"Maslow argued that self-actualized people are rare, and that creating conditions for us to develop our capabilities to this extent was challenging task. He also argued that these needs are organized in a hierarchy, with lower order biological and safety needs at the bottom, and higher order self-actualization and transcendence needs at the top." (Buchanan and Huczynski,2010,P.268).
"Abraham Maslow's needs hierarchy:
Self-actualization: Need to develop our full potential
Freedom of equity and expression: Need that is a prerequisite for the satisfaction of other needs
Transcendence: A spiritual need, 'to be at one with the universe'
Aesthetics: Need for order and beauty
To know and to understand: Need to gain and to systematize knowledge, the need for curiosity, learning, philosophizing, experimenting and exploring
Esteem: Need for strength, confidence, achievement, self-esteem, independence, and for reputation, prestige, recognition, attention and appreciation, and respect of others
Affiliation: need for attachment, belongingness, affection, love, relationship
Safety: Need for security, comfort, tranquility, freedom from fear and threat from environment, for shelter, order, predictability, an organized world
Biological: need for sunlight, sexual expression, food, water, rest and oxygen-need basic to our survival."(Buchanan and Huczynski,2010,P.268).
People working in companies have certain expectations from the environment around them. It is not always the financial incentives but also the people, the manager, the family time and all the given to an employee that motivates them. The needs are not satisfied by money only, emotional, psychological and social factors play a key role in providing motivation. (NCERT,2007,P.190-191). Here is an example," In 2008, The Sunday times newspaper, surveyed over 500 companies and 180,000 employees to identify the best company to work for' in the UK the award was won by heat, a central heating installation based in Belfast. W.L. Gore & Associates, who won the prize in the previous four years, came eleventh. Companies were rated on eight factors:
Leadership: how employees feel about the of the company and senior managers
Wellbeing: how staffs feel about stress, pressure and the balance between work and home life
My manager: people's feelings towards their immediate boss and their day-to-day managers
My team: people's feelings about their immediate colleagues
Fair deal: how happy the workforce is with their pay and benefits
Giving something back: how much companies are thought by their staff to put back into society, and the local community
My company: feelings about the company as opposed to the people they work with
Personal growth: to what extent the staffs feel they are stretched and challenged by their job
Heat's managing director said that their success was based on the company's approach communication; 'we work hard to make it simple. If you make it simple everybody understands and that makes it more likely to last'. "(Buchanan and Huczynski,2010,P.271).
The company in the above example isn't a high paid company, but the working environment around them motivates the employees to work hard and give their best. Yes, financial incentives are important, but without a friendly work force and enough time given by a company to their employees for their family and social ethics, it's practically no use. There are disadvantages of financial or monetary motivation, employees in the company might take things for granted. They will expect bonuses even at times when they don't end up working towards organizational goal. But if there aren't any monetary incentives given, what will the employee work for. Monetary or financial incentives also help in guiding and moving the employees towards the goal of the organization.
Apart from the advantage and disadvantage of financial motive, non-financial incentives also have their own advantages, keeping the employee happy in the company with the friendly environment, companies providing fair amount of break time and activity rooms such as Google. The work timings are at most important as the employees get time with their families and friends and also maintain a great social life along with their work.
"Some of the important non-financial incentives are discussed below:
Status: in the organizational context, status means ranking of positions in the organization.
Organizational climate: organizational climate indicates the characteristics which describe an organization and distinguish one organization from others.
Career advancement opportunity: every individual wants to grow to the higher level in the recognition. They feel that what they do should be recognized by others concerned.
Job security: employees want their job to be secure. They want stability about their future work and income.
Employee participation: it means involving employees in decision making of issues related to the company.
Employee empowerment: empowerment means, giving more autonomy and powers to subordinates." (NCERT,2007,P.192-193)
According to the 2011 Hays Salary Guide, 78 per cent of employers give their employees benefits, or non-financial rewards, in addition to salaries and bonuses. Health is the number one benefit in Hong Kong, offered by 71 per cent of employers. Life assurance is offered by 63 per cent, a pension by 60 per cent, and a housing allowance by 37 per cent.
Other benefits include tax equalisation, club or gym membership, a car or car allowance, and private expenses. Typically, benefits increase with experience and the seniority of the position. They are used to motivate and reward top performers, with employers recognising that a motivated employee will achieve the best results. Thus, there is little room to negotiate as your performance and value are the determining factors.
There are also countless cases of employers using benefits to reward top performers when they are unable to increase salaries beyond a certain level. But again, the awarding of additional benefits is based on the employee's past performance and is also a tool to motivate future performance. If planning on negotiating benefits package, tread carefully. Employers will only extend their offers so far. So speaking with recruiter to ensure expectations are realistic for the role and industry, or this could leave the employer with doubts over commitment to the role.Â
As a final note, expatriate packages that include extensive non-financial rewards are a thing of the past. Traditionally, expats brought a wealth of experience and excellent education from abroad to a company, and as such were rewarded accordingly. But today local candidates are viewed on an equal footing since they also possess excellent overseas education and exposure to worldwide markets.(Charnock, 2011)
Thus, analysis reveals that nonfinancial factors play a prominent role in influencing employee motivation and engagement worldwide-a finding that could prove useful to employers facing budget constraints. organization. Managers should provide employees with opportunity to improve their skills
Job enrichment: is concerned with designing jobs that include greater variety of work content, require higher level of knowledge and skills.
Employee recognition: most people have a need for evaluation of their work and due
Workers say that being treated with respect is the most important nonfinancial factor, followed by work/life balance, type of work, quality of co-workers and quality of leadership. Among financial factors, base pay ranks highest. Benefits and incentive pay can be important to other aspects of the employment deal-such as attracting, retaining and rewarding employees-but they are considered less important by employees when it comes to their day-to-day motivation and engagement at work.
"Employee engagement reflects the total work experience, and a big part of it is how you are treated, what kind of work you do and how you feel about your co-workers, bosses and the general work environment," said Colleen O'Neill, a senior partner at Mercer and the firm's talent leader in the U.S. and Canada.
"Without a doubt, financial factors like pay and benefits are a vital part of the employment deal, especially in the U.S., but employers need to consider and manage the full range of factors to ensure that their workforce is engaged," O'Neill explained. "When financial resources are limited, organizations can leverage these nonfinancial factors to effectively boost employee commitment and productivity." (Miller, 2011) And therefore, this proves that both financial and non-financial rewards are important for increasing the work motivation of an organization.
