, Common Motivators for Employees Outside of Money

Money is one of the biggest motivators to employees when finding a new job, but there are many other things that can motivate employees. Below are three things that can motivate employees more than money:

1. Experience

Starting a new job can be a great feeling, but if you already know exactly what you’re doing when you start then that job is not really benefitting you the way it should be. Ever new job should be an opportunity to gain new knowledge and experience to make employees more well-rounded, employable individuals. So, experience, regardless of pay, can be more than enough of a motivator to employees who need more experience to get a higher up job in their field.

In a 2018 Forbes.com article titled America’s Best Employers 2018, David Stafford, Chief Human Resources officer of Michelin North America stated “Once employees are in the door, it’s the advancement opportunities that keep them coming back for more. . . people come for a job and stay for a career,” says Stafford, his own 34-year journey from material science engineer to the C-suite a testament to Michelin’s culture of longevity.

  1. Progression

Employees like to be able to see where they are in a job, and how far they’ve come since they first started, seeing yourself progress can be a great motivator to employees to keep up their hard work. However, with progression comes recognition, meaning employers must know how to recognize their employee’s progression and properly reward them when they have done well. This doesn’t mean giving employees big, fancy gifts, but simply telling employees that they are doing a great job can go a long way in boosting morale and increasing their motivation.

  1. Responsibility

Giving your employees responsibility, whether promoting them or allowing them to lead a project, can motivate them to work harder to produce a greater outcome. Promotions tend to come with increased pay, but if you were to increase an employee’s pay and not increase their responsibilities, they would not be greatly motivated to try harder. Employees find joy in being able to lead and accomplish tasks at work, and the first step is to motivate your employees by giving them more responsibilities at work.

  1. Acknowledgement

Providing recognition in front of an employee’s peers and coworkers and managers can and will have a longer-lasting motivational effect on an employee than money. Sometimes money can be a “demotivator” because employees either think that the goals that will lead to the attainment of the goal are too high or it’s not enough to get motivated. If we refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, money would fall into the 2nd lowest level “Safety” and recognition can be in the Social Belonging level which is in the level above Safety and leads to the next highest level being “Esteem”. When Paychex, a business processing outsourcing firm, asked 2000 people why they’d leave their jobs, 53% said “employers don’t care about employees” and 45% said “lack of recognition or reward.”