Is money the primary motivator for people at work? - Business Psychology

This article discusses whether money is the primary motivator for people at work and explores other factors that motivate employees at the workplace. It also discusses the risk of pay for occupational groups.

Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY 0
Business Psychology

PSYCHOLOGY 1
Is money the primary motivator for people at work?
In recent time, every people have different needs, therefore importance of money
cannot be denied in any era. It is the basic goal of most of the people for attaining most of
benefit for their struggles. Due to recession, inflation has also increased and affecting the
whole world. All these problems, firms are also required to offer the better salary packages as
monetary benefit is the primary or foremost objective for attraction toward each job. By
getting the good salary and pay rates, employees are able to fulfil the demand of its own as
well as other family person. However, money is surely an essential motivator for employees.
It has been seen that most of the employees in the whole world earns the minimum or less
wages, which sometimes is not only enough to fulfil the basic needs of them (Olafsen,
Halvari, Forest & Deci, 2015). Statistically, money is the primary motivator for each
employee, as they have to address their basic safety, physiological and even social needs first.
By getting monetary benefits only, employees can fulfil their basic needs. For example-
according to the Maslow hierarchy needs, not all things can be satisfied with money. Self-
actualization and self-esteem are also some of the motivators left when junior steps are
covered. For example- Starbucks also provide the health insurance benefits to its employees.
It is one of the features of Starbucks as an organization. In this way, money is not only the
primary motivator for employees; however, it is significant to cover the basic need. Because
of money only, employees can maintain their standard of living in a better way. They get the
some basic amount of money at least to run their livelihood (Aguenza & Tom, 2018).
Other things that motivate people besides money
It is true that various other things also motivate the employees at workplace.
Employees can also be motivated by enhancement of two way communication, inspiring
work environment, rewarding, and encouragement for their best contribution. It is true that
besides money, several other things also motivate the employees at workplace. Recognition
for performance also motivates the employees at workplace. Most of the individual requires
recognition for their good performance. People also want the employer to make them pay
good rates as compare to the market (Robescu & Iancu, 2016). They also seek the flexible
work schedule as motivation. Creating a positive work environment also helps in fostering
motivation at the workplace. A positive culture creates the positivity in the employees to
work more hard and improve the productivity (Hee, Yan, Rizal, Kowang & Fei, 2018). Work

PSYCHOLOGY 2
life balance is also one such factor of motivation that can be done by giving greater flexibility
and autonomy for improving the wellbeing of employees. A sense of belongingness and
friendship is also one such category of work environment that serves as the most powerful
tool to motivate the employees at workplace. Team building activities also strengthen the
respect, trust, and ultimately motivation. The skill assessment before deciding in what type of
training organization will be going to organise for each staff member (Osabiya, 2015).
Through this, employee will appreciate better and get motivated by knowing that
organization is creating a well-organised training programme. However, sending employees
on the training programme is not only enough. It is also essential to find out the career
ladders on which staff can climb within the business. Through this, employees also think that
organization in concerned about it. Through this, employees also work hard to give their best
Moreover, conflicts are also resolved by proper articulation of plan of progression for
employees. It is true that if employee’s ambition is not identified, they will not be happy to in
such culture (Tukhvatulina, Cherepanova, Dow & Mirza, 2016).
For some employees, motivation is directly linked with the job satisfaction. Therefore,
eliminating all the sources of dissatisfaction such as intrusive supervision, uncertainty
regarding the future, and excessive paperwork will also make the employees happy and thus
motivating. Boredoms also hinder the motivation and reduce the productivity. Therefore, for
motivating the employees, it is essential to keep the things new and lively. Scheduling of
short breaks also helps as it helps in interaction of employees and check in their loved ones at
workplace (Armstrong, 2016).
Is occupation groups is at risk
Occupation groups are divided in several fields such as information technology,
science/environmental, finance and accounting professional management, health science,
protective services, engineering, and administrative. It is true that the pay of occupation
group is at risk because with the changes in primary motivator for employees, the criteria, as
well as work profile for occupational group has to change. Therefore, if the focus is only on
money, groups are needed to offer money. As compare to this, if the focus in on position,
they are required to focus on offering positions. It can be easily explained with the Maslow’s
need hierarchy theory (Clausen, Hansen, Hogh, Garde, Persson, Conwan & Rugulies, 2016).
It states that people are motivated in order to achieve certain needs and those needs take

PSYCHOLOGY 3
priority over the other. The basic and first need is for the physical survival. Once that level is
satisfied, the next level is what motivated us. The first need is physiological need that
includes the biological requirement such as food, air, drink, clothing, shelter, sleep, and
warmth. Some people demand these needs because without the satisfaction of such needs,
human body do not function properly. The other need is safety need that includes security,
elements, law, order, freedom from fear and stability. After the safety and physiological
needs, the third level of need is social. This need involves the feeling of belongingness. Some
employees also have needed for 1) oneself 2) respect for others or desire for reputation. The
last need is self-actualization need.

PSYCHOLOGY 4
References
Aguenza, B. B., & Som, A. P. M. (2018). Motivational factors of employee retention and
engagement in organizations. IJAME.
Armstrong, M. (2016). How to manage people. United Kingdom: Routledge.
Clausen, T., Hansen, J. V., Hogh, A., Garde, A. H., Persson, R., Conway, P. M., ... &
Rugulies, R. (2016). Exposure to negative acts and risk of turnover: a study of a
register-based outcome among employees in three occupational groups. International
archives of occupational and environmental health, 89(8), 1269-1278.
Hee, O. C., Yan, L. H., Rizal, A. M., Kowang, T. O., & Fei, G. C. (2018). Factors Influencing
Employee Job Satisfaction: A Conceptual Analysis. International Journal of
Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(6), 331-340.
Olafsen, A. H., Halvari, H., Forest, J., & Deci, E. L. (2015). Show them the money? The role
of pay, managerial need support, and justice in a self‐determination theory model of
intrinsic work motivation. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 56(4), 447-457.
Osabiya, B. J. (2015). The effect of employees motivation on organizational
performance. Journal of Public Administration and Policy Research, 7(4), 62-75.
Robescu, O., & Iancu, A. G. (2016). The effects of motivation on employees performance in
organizations. Valahian Journal of Economic Studies, 7(2), 49-56.
Tukhvatulina, L., Cherepanova, N., Dow, J., & Mirza, N. (2016). The practice of the
motivational process in contemporary management. In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol.
28, p. 01104). EDP Sciences.