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Are higher salaries the best incentives for workers? If not, what are other top options to

ensure a happy and motivated workforce?

Employees' motivation is one of the great forces for business success; it increases

employees' satisfaction, commitment and loyalty, organization's productivity and efficiency, and

reinforces strong and healthy relationships amongst the employees. Motivating employees goes

beyond money; it extends to emotional and mental stability, which has more to do with self-

esteem. A higher salary is a minor means of motivating employees; some of the better ways of

doing the same include creation of a favorable work environment, employees' appreciation,

proper communication, and creating team autonomy. Favorable work environment creation,

employees’ appreciation, proper communication, and teamwork autonomy are great means

through which an organization can make its employees happy and motivated, as compared to

higher salaries.

Favorable work environment creation. If the work environment is unfavorable, the

employees will always create reasons for absenteeism regardless of the higher salary paid; they

get stressed and depressed around the workplace (Shuck et al., 2018). Higher salary paid will

always end in the hospital bills due to depression and stress-related sicknesses. Providing

mentorship and training is one way of doing this; it focuses on empowering the employees with

the know-how information before expecting an outstanding performance. Free and respectful

communication makes employees feel valued and accepted, thereby increases their self-esteem

(Shuck et al., 2018). Providing career development opportunities is another way of doing so

since it inspires employees to work and get promotions. Comfortable offices with internet access

gadgets and clean office space boost employees' career research and knowledge skills, and

confidence, thus increasing their general productivity (Shuck et al., 2018).

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Employees' appreciation. It is an acknowledgment tool that works best when the

employees are publicly recognized, especially in the organization's newsletter and staff meetings;

it makes employees proud (Manzoor, 2012). It motivates the appreciated employee to maintain

excellent performance and inspires unmentioned employees to work harder to get mentioned in

the next time (Manzoor, 2012). Accompanying verbal appreciation with holiday and bonus

rewards makes the motivation more powerful. Employees' appreciation can also be done on the

social media platform, making the employees feel love and accepted, and will work not to

disappoint the organization (Manzoor, 2012).

Proper communication. Proper communication entails clarity in employee's roles and

responsibilities as well as the company's vision and objectives (Rajhans, 2012). Prior

communication of the company's goals and vision demonstrates respect to the employees as

compared to impromptu information, which pressures the employees to work in haste, which can

result in poor work quality (Rajhans, 2012). Low work quality tarnishes the organization's name

and its employees, which can demoralize employees. Communication is also useful in

distributing information; for example, rumors may be going around about a given employee's

demotion, but when the company provides clear information, the employee will once again feel

motivated (Rajhans, 2012). Strong, transparent, honest, and constant communication through

sharing embraces friendship among the employees, which increases their productivity and

happiness. Proper communication also entails using comment boxes to get employees'

complaints and comments, which will be vital for the management's decision-making process;

solving employees' complaints makes them happy and motivated (Rajhans, 2012).

Team autonomy development. Team autonomy creation empowers the employees with

the decision-making authorities; it makes employees feel trusted and valued, motivating them to
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work harder and maintain excellent performance and not break the organization's trust in them

(Stone et al., 2009). Giving employees decision-making authority gives them confidence and

makes them feel competent concerning their jobs. Employees also gain management experience

and skills when enabled to make some of the organization decisions, which exposes them to

promotion opportunities and career growth (Stone et al., 2009).

In conclusion, higher salaries play a big role in employees' motivation, but creation of a

favorable work environment, employees' appreciation, proper communication, and creation of

team autonomy play bigger roles in contributing to employees' happiness and motivation.

Happiness and motivation goes beyond material rewards; it extends to mental and emotional

wellbeing. Employers need to adopt good communication systems, team autonomy, employees'

appreciation, and create a positive work environment to motivate their employees emotionally

and mentally.
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References

Manzoor, Q. A. (2012). Impact of employees motivation on organizational

effectiveness. Business management and strategy, 3(1), 1-12.

Rajhans, K. (2012). Effective organizational communication: A key to employee motivation and

performance. Interscience Management Review, 2(2), 50-85.

Shuck, B., Peyton Roberts, T., & Zigarmi, D. (2018). Employee Perceptions of the Work

Environment, Motivational Outlooks, and Employee Work Intentions: An HR

Practitioner’s Dream or Nightmare?. Advances in Developing Human Resources.

Stone, D. N., Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Beyond talk: Creating autonomous motivation

through self-determination theory. Journal of General Management, 34(3), 60-91.