• Posted on December 29, 2020
• Unique Submission Team

The Only Thing That Effects Employee Motivation Is The Level Of Pay

Introduction

The assignment below will help to describe that the only thing that affects employee motivation is the level of pay. This assignment will help to give an in-depth understanding of the factors that motivate the employee in working. It will also help to understand that it is not only money which can motivate the employee to work and perform in an organization. The employee gets motivated by various different factors, it is not just necessary that they are been motivated by money or the level of pay. The main thesis statement of this essay is “the only thing that effects employee motivation is the level of pay.”

Main body

Level of pay

In an organization, an employee works for getting monetary benefits but with the changing time, the employee is also giving due consideration to other factors. The above statement is that the only thing or factor that affects the employee motivation is the level of pay or compensation. Money, level of pay or compensation does play a significant role in motivating the employee to perform in the organization. Any employee when is going to join any of the business organization always make sure that he/she is getting enough amount of the level of pay that is motivating him to perform better in the organization.  The employees always look out for the level of pay that keeps him motivated to work more and more. Variable performance-related pay is been very popular kind of compensation (Petri and Govern, 2012). In this kind of compensation, the level of pay is in accordance or linked with the individual performance. The performance of the individual is associated with his/her level of pay. This helps the individual to perform better as his performance is directly related to his/her performance. The better the individual performs the better level of pay is been provided to him/her. But at the same time, it can also have an impact on the performance of the employee as they are been paid as per their performance. So it might reduce an employee’s willingness to perform as he/she is been getting the level of pay according to his/her performance in the business organization.

Level of pay is also important sometimes to retain the staff as it is difficult sometimes to retain the skilled employees in this changing environment as they easily get attracted to new jobs when finding better opportunities.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is important for an employee in the organization. Intrinsic are those in which the employee gets motivated from within he develops a desire to perform a task from within. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is one in which the employee gets motivation from outside. He pays much more attention to other things such as bonuses, benefits, money, praise, competition, etc. According to Maslow (2013), money plays an important role in motivating an employee to perform and also have an impact on the performance of the employee in the business organization. Getting the attractive level of pay keeps the employee motivating to perform better. Getting the desired or expected level of pay helps the employee to feel a state of security. It also helps the employee to feel that he had accomplished something along with it helps to give the employee a high-status ranking that he/she loves to enjoy. It is true that the employee is ready to give extra effort and extra hours at the office if he/she is getting some extra financial reward in against of it. The level of pay is also helping the employee to perform better or motivating him/her to perform as the attractive packages or incentives are been set in accordance with the tasks (Petri and Govern, 2012). So when the employee is aware of the fact that he/she will be given financial rewards then they will be putting extra efforts to exceed the expectations of their superior. Emotions have no place in the workplace individuals should try not to get emotional at performing their job as it might have an impact on their performance and their level of thinking. The level of pay or compensation is the sum total of all the financial rewards along with the tangible services and the various benefits that are given by the employer to the employees in against of the employment been provided. Every employee, employer, subordinate, manager have their own different perceptions regarding the level of pay or compensation level. They also have different thoughts on how it might affect the performance or how it can motivate the employees. If the employee is getting a high level of pay he/she will motivate in performing their jobs or work task. But at the same time, if the level of pay is not as per their expectation it might not end up in motivating the employees for better performance (French, 2011). Level of pay includes not only the money or salary but also the other fringe benefits, incentives which are measured in monetary terms. It happens many times when the employee sees no correlation between the performance and the bonuses, this leads to lack of motivation as the employees see no good or significant reason to perform effectively.

For example, the Expectancy theory by Victor vroom is also helpful in giving a clear understanding of the relationship between outcome and the individual’s performance. According to this theory, the individual’s behavior is also been influenced by how he/ she perceive the rewards. The theory is based on three elements: Expectancy which states that the effort given by the individual will result in the desired goal. Instrumentality is based on that an individual will receive any reward if she/he meets the performance expectations. Valence states the belief that the value one place on the reward (Noltemeyer et al., 2012). Hence, according to this theory individual or employee gets motivated mostly when they know that they are getting to achieve the desired reward monetary or nonmonetary if they are able to accomplish the target.  Another example is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of need theory which states that people get motivated to attain something or some needs and there are some needs which take precedence over others. According to Maslow, the most basic need is the physiological need i.e. food, water, rest, etc. The second level of need is the safety needs i.e. security and safety. The third one is the belongingness i.e. relationships, friends, family, etc. (Taormina and Gao, 2013). The fourth is the esteem needs which include prestige, status, etc. The last is the self-actualization that includes training, advancement, growth, etc. According to Maslow, one must fulfill the needs according to the level and they must be fulfilled before the others are activated. But it happens that people might not be able to satisfy all these needs and move in the same direction.

Other factors of motivation

On the other hand, Borkowski (2009) argued that it is not necessary that the only factor which motivates the employee or his performance is the level of pay. There are various other factors which keep on motivating the employees to perform better in the business organization. The factors include praise, recognition, growth, promotion, advancement, respect, autonomy, some responsibility, authority, etc. These factors also have a great impact on the level of motivation of the employee. The level of motivation is also linked to the type of task expected to be accomplished by the employee. If the task is of moderate nature the employee will be motivated by the non-monetary factors such as praise, recognition, etc. But at the same time, if the task is involving various risks or is very hard to accomplish then it might become necessary to motivate the employee by offering attractive monetary incentives (Maslow, 2013). This will help the employee to put his/her efforts to accomplish the task effectively. Sometimes it just not the level of pay, that can motivate or satisfy the employee. The employee might also look out for other factors which have a strong effect on his/ her motivation level. Getting money or other forms of monetary benefits are sometimes not just enough to motivate the employees. The employee might perform better when he/she feels that their performance is been recognized and praised by the supervisor.

This develops a feeling of satisfaction among the employees that their performance is been recognized as well as praised by the organization. The employees are also motivated by being giving the option to get promotion along with the improved pay also motivates the employees. At the same time, the employees also look out for these organizations which provide them good and friendly environment. The employees also get motivated by such organizations, they lay emphasis on the non-monetary aspects instead of the monetary ones to get motivated. For some employees, the pay is not important but the nature and the content of the job as it helps to identify and analyze the quality of the performance. Herzberg once said that “If you want people motivated to do a good job, give them a good job to do”. Sometimes it even becomes difficult to set clear and measurable targets to assess the performance. It makes it difficult to justify the rewards. For example, it is rightly said that “one size does not fit all”. This statement helps to give a clear understanding that it is not necessary that the thing which is motivating a single person will also motivate the entire staff (Staddon, 2013). Getting a high level of pay along with other monetary benefits such as bonus, incentives etc might motivate an individual to perform well but it might also happen that others are not been motivated with only the level of pay. They may need other factors that keep them motivated for performing their jobs effectively. It is also true that money cannot buy loyalty or keep the employees forever in your company. People cannot spend their time in a company where the manager has no time to spend or invest in you or taking ant efforts to motivate you to perform or appreciate your efforts.  The employees must be motivated for their efforts and must also be compensated equally for their contribution along with their achievements. This is been stated by Herzberg in his theory and termed it as a hygiene factor. Motivating the employees is very important as if they are not been motivated at the right time they might shift to another business organizations once they get the any better opportunity. Other non-monetary incentives and recognition are big motivators which are effective to motivate the employees to perform. Also providing the employees with the option of how their hard work or efforts must be rewarded is an effective way to boost employee engagement in the business organization. The right incentive program helps not only to motivate the employees but at the same time it also helps to improve and enhance the team performance along with attracting high-quality employees in the organization (French, 2011). Another important factor that motivates the employee is the corporate culture. When the employee is appreciated for his contribution to the company he feels or sense of being a part of the company. This helps to bring long-term benefits such as employee loyalty, retention, low turnover rates, productivity, etc.

 Conclusion

From the above report, it can be concluded that level of pay plays an important role in motivating the employee. But at the same time, it is not necessary that only the level of pay can motivate the employee as there are other motivating factors that help to motivate the employees. At the same time, it is concluded that the employee can also be motivated by the non-monetary factors such as recognition, respect, advancement, promotion, responsibility, autonomy, etc. These are some factors that help to motivate the employees at large and sometimes also help to retain the employees in the business organization.

References

Borkowski, N. 2009. Organizational Behavior in Health Care. USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

French, R. 2011. Organizational Behaviour. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Maslow, A. H. 2013. A theory of human motivation. UK: Simon and Schuster.

Noltemeyer, A., Bush, K., Patton, J. and Bergen, D., 2012. The relationship among deficiency needs and growth needs: An empirical investigation of Maslow’s theory. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(9), pp.1862-1867.

Petri, H.L. and Govern, J.M., 2012. Motivation: Theory, research, and application. USA: Cengage Learning.

Staddon, J. E. R. 2013. Limits to action: The allocation of individual behavior. USA: Academic Press.

Taormina, R.J. and Gao, J.H., 2013. Maslow and the motivation hierarchy: Measuring satisfaction of the needs. The American journal of psychology, 126(2), pp.155-177.