OVERVIEW: While the field of "employee motivation" is not yet considered a component of the HR field, it nevertheless forms an integral part of several HR subsections: Employee Development and Employee Relations are directly influenced by the HR department's attitudes about the importance of fostering high levels of motivation. Staffing and Recruitment are affected and facilitated by the degree to which current employees are motivated by their work. Performance Appraisals serve not only as an opportunity to enhance motivation but also as a forum to gauge levels of motivation. Understanding what motivates people affects the level of compensation that is appropriate and whether incentives are required to reach individual and corporate goals. Lastly, training becomes both a faster process and a more effective one when both trainer and trainee are highly motivated by what they are doing.
What we have done then is to compile a list of informative web sites and articles on motivation and how they can be of use to an HR manager as they pertain to the subsections described above.
The Entrepreneur Network Article
Describes how to make sure new hires will fit into the company culture. If within 90 days it's apparent they don't fit let them go. Treat employees as adults, avoid paternalism, avoid incentive pay and avoid long-term employees. Cross train everybody, everyone should get an opportunity to try every job.
Build Intrinsic Motivation Into Your Incentive Programs
By paying attention to individual employee interests HR managers can customize incentives to help build intrinsic motivation. Learn the career goals of each of your employees. Partner in their achievement of these goals. What do individual employees consider motivating to them?
A New Means to Improve Productivity, Profitability, and Employee Morale
This site lists numerous "family-friendly" ideas that can be instituted and provide low cost or no cost methods to improve recruitment, retention and morale.
Team Motivation
How to generate motivation in a team environment. The author outlines five important factors necessary to generate and maintain high motivation for teams.
How to Motivate Employees
A good HR resource outlining ways to change the organization, not the individual, in order to foster a motivational friendly environment. Lists several organizational behaviors that demotivate employees which need to be eliminated, also lists those that are true motivators.
Motivation Guidelines for a Supervisor
Offers a good "Motivation Guidelines" for any HR department.
Dump the Cash, Load On The Praise
Article gives a general overview of why many believe money is not a good motivator. Provides good insights into what is motivating and provides examples.
Rewards Produce Temporary Compliance
Good summary of why rewards don't work to motivate employees. Suggests paying workers fairly and then getting them to forget about money and do their job. Lists some general concepts of motivating factors.
Be Creative When Rewarding Employees
Ideas for encouraging positive performance that don't involve monetary rewards.
Employee Appreciation as Motivation
Lists numerous ways to show appreciation on an employee and increase their motivation. Help your employees develop marketable skills which in turn will make them more likely to stay with your organization.
Top 10 ways to Motivate Employees
Bob Nelson who seems to be the guru or sorts in the field of on line motivation lists his top ten ways to motivate today's employee.
Knowing What Makes Morale High
Learn what employees want from their job and how to notice when moral is low when they won't tell you. Suggestions on how to run a feedback forum to learn what is bothering employees as well as excellent examples of how to run such forums.
Basics About Employee Motivation
This site clears up the common myths associated with employee motivation and provides steps that employers can take to motivate their own employees.
Employee Motivation Theory and Practice
The subject of employee motivation is not clearly understood and more often than not poorly practiced. We must have a good understanding of human nature in order to understand employee motivation. This site takes a human nature approach to provide tips for motivating employees.
Boosting Employee Morale
You have to create an optimal environment in the employee's perception, as part of an integrated strategy that inspires people to do their best day in and day out. This site lists seven key issues in creating such an environment.
Understanding Employee Motivation
The Hawthorne Studies began the human relations approach to management, whereby the needs and motivation of employees become the primary focus of managers. This site highlights many good points from this study.
Morale/Motivation/Retention/Recognition
Employee morale, motivation, and retention are explored in these links. What creates motivated, contributing people? How do you maintain high employee morale when people work long hours? How does your recognition system contribute to or deflate morale? Answers are here.