026 June 2022

What harms the employee’s motivation, and how to avoid it?

In all the time you have been working in Human Resources, you have probably seen two types of employees: those who are in the company just to get a salary and those who are enthusiastic about their work. The latter are becoming more and more abundant. People are studying to have a job they love and are not content to just put up with it. That is why employee motivation is becoming more and more important.

However, this motivation is not easy to maintain, and the Human Resources department has a key role in this. We will see below why employees lose motivation and what can be done to prevent it.

Here are five possible reasons why your employees may be losing motivation.

1. Not seeing room for improvement

This happens in workers who have been in the same company for a long time, in the same job, doing the same tasks day after day, and don’t see that this situation will change. This monotonous dynamic leads them to come to work unwillingly.

2. Unfavourable working environment

In companies, something similar to what happens at school occurs. Some people fit in well and make friends, but others don’t fit in, and this can affect them. In the worst case, you may encounter colleagues with an unfriendly attitude, and it goes without saying how unpleasant this can be in an office.

3. Lack of training

In many companies, the priority is productivity, to do things continuously, but this is not always the best thing. There are workers who start producing with just enough knowledge to move forward. This situation is prolonged over time so that workers are still not adequately trained and therefore find themselves with difficulties that they do not know how to solve, which demotivates them.

4. Poor communication with supervisors

Sometimes employees do not feel comfortable talking to their supervisors, which creates insecurity and even fear when suggesting something.

5. Lack of work-life balance

This problem is happening a lot during the COVID-19 crisis due to teleworking. Many workers do not manage this well, so they have a lot of interruptions and a totally mixed professional and personal life, which leads to a lot of stress.

The consequences of demotivated employees can lead to absenteeism, low productivity, loss of employees and the danger of creating a bad reputation for the company because those who have left speak ill of it.

It is clear that the Human Resources department must have sufficient weapons to restore the workforce’s motivation for the company’s good. In the following section, we will see how to motivate employees.

Solutions to your employees’ motivation problems

A demotivated employee is not irrecoverable. In fact, it is likely that his or her state of mind will change if Human Resources and the company seek solutions. Therefore, here are some activities to motivate employees related to the problems mentioned in the previous section.

1. Designing a career development plan

To offer a professional development plan, employees’ skills must be assessed, and new responsibilities must be assigned to them. It is also necessary to consider whether a certain rotation is possible so that each employee learns about the company and what his or her colleagues do better.

2. Communication is key

Effective communication needs to be both vertical and horizontal.

Horizontal relationships should be close so that all employees know the company’s activities and are encouraged to participate. This will also make them less resistant to change. Vertical communication is also important. This must be fluid, and workers must see leaders as inspirational, approachable and accessible.

In any case, it is important to remember that listening is the first element that contributes to effective communication. For an employee to want to communicate, he or she must feel listened to. If they do not feel this way, they will not want to communicate with others.

3. Recognition of workers’ achievements

One of the best motivational techniques that works for any employee is recognition of good work. This recognition implies positive reinforcement and will make employees feel part of the company and motivated to carry out their activities.

4. Training plan

Many workers feel stagnant because they do not receive training, which is why it is so important for Human Resources to design training plans.

Continuous training contributes to the advancement of professional careers by assimilating new knowledge. The knowledge that employees need to acquire will be related to the company, as procedures are constantly changing. There are also other skills that are not related to the production process as such but are necessary for daily tasks such as languages, leadership, etc.

5. Work coaching

This is the most popular technique because it is the most complete when it comes to working on motivation.

Work coaching is based on asking the worker what it is that makes him/her uncomfortable in the work he/she does in the company. Once the employee has answered, the technique consists of asking questions and talks in which the employee himself makes an introspection to change his reality.

A motivated employee is the one who will make the company grow the most

When employees are well motivated, productivity increases and performance appraisals are a success. This means that the HR department is doing very well.

However, the HR staff must be the first to be motivated to support the rest of the company.