Drop in employee motivation is a major concern that an organization should address. Research shows that 48% of employees across the world are not satisfied with their jobs. On average, more than 80% of workers worldwide feel stressed and only 20% of employees feel “engaged and motivated”. Whereas, 18% of leaders and business owners are actively disengaged. In this article, we will discuss about 7 Reasons why Employees Lack Motivation.
Organizations lack focus on employee engagement and motivation factors which then costs them billions in terms of loss in employee productivity. What exactly causes this disengagement? Let us look at why this happens:
Managing minute details:
The managers who does micromanagement can have good intentions. But continuous micromanagement would make the employee feel that his/her work. Judgements are not trustworthy which is a major factor to trigger the workplace disengagement.
Such disengaged employees might stay and mess their work or leave the organisation. It is also said that people when they quit their jobs, it’s not the jobs that they quit but it is the managers that they quit.
Lack of progress:
It is seen that when an employee tries to take any initiative, it has to go through never-ending layers of red tape. In such cases, the employee loses motivation or passion to try new things. Organizations should be careful of unnecessary rules and regulations that do not actually benefit them. For example policies like restrictive office hours, Internet usage or vacation policies would be demotivating factors for employees. When employees feel controlled rather than efficient then they quit.
Lack of job security:
Those employees who are not happy with their organizations will only work to keep getting their salary while they look for other options. The rest of their time will be spent on sharing rumours about the company with co-workers, updating their resumes and planning their next job.
As a leader, it’s very difficult to keep your best employee in place during uncertain times. The best you can do to make this happen is to communicate frequently and give your team a sense of loyalty and trust. You cannot force people to stay, but the least you can do is you can encourage transparency.
Lack of confidence in an organization’s leadership:
Once the employee loses faith in where the organization is heading. Their loyalty for the organization would fray and they would stop passionately following the vision of the organization. They would even get rebellious.
Research confirmed the importance of excellent workplace leadership, saying, bosses that encourage confidence. And also show faith in their employees, communicate an encouraging vision are rewarded with a team that is ready to get things done.
Lack of rewards and recognitions:
Everyone wants be recognized for the hard work that they do. But, in spite of this if they are not being recognized or even worse if they are being treated just like an employee who is doing mediocre work than its natural for the person to just turn off and do the job on autopilot mode.
If you want your employees to work effectively and efficiently then you need to show them that you appreciate their hard work by recognizing or rewarding them in front of their peers.
Lack of efficient communication:
In the absence of efficient communication, grapevine happens. Employees end up being confused and frustrated. If there is not proper communication from the leadership for clarification, it gets even worse. Communication not only helps in making the workflow smooth but also helps in building and encouraging the employee motivation.
Unpleasant co-workers:
The importance that our co-workers hold cannot be overseen. Because it is them who create a work environment and a work culture. There are times when your job is not that rewarding, but you still work there, the main reason being your co-workers are too encouraging and supporting which helps you release your work stress.
There are also times when your work is highly rewarding but the co-workers are so jealous of you that they always keeps trying to pull you down. And despite of your hard work and you end up leaving the organization.
Research has shown that close relationships among the employees increase their satisfaction by 50%. And best friends in a same organisation are seven times more likely to engage fully in their work.
Now that you are familiar with the factors that can degrade employee motivation to go ahead and design plans to fight these productivity killers.
Compiled by Faber Priyal & Faber Mayuri
