a true commitment to their professional and personal success.
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