Motivation is the state of mind when you have a strong desire to do certain things. Motivated employees put in their best and produce excellent results. It is important that employers identify and use the right motivational technique based on the employees’ personality traits. Moreover, some recent researches indicate that female employees do not always get motivated by using the same tactics as their male counterparts.
It is the responsibility of the HR professionals to understand the psychology of the workforce before implementing any motivational strategy in the organization.A female executive working in the IT sector says, “With long working hours and pressure from the home front, I used to get completely drained out at the end of the day. I was on the verge of quitting my job. My company realized my difficulty and offered me work from home option up to three days in a week. I was so much motivated by this gesture that its been three years I am still with the organization.” It is a fact that a motivated employee sticks to the organization, thereby reducing the rate of attrition.
Males and females vary in their needs. Hence, the techniques used to motivate male employees may or may not work in case of female employees. While promotions, salary, insurance benefits, career development, opportunities for further education are primary considerations for men, women get motivated by family friendly policies like flexi time or work from home option (in addition to the above mentioned techniques). A HR professional says, “Women are traditionally family oriented and are more emotional than men. They sometimes have a feeling of being ignored at home and work. Taking this into consideration if you simply present a flower bouquet or gift vouchers on special occasions or send an e-mail wishing on her birthday, it will have a great impact on her. Such steps motivate the female employees much more than male employees. Of course, the motivational tactic has to be customized according to the situation as well as the organization we are dealing with.”
Ensuring workplace security and safe mode of commuting also helps motivate the female workforce. This holds true particularly for media professionals or those working in BPOs or the hospitality sector because they have to work in night shifts.
Motivation is the key to creating a high performance workplace. It is all about making your organization a fun place to work so that the highest quality results are delivered.
| - Ranjita Chattopadhyay (views expressed in the article are that of the author) |