Employee Motivation

In today’s workplace, companies and managements are increasingly using non-monetary rewards as an incentive to motivate and influence employee performance, as well as to meet the financial and productivity objectives of the company.
Introduction
Successful and profitable management of business operations is the fundamental objective of any business enterprise and a productive workforce is the key to ensuring organizational success. Literature and studies on human resource management have always and continue to emphasize the importance of motivational programs including rewards and recognition, towards molding a productive workforce. The paper attempts to establish the option of non-monetary rewards towards employee motivation, by researching and studying the impact of implementing non-monetary reward programs by companies to meet the financial and productivity objectives and also comparing the same with monetary or cash reward programs.
Workplace motivators are considered to include both monetary and non-monetary incentives. [Ballentine et al, 2003; Merchant, 1989] While cash or monetary incentive constitute the primary motivation, essential to fulfill the needs and wants of the workforce, management experts and researchers have also emphasized the significance of non-monetary rewards to motivate and influence employee performance. Non-monetary rewards are assuming greater significance in the present tight economic scenario, characterized by limited budgets for performance bonuses and incentives.
According to a survey conducted in 2000 by Watson Wyatt, an increasing number of employers were found to use non-monetary rewards as compared to the previous year, 1999 – the three commonly used non-monetary rewards by employers include career advancement opportunities (76% employers surveyed as compared to 60% in 1999), flexible work hours (73% as against 64% in 1999) and opportunities to gain new skills (68 as compared to 62% in 1999). [Cited Author Unknown1, 2001]...