Motivating employees

Learning objectives

Give the reasons people work, and show what a business gains when its employees are well motivated: each one produces more, fewer are absent, fewer leave, and staff are readier to go along with change and new ways of working

Summarise what Taylor, Maslow and Herzberg each said about motivation and use the theory that fits best to explain a workforce in a case study

Match a financial method of motivation to a job: time-based pay, piece rate or a salary as the basic pay, with a bonus, commission, profit sharing or fringe benefits on top

Weigh the non-financial methods of motivation: praise, an employee-of-the-month award, training, a chance of promotion, job rotation and job enrichment

Pick a method of motivation for a named business and back the choice with evidence from the case