Will you get a pay rise this year? Will your colleagues? Has it been a few years since your last decent pay rise and how has that affected your job performance? Has your employer done anything different to keep you motivated when money is tight and pay rises scarce?
If you answered “no” to all of the above, join the club. Faced with weak consumer demand, companies have had to cut more costs to maintain or lift profits. Wages and salaries growth is sluggish, and labour productivity per hour worked is rising, economic data shows.
Reckon you're in line for a pay rise? Your boss probably doesn't agree.Credit: Glenn Hunt
Put another way, people are doing more work for the same pay.
That trend is not new. But companies can only turn the screws so hard before staff, even high performers, get tired of a rising workload for no extra pay. Instead of resigning, they lose motivation and their performance wanes. Or they mentally resign.
Cynics will argue that just holding a job in some troubled industries should be motivation enough. However, for staff working harder than ever, and watching their pay flatline as living costs rise, their motivation is about doing the minimum required to keep the job. It’s certainly not about doing more work to help their employer, or wholeheartedly embracing organisational change.
Companies requiring deep structural change to survive the next few years will have to get much better at motivating staff without money (ie no significant pay rises or bonuses). In fact, some will live or die on their ability to motivate staff without money.
What’s your view?
- Will Australian companies have to get much better at motivating staff without money in the next few years?
- Do enough companies give this issue serious consideration?
- What are the best ways to motivate staff without money?
- Do you expect wages growth to stay sluggish or fall in the next two years?
Here are nine ways to motivate without money. Add your ideas to this blog:
1. Measure it
There’s no point trying to motivate staff if you don’t understand current attitudes and what employees most value. Even a small business with five to 20 employees can try to track the organisation’s culture though a simple survey and quantify what motivates staff.
2. Communication
Nothing is more de-motivating than being left in the dark when your company struggles. Bad managers hoard information to preserve power when they should provide facts to staff and help them understand the situation. It’s amazing how good staff respond when their employer asks.
3. Be straight
Have you ever had a fast-talking boss who promises a pay rise next year, or the year after, or some other bogus reward, not knowing if the company can deliver? Broken promises quickly add up and before long, employees believe nothing the company says. Never make promises you can’t keep.
4. New opportunities
In my experience, few things are more motivating than being given a terrific career opportunity: leading a team at a young age, attending an executive meeting, representing the company at an event, or seeing how another part of the business works, for example. All it takes is managers with a bit of foresight and a willingness to put more effort into developing staff.
5. One-on-one discussions
Management consultant McKinsey & Co identified the power of one-on-one discussions between company leaders and staff in a classic 2009 paper, “Motivating people: Getting beyond money”, which it recently re-published. I couldn’t agree more: a boss who spends 20 minutes with a talented employee will do more to motivate him or her than any internal communication or company event. Yes, it’s hard to find time, but ask whether you can allocate 20 minutes each week for a one-on-one discussion.
6. Change it up
I’m always amazed at how some companies keep workers in the same roles for years on end when it is obvious they are bored stiff. Getting some staff to swap roles or take on new ones, while painful at times, can enliven them and be a much greater motivator than money alone. It’s also healthy for staff development and organisation sustainability.
7. Praise
Some companies get so beaten up they forget to celebrate small wins. Tired, cranky managers forget about the power of praising employees, when warranted, in front of their colleagues. Their bitterness stops them from even mustering a company-wide email that congratulates staff on a job well done. When small wins are unnoticed, what motivation is there to go for the large ones?
8. Workplace flexibility
Ever notice how employees who depend on workplace flexibility are more motivated? For example, the parent who needs more flexibility during school holidays is grateful for his or her employer’s understanding and support, and eager to repay the faith. Yet many companies have only scratched the surface with genuine workplace flexibility: it could be their best way to motivate staff without money.
9. Corporate social responsibility programs
Why do some companies with strong corporate social responsibility programs have lower staff turnover and more motivated workers? Because their staff know the company, large or small, stands for more than just making money, and are motivated by the prospect of giving something back to the community. Companies that maintain a corporate social responsibility program at a time of intense cost cutting might find it is one of their best long-term investments.