9 Things That Motivate Employees More Than Money

Bassam Abdul Baki

Grinding the two women would boost my morale.

NormDroid

Call me old fashioned but I'd rather take the money thank you. :)

Software Kinetics Wear a hard hat it's under construction
Metro RSS

hairy_hats

Can't agree with 4. I know people who never criticise or correct their children, and it turns them into arrogant little shits. If you don't have enough pride in your own work to strive not to make mistakes just because it is your work, then no amount of touchy-feely talks from your manager is going to help.

Nagy Vilmos

You're old fashioned!

Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett

bosedk

One more to the list of things that look good on paper but is a dud when practiced. Could work for small workplaces like in "Office" though.

Amir Mahfoozi

I personally prefer all of them together, I mean firing project managers and giving their salary to developers ;)

realJSOP

He sounds like a liberal/communist: 1.Be generous with praise. (even if it's false praise, it will keep the employee feeling like he can do no wrong until you can muster the secret police to raid his home) 2.Get rid of the managers. (substitute "managers" with "bankers", "rich people", etc) 3.Make your ideas theirs. (brainwashing is always an effective technique) 4.Never criticize or correct. (just send over the secret police without warning) 5.Make everyone a leader. (everyone is equal - now there's an idea) 6.Take an employee to lunch once a week. (engrain a sense of entitlement so that they learn to be depenedent on the state) 7.Give recognition and small rewards. (this sounds like #1) 8.Throw company parties. (it makes rounding them up and putting them into detention camps a lot easier) 9.Share the rewards—and the pain. (many times, the state's reward IS the pain it causes).

".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997

Rajesh R Subramanian

There are things that I take for granted (work-life balance, good working atmosphere, knowledgeable people, challenging work, and so on). However, the fact is that I work for money. If they don't meet my monetary demands, they can hire someone else who will do it for less money. But then get what you pay for.

From the crappy article:

http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=960869492&ids=0TcPsPd30VdjAIdPsMdP4SczoVb3kOd3AQcjwReiMNdPgMczgMdzAIczAQejoUc3oV&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-ttl-0&ut=2NB3aI6s2Uxl01[^]

Be generous with praise - I'm bound to become extremely suspicious of anyone who praises me unnecessarily.
Get rid of the managers - I'm sure that there are some really stupid managers and I've worked with one of them in the past. However, there are some very good managers too, and without them things may not work the way intended.
Make your ideas theirs (People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. “I’d like you to do it this way” turns into “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?”) - You see, I'm not some 6 year old. I know exactly which idea came from whom, and I'd rather prefer them tell me WTF is to be done, or leave it the **** alone to me instead of asking "do you think if we take a dump in the underpants instead, will it be nice ... blah"? Either tell me what exactly is to be done, or leave it to my control.
Never criticize or correct - Bollocks. If I'm not being corrected when I go wrong, I'll have no chance of improving myself in a workplace like that. They've immediately lost me as an employee.
Make everyone a leader - WTF is this about? Whoever does it better deserves to go up.
Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them. (Don’t make an announcement that you’re

TorstenH

:laugh: management myths :laugh: Free beer, lots of money and some hooters to server is all we need.

regards Torsten When I'm not working

Nagy Vilmos

Don't hold back Raj, call it as you see it. ;)

Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett

Rajesh R Subramanian

Spoken like a true programmer! :laugh:

"Real men drive manual transmission" - Rajesh.

realJSOP

Mmmmmm, hooters...

".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997

Rage

No comment about the big guy ?

Bassam Abdul Baki

Nope. He's yours if you want him.

Web - BM - RSS - Math - LinkedIn

Rage

No, thank you.

peterchen

Maybe you are just poor? (Sorry.) The point for the employer is that after reaching a base level, more motivation through money becomes prohibitively expensive. In other words, the money you ask for isn't there. However, there are things the employer can do tp improve your quality of life measurably without spending much money. Leaving work healthy, happy and energetic you can make much more out of the money you do have.

FILETIME to time_t
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchy

peterchen

viaducting wrote:

I know people who never criticise or correct their children, and it turns them into arrogant little sh*ts.

And this applies to all children... how? Or... managing adults? I've helped out at youth camps a few times. What I learntis that critizicing alone doesn't take you anywhere. Clear rules, clear consequences. This has only limited application in a business environment, however. I also don't think that avoiding critique by all means is helpful. However, punishment alone pushes people to avoid When shitfancontact happens, I make it a point to (a) figure out how to solve the immediate crisis and (b) how to make it better the next time. There is some room for a technical analysis *why* something happened but that is better done when everything calmed down again. Dwelling on the immediate cause in a panicky situation easily leads to corporate stupidity. ("Why the fuck didn't you read my e-mail! It was important! From now on, all employees have to check their e-mail every half hour!")

FILETIME to time_t
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchy

Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

People are only motivated by non-financial rewards when they have no chance to make more than their peers. Which makes sense, most jobs feature scaled salaries based on tenure rather than ability or success. If they paid you more to make you happy, they would have to pay every one more to make you happy. So instead, they hold a lame party, and make you fill out anonymous employee moral surveys with your name written on them.

Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

SilimSayo

Cut the paycheck and see if the motivation will stay at the same level.

Lost User

But a company can motivate with the mis-guided belief that you can obtain more money :~ Even if you are at the top of the scale, a company can give you numbers showing how there is room for growth.

Typical Manager says:

If you do yadda yadda yadda, we can land this client and we will all be winners. You will certainly move to the top of the scale!

In truth they are correct that everyone will be winners and you will move to the top of the scale (you are at the top... I guess 'move' is incorrect but then again most people get a nudge just for inflation, which could be considered a 'move'). The truth may be that the client lands more funds but also has an overhead that will consume those funds. Doesn't really matter. The fact is they motivated you "with money". Granted they did not give you any money, but the tactic is the same. Statistically it is a winner for employee motivation. In the cases an employee does not care about money, they tend to want more lax hours. Which actually is also more money (work less for more money). Not providing the 'scale' shift (that was promised) is easily washed away with crafty wording and stats.

Manager can say:

The scale has shifted, you are actually over the top. It seems the recession has lowered the average pay for [your role/title]. However, you did do a marvelous job so we will give you something (Inflation adjustment).

However allowing an employee to work less hours will actually cost the employer siginifantly more as a new employee will cost far more than a slight bump in pay, regardless of how much you make. This is of course not the case if the workload allows it. But in that case you may want to question your actually value in your role as if it is deteriating you may find it will not be needed at all soon enough.

Computers have been intelligent for a long time now. It just so happens that the program writers are about as effective as a room full of monkeys trying to crank out a copy of Hamlet.