Understanding Why People Work - Factors that Motivate and Affect Employees

This report explores the various factors that motivate employees to work and the positive and negative factors that affect their job roles. It discusses the significance of factors such as salary, non-monetary incentives, relationships with colleagues and leadership, and appropriate processes at the workplace. It also highlights the negative impact of factors such as a poor working environment, lack of opportunities, and poor communication. The report concludes that addressing these factors is crucial for ensuring employee satisfaction and productivity.

UNDERSTANDING WHY
PEOPLE WORK

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
Various factors which motivate employees to work 1
Positive and negative factors employees experience as an outcome of their job role 3
CONCLUSION 4
REFERENCES 5

INTRODUCTION
Work refers to an action that a person undertakes with a purpose of being productive in a
manner that meets human desires and needs. In order to complete this, one has to exert strengths
and requires a certain level of effort for being productive in a way that meets their own personal
as well as professional needs (Mubarok and Darmawan, 2019). This report will illustrate
employee attitude towards work by explaining varied factors which motivate employees to work
along with positive and negative factors employees experience as a result of their personal job
roles.
MAIN BODY
Various factors which motivate employees to work
Motivation is a way that enables employees to drive all the actions due to which they
perform their tasks in the most efficient manner. It has been evaluated that an individual expects
that if they try their maximum to adopt certain things and behave in a manner due to which they
are able to perform specified tasks, then they will achieve their desired outcome or results in the
most efficient manner. If the outcome is positive then, it motivates an employee to work harder
in order to fulfil their tasks effectively (Shamim, Cang and Yu, 2019). Thus, the key to reaching
upto the highest possible results lies within the identification of factors that enable each
individual towards the fulfilment of their desired goal at the workplace. Also, it is crucial that
irrespective of identifying the final outcome of the tasks, the employees automatically believe
that they are capable of performing their tasks and will definitely perform their tasks as per
desired outcomes. Hence, there are certain components or factors that contribute their part
towards motivating the employees at the work space such as:
● Salary: Receiving continuous payments specifically in the context of permanent
personnel, is considered as the basic requirements that is expected to be satisfied by the
company in which they are performing their tasks. However, it is just one way to satisfy
employees and a short term way to satisfy people. In the long course of duration, it does
not perform as a factor that continuously or solely is able to enhance the performance
level. As if the salary is lower than the expectations of an employee, it would also cause
dissatisfaction as well as disengagement of employees towards the work space.
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● Non monetary incentives: Non financial rewards is a way through which one can feel
satisfied themselves in most effective ways. It will consider the acknowledgement of
extraordinary performance, enhanced morale level, creation of a positive work
environment as well as motivate high performance level of employees. From various
studies, it has been evaluated that these kinds of rewards help an individual to fulfil their
personal as well as professional or company objectives at relatively low cost. There are
different ways through which employees can feel motivated towards their tasks.
● Relationship with the colleagues: In general, it has been considered that, as an
employee, a person spends one third of their whole day time at their workplace, hence
the interactions and relationship they have with their colleagues can significantly impact
their mood and overall outlook towards their work (Eliyana and Ma’arif, 2019). On the
other hand, the negative experiences and attitudes will eventually lead to loneliness and
isolation makes it more difficult for them to survive at the particular office premises.
Thus, the relationship with other colleagues is a way which promotes the interest of an
individual towards their work.
● Connection with leadership: Each employee has a structure of needs and requirements
that should be addressed and the responsibility of understanding such needs lies with the
manager within an organisation. It is the most basic way for effective communication to
get an appropriate connection between two parties and this has been generated with the
help of building trust which should be double sided. Relationships that have been created
over this aspect will help employees to work honestly towards the firm and openly talk
about their thoughts and feelings.
● Processes within the workplace: Appropriate processes at work space stimulate
workers and allow them to work by reducing the amount of potential blockers at the
work premises. At each stage, the employee should be aware of the things that are going
to be expected from them along with the requirement of resources as well. It enables the
employees to feel engaged and responsible for the final outcome.
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Positive and negative factors employees experience as an outcome of their job role
Positive factors which contribute their part into the working life of an individual includes
the social as well as personal resources at the working environment that contribute their part
towards the great level of health and productivity level. These both are the major factors that
enable an individual towards the achievement of a common goal as well as perform tasks along
with reducing physical and psychological stress which also enable to stimulate personal
development. Moreover, there are various other factors as well who contribute their whole part
into this method such as appreciation at workspace, good relationships with their colleagues,
great work life balance, effective relationship with superiors, financial stability of the firm,
career and learning development, job security, attractive salary packages, interesting role at the
work space and the values of the company which has been shared by them into complete manner
(Carleton and et.al., 2020).
Without all such elements, one is easily able to feel dissatisfied at their office premises as
it is very much easy to become demoralised if one has to turn up for work day after day with the
same old working conditions along with no way to feel motivated. Moreover, appreciation from
superiors also acts as a motivation factor that creates positive outcomes within the job role and
through this, an individual is highly able to perform their tasks appropriately. This automatically
enhances and creates a great work life balance among all of them along with the fulfilment of
being able to generate a company's financial stability. Learning and career development also
enable an individual towards one’s professional development which is applicable into all the
jobs. This generates a feeling of job security and helps them to perform their roles appropriately.
In addition to that, better treatment of employees by organisations help them to recognize the
dual aspects and nature fields better employee patronage (Bellet, De Neve and Ward, 2019).
Eventually, there is a cycle of success that enables them to achieve success which automatically
generates various benefits to the firm as well as to the employees both.
On the other hand, there are certain negative factors as well which contribute their part
while performing roles at the work space. Employees are considered as the most significant asset
of any establishment. the way they think and the things that they go through affects the
performance level of an individual within the workplace. But, employers always expect
employees to perform well and this is what they are after all paid for. But at the similar point of
time, the employers must try to find and eradicate the factors that negatively affect an individual
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because of one's job role such as the working environment as many times employees fail to
perform their tasks up to their potential when the devices at the working environment
persistently break down or facing difficulty on constant basis. This way they are unable to work
and perform better. Moreover, the problems related to co-workers also acted as one of the major
reasons that affects employees overall job role. The companionship between the employees
leads towards better overall performance. Even the employers also have to ensure that there are
no office rumours over which one has to waste their time and energy.
Work culture also has the power to demotivate employees towards their work role. A
workplace is a place where people can share their thoughts and feelings. Supportive environment
helps them to perform better while on the other hand, the opposite of it demotivates them
towards their job role. Sometimes lack of opportunities also acts as a negative factor for the
satisfied employees and makes them highly dissatisfied towards their job role. Each and every
employee desires for the appropriate work culture and proper coaching and mentoring
programmes in order to enhance their productivity level as this generates satisfaction within
them towards the job role that needs to be performed by them at the office premises. Lack of
right tools and techniques at the workplace also reduces the productivity and efficiency level
among employees (Bauer and Silver, 2018). It creates stress and a poor communication
environment that requires urgent attention from the top management people within the
establishment. Addressing all negative factors in a timely manner enables the employer to save
their business along with giving it a competitive advantage.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that in order to satisfy an employee at the
workplace premises, it is significant to consider all the negative as well as positive factors into
the most considerable manner. It has been identified that a satisfied employee is the one that is
positive in their approach. They are ones who are highly productive, proactive and committed
along with contributing their maximum towards the fulfilment of company goals.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Mubarok, E.S. and Darmawan, J., 2019. The influence of training, motivation, and work ethics
on the internal communication and their impact on the employee performance. European
Journal of Business and Management, 11(24).
Shamim, S., Cang, S. and Yu, H., 2019. Impact of knowledge oriented leadership on knowledge
management behaviour through employee work attitudes. The International Journal of
Human Resource Management, 30(16), pp.2387-2417.
Eliyana, A. and Ma’arif, S., 2019. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment effect in the
transformational leadership towards employee performance. European Research on
Management and Business Economics, 25(3), pp.144-150.
Carleton, R.N. and et.al., 2020. Assessing the relative impact of diverse stressors among public
safety personnel. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(4),
p.1234.
Bellet, C., De Neve, J.E. and Ward, G., 2019. Does employee happiness have an impact on
productivity?. Saïd Business School WP, 13.
Bauer, S.C. and Silver, L., 2018. The impact of job isolation on new principals’ sense of
efficacy, job satisfaction, burnout and persistence. Journal of Educational Administration.
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