Intrinsic Rewards And Motivation

Today’s employers need to retain employees with exceptional skills and knowledge to stay competitive. When employees are motivated they have higher levels of productivity, increased efficiencies and they streamline processes to achieve the goals of the organization. Therefore, organizations need to invest in rewarding their employees to improve performance. Rewards should have positive effects on the employee while aligning with the goals and vision of the organization. Having a motivated workforce means understanding what motivates the individual and adjusting rewards to meet those needs. There are two specific types of rewards that motivate individuals: extrinsic and intrinsic. Because not all employees are motivated in the same manner …show more content…
Instead of focusing on monetary rewards, the emotional needs of the employee’s are met. Intrinsically motivated employees are usually high performers, and are more creative than those satisfied by extrinsic rewards are. They are focused on career development, therefore, they are innovative, and they contribute to the strategic goals of the organization simply for accomplishing meaningful work for the organization. In addition, they require less direction from their leaders as they are focused on solving problems and improving efficiencies on their own. Compared to extrinsic rewards, intrinsic rewards are more time consuming for manager, but have lasting effects. Implementing intrinsic rewards involves individual goals and individual development plans, which requires time and resources. Intrinsic rewards must be meaningful, therefore, specific to the individual receiving it. The focus of intrinsic motivation is centered around recognition. These include personal thank-you cards from co-workers and leaders, public recognition, and rewards and certificates. In addition, to the high performer, leaders need to recognize the individuals behind the scenes as well. Verbal acknowledgement of a job well done should be spontaneous and unexpected by the employee. Another non-financial reward is to provide cross training or job rotation. Cross training allows employees to experience other jobs within the organization. This allows the employee to have a better understanding of other jobs in the organization while providing opportunity to do something different within the organization, thus, preventing job burnout. Managers should encourage and empower employees to do their best while providing the needed resources to allow this behavior. Furthermore, employees are responsible for accepting recognition to motivate others. In addition,