At Ragtrade Recruitment we are aware much has been written about the mystery of employee motivation. What drives them?  A lot of surveys have purported that money does not drive people alone and for a time I believed this to be true, however the bottom line is, what people take home at the end of the week is of prime importance to meet their needs.

Some employees get up in the morning bursting with enthusiasm to get to work, excited and passionate about what they do. Others groan, and force themselves to get to work at their "just a job" to earn money to pay the bills.  

The former group are driven by a variety of reasons:
 

• Challenge of achieving targets and goals
• Feeling important to their company's/employers success
• Passionate about their product or what they do
• Love the social interaction with the people they work with and their customers
• Problem solving
• Rewarded for performance
• Feeling appreciated

However if employees are not being paid what they feel they are worth many of these drivers will cease to motivate them and they will soon leave to find higher paying roles. This is especially happening in the current low unemployment environment. Many of our skilled apparel industry people are changing companies for money alone and many of our apparel industry companies are saying to us "if they don't want the job because they are not passionate about the opportunity that we are giving them we don't want them." or "we don't want to pay them any more because we don't think the job is worth it."

In an environment where there is a shortage of skill, this mentality is expensive for companies. The cost of recruiting and retraining is enormous compared to rewarding a good employee for the excellent job she/he is doing. We have known people to leave for another $2000 per year.

To know where your employee is on a personal level as well as a professional level is imperative. Employees work to the level of their personal needs. Therefore to raise motivation in an employee is to encourage them to raise their expectations in their personal lives.

People's personalities play a big part in motivation. What motivates one doesn't necessarily 'do it' for another.

People's personalities play a big part in motivation. What motivates one doesn't necessarily 'do it' for another. Finding out what makes the difference to the individual can make a difference. For some a pat on the back and encouraging words of a job well done is all it takes. For another a three monthly performance review with clear key performance indicators, achievable outcomes linked with monetary rewards will power them ahead.

Many of our candidates complain how their employers lock them into their current roles because they are good at it. They are constantly passed over from realizing their potential and dreams because their employer will find it difficult to replace them in their current role. These employees give up asking, lose heart and motivation, see that they are at a dead end and look elsewhere.

Don't wait until the 'horse has bolted' and you are faced with a vacancy to fill. The time and cost of retraining combined with loss of productivity can be minimized with effective and regular communication with your staff members.  Ask the questions. Know your employees, what are their dreams, what motivates them and what drives them both professionally and personally.