IS MONEY A MOTIVATOR?

By E. J. Proctor

At one point in my career, I was fortunate enough to work for a Plant Manager who was an outstanding leader and had the ability to motivate everyone who worked with, and for him. During a 1-1, he and I had a discussion about motivation and what makes people dedicated to their job. The discussion of money and its merits came up.  If an employee is paid poorly, it can be a de-motivator, but if they are paid fairly, motivation takes place in the challenges and responsibility of the work.

Let me take an example of Company A and Company B: Company A offers outstanding wages, (the best in the community) but offers only repetitive, monotonous work day after day, for ones career, with no chance of change or growth.  Company B offers average pay, but every day at work offers new challenges, personal growth, and rewards success with non-monetary rewards and recognition. Which one would YOU like to work for? Which one is going to make you want to get up in the morning and go to work?

The employee that works for Company A, may very well be working on an assembly line and the Company MAY think that they get the best results by having a person dedicated to the one specialized task for the rest of their lives and paying them an enormous salary to make up for not having to think and contribute to other areas. WRONG!!! A person usually is motivated during the first six months on a job, to try to find the best way to do it, and then falls into the mentality that they can improve this no more. After a period of time, they get bored and look for another job opportunity. It is in this case, that we generally hear the Company say, “I don’t understand why I cannot retain my good employees”. By moving people from task to task, and even rotating them through previous tasks, the methods continue to improve and productivity will increase. Also, the employee is continually learning new skills and gets personal satisfaction from the flexibility and growth opportunities. 

If you remember the last time you got a pay increase, you probably were so happy, that you really worked hard for the next couple of weeks, (to show your appreciation), but after a period of time, it was forgotten, and you returned to the same standard that you had prior to it.  That standard, was the standard that was created by your role and responsibilities as set up by the Company you work for. 

The moral of this story, is if you are a Company, there is no need to overspend to attract and retain good employees…. Pay fairly, but look at the work system to design it so that the Employee is challenged, is offered personal growth, is recognized for their contribution, and each day feels like they are contributing to the success of the Company.

The moral of this story is if you are an Employee, is to not always look at the Company that offers the best salary, but to look at the challenges, responsibility, the growth potential, training, and all the other things that will make your career satisfying and fulfilling. Your working life will cover a span of some +or- 40 years, try to make them 40 HAPPY years.

There are many other pieces in,  “A GOOD COMPANY TO WORK FOR”, which I will comment on in future editorials. 

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