Employee Involvement and Motivation - How Are They Related?

Employee involvement is when employees directly help an organization meet its mission and goals by using their ideas, skills, and hard work to solve problems and make decisions.

Employee motivation is what an employee brings to the company every day in terms of enthusiasm, commitment, energy level, and creativity.

But how are employee involvement and motivation related? The connection between the two is that an employee will be more involved when motivated:

Levels of employee engagement

High levels of employee motivation can be linked to highly engaged staff and may have a significant impact on your business’s bottom line. An employee is more likely to enjoy doing a job if given a reason to do so.

There are three levels of employee engagement: engaged, not engaged, and actively disengaged. When an employee is engaged, they work with passion. When they are not engaged, they feel “checked out” (the employee is unhappy and acting out).

It can be helpful to know how engaged each employee is so you can figure out what drives them and improve both.

For example, if an employee isn’t interested in their work because they don’t feel valued or recognized, you could use an employee recognition program to motivate them from the outside. That could make them want to work for the company again.

Higher performance and productivity

Highly motivated employees are often more productive and do a better job than those who are not. They tend to work harder and focus on doing their jobs as well as they can, which helps their organizations make more money.

When you know why an employee does something, you can use that information to motivate them and, in the end, make your business more productive, efficient, and effective.

Creativity and innovation at a higher level

Employees who are motivated are better at dealing with uncertainty, solving problems, and coming up with new ideas. When employees want to reach a certain goal, they won’t let a problem stop them.

Instead, they’ll think outside the box to find a new way to get the job done. For a company to be successful, its employees need to be able to adapt to changes quickly.

This is especially important for small businesses and startups, where employees often have to do many different jobs. When a team is driven, they are more likely to develop new ideas.

Better customer service

When an employee who works with customers is driven to do a good job, it often means better customer service.

This can make customers happier, leading to more sales in the long run. In an age where customer satisfaction and online reviews are important, keeping a good relationship with your customers is important. You can do that with the help of highly motivated employees.

Lowers employee absenteeism and turnover

Employees who are motivated tend to get to work on time and finish their tasks when they should. Also, motivated employees tend to stay with the company longer, which improves employee retention overall.

30% of an employee’s first year’s salary may be spent on replacing the person, according to the Department of Labor. So it’s important from a financial standpoint to keep employee turnover low.

Positive company reputation

When your employees are happy and driven, your company’s reputation can go up. When employees are motivated, they are more likely to talk positively about your company.

This is a great way to bring in new talent. When employee motivation leads to better customer service, it can also help your business’s reputation with customers.

Better attitude and behavior from employees

When employees think that their organizations care about what they have to say and are being heard, they are more likely to work hard.

This helps them feel better about the organization or their coworkers if they are upset or angry with them. They become more positive and helpful, which helps them grow and develop in their personal and professional lives.

Getting an organization to its goals

The best way to get people to work hard is to make sure their personal goals align with those of the company. The driven people then work hard to reach their own goals and the company’s goals. Employees who aren’t motivated won’t be too excited about reaching the organization’s goals.

Better relationships between managers and employees

Managers who aren’t good cause many people to quit their jobs. If you want to keep your employees for a long time, you need to ensure that all of your managers and employees get along well.

Managers can build good relationships with their team members by finding out what motivates them and giving them work opportunities that fit those motivations.

This not only drives employee involvement in general but makes employees want to work harder. It also shows that their managers care about them and their needs. This can lead to better relationships and more employees staying with the company.

Ways to get your employees motivated so that they get involved

Develop a modern work environment

The work environment is one of the most important ways to get people to do their best.

A smart, modern office is more likely to make people successful than an old building with peeling paint and bad furniture. The office should be pleasant, with lots of natural light and a comfortable temperature.

The employees will like extras like a place to hang out, eat lunch, play games, and talk.

Communicate clearly and openly

Good things happen when people can talk to each other. When employees know what they should be doing and their roles, they feel motivated.

Set goals

Challenges are fun for employees. If employees are given the same boring, pointless tasks every day, they may lose motivation. Set goals for your employees that are better and can be reached to keep them highly motivated, productive, and engaged.

It gives employees a reason to work hard without being asked. Setting goals in the right way will help your employees reach their full potential as people and help your business reach its goals.

Get people to compete in a friendly way

Competition can be good in some ways. If you set up a workplace where people compete with each other in a friendly way, it can be good for your business. A place where things get done is competitive.

Positive competition can make people more creative and push them to develop better and bigger ideas. Encourage employees to participate in competitions or challenges because it’s good for them and may even help them trust and get along better.

Friendly competition between teams helps people improve their skills and gets them more involved in their work.

Respect the people who work for you

Every worker has the right to be treated with respect and dignity by their boss. Having a respectful workplace lowers stress, fights, and other problems at work. It makes talking and working together easier.

Respect helps build a positive culture, which makes employees happier and more motivated at work, making them more satisfied with their jobs.

You make people afraid and angry when you yell, scold, insult, or make sarcastic comments. This behavior might get you results right away, but your employees will only do the bare minimum, and your smart and creative workers will want to quit.

Be fair and steady

Apply all of the rules and policies the same way to all employees. You shouldn’t pick your favorite things. Be there for everyone and give good advice. Everyone should be encouraged to take part.

Final verdict

A company’s bottom line is directly influenced by the motivation and engagement of its workers, whether that impact is positive or negative.

HR, managers, and team leaders need to work together to set up employees for success with projects that keep teams engaged and motivated.

Organizations may boost productivity, cut employee churn, and even encourage employees to come up with new ideas for the company by implementing a very good engagement strategy and the appropriate incentive schemes.


About the Author
Hi there, I'm James, founder of Melbado. I have over 20 years of experience as a leader and entrepreneur. Recently, I turned to leadership coaching and writing to pass on my knowledge to the next generation. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me via our contact page.

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