Employee Motivation doesn’t agree with what People say in Company Internal Surveys

Our research among 600 employees in different business sectors comprising of professional C-Executives, Senior and Junior Management, Team Leadership and Front Liners showed the simple truth of human needs often not highlighted by theory and ineffective traditional corporate surveys.

The No1 incentive people claim in research by 87% is money, even though they do not say so in corporate and personnel satisfaction surveys. Instead, they often claim that the No1 motivator is developmental opportunities, flexible working, well-being, recognition.

A staggering 73% indicated that they often feel overworked and under paid. This % is even higher among C-Executives and Senior Management.

From my experience in management consulting this is no surprise to me. I talked to people every day. After all, 95% of the workforce on the planet has needs to satisfy. And they need the money to do it!

Why do people refuse to admit this (Money is No1) during traditional surveys and appraisals? Well, the one thing we know is that in the last couple of decades people lie more. Let me explain this. You see, in this continuing environment of uncertainty, people are suspicious when asked such personal questions. They do not trust the agenda of the people asking. They try to say what theY want to say in a non direct way. By the way, this has always been the case according to research by the Institute of Personnel Development. Today, this phenomenon has risen significantly. Unless people trust you and the process, will never tell you the truth.

If such a big % of workforce says money is the No1 motivator, I strongly believe that organisations need to take it seriously. The question is how this significant motivator can be considered in a win/win relationship.

There is another interesting outcome of the survey. If money is No1 and well-being No2 nevertheless people in corporate surveys say that No1 is development opportunities and recognition what can we derive from their responses?

In my opinion, what people are saying is that they want to work in a flexible working environment that offers them opportunities to develop their skills in order to improve their performance and get paid more. They want to enjoy performance pay as a recognition of their improvement and contribution. It’s just they do not know how. Doesn’t that make sense now? Sure it does. By tackling salaries, flexible work, training and development, performance appraisals as isolated processes is highly ineffective and costly to say the least. These processes need to be put into a coherent context. Need to be strategically aligned. And what allows this is Performance Management.

I understand, Performance Management, especially when dealt within a strategic performance management regime is difficult and takes time to develop and execute. It includes a totally different culture shift. However, when designed and implemented properly it will generate results for all stakeholders that they were never thought as possible.

How do businesses adapt to this important need of their people? The only scientific way I have found is by developing and operating a Strategic Performance Management System like the one I describe in my recent ebook “Applied Business Performance Handbook”.

Get a copy of this for free here!

Obviously, when you take money off the equation, people tend to become less effective, more demanding with regards to other incentives such as pleasing activities and amenities, less hours of work , more excuses to be absent, sometimes eager to attend trainings merely to get off work. High performing people and talented people when their remuneration doesn’t take performance into account, they will eventually leave.

So money is important for people and the only way to accommodate this is by linking money and other incentives for that matter to performance around an inspiring and compelling Vision.

Yiannakis Mouzouris
Strategy and Performance Management
Expert / Business Consultant / Trainer
B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering
M.Sc.Engineering Management, USA