Читать книгу Motivating Today's Employees - Lin Grensing-Pophal - Страница 13

Are you motivated? How do you really know? Motivation can be a tough term to define — even when we relate the term to our own behavior. Imagine, then, how difficult it can be to spot, and reinforce, motivation in others.

But spot it we must if we wish to maintain a fully operational workforce. Employee turnover has risen to startling levels in the past two decades. According to a survey conducted by the Bureau of National Affairs, turnover increased from 1.1 percent per month in both 1997 and 1998 to 1.2 percent in 1999. Worse, turnover increased at an even greater pace for smaller companies (those with fewer than 250 employees) from .09 percent in 1998 to 1.2 percent in 1999.

There is no doubt that managers and business owners are critically aware of the need to motivate their staff members. Recruitment and retention are high on the list of corporate initiatives at most organizations as they struggle to maintain a fully functioning workforce. What it takes to keep employees on the job, however, is not necessarily clear to those attempting the task. In fact, a poll conducted of senior executives at Drake Beam Morin (DBM), a leading workplace consulting firm, revealed the following misconceptions about the impact of various practices on employee retention — misconceptions, says dbm, that organizations need to overcome.

1) “Show me the money.” While there is no question that compensation is a very powerful lure to entice employees to accept new opportunities, money is not necessarily the answer to the retention issue. dbm’s experience in working with people in career transition has found that career development and challenging work opportunities are often greater incentives than money to stay or start with an employer.

2) “Recruitment is a separate issue.” Not so. An effective retention strategy begins at the earliest stages of the selection and recruitment process, according to dbm. Selecting the right people — those whose skill sets and attitudes fit the organization’s needs and values — is critical to retention. Most turnover, they say, is due to “bad chemistry.”

3) “Training will only make employees more marketable.” In the long run, providing employees with the latest in learning opportunities may indeed raise their market value. However, it also helps to motivate them and enhance their performance in their current positions. Offering training and development opportunities is a very worthwhile retention strategy.

4) “We can’t hold on to good people.” The notion of holding on, which companies often use in a figurative sense, may mask a more literal problem, dbm says. The traditional view of retention, to which many companies still adhere, is the ability to hold on to or keep employees. Today’s reality is that companies need to adopt a more flexible and understanding approach to meeting individual needs by creating an environment in which employees want to stay and grow. Employees need to be viewed as free agents, not fixed assets.

5) “Once they leave, who cares?” The traditional approach was to send departing employees on their way and not look back. However, valuable lessons may be learned from those who leave, most often during exit interviews, which can help bolster future retention rates.

Recruiting, retaining, and motivating employees is a complex process rife with misconceptions. Before going any further, let’s take a closer look at some of most common myths surrounding the issue of motivation.