Salary and motivation

The truth is, almost everyone needs to make a living, but not everyone gets to earn a salary by doing something they love. According to a 2018 survey², the UK workforce is more motivated by money than those in other European countries.

There are many ways in which salaries can be paid to motivate increased productivity:

• Base salary based on expected duties - gives employees clear guidelines on what is expected from them in return for their basic pay, pre bonuses or perks
• Performance based pay - links an employee’s salary progression to an assessment of their performance against pre-determined objectives.
• Incentive Piecework - is where employees are paid for each unit of output. For efficient workers, this is an opportunity to earn more than a basic hourly rate.
• Equal pay amongst colleagues - whereby employees know that they are getting the same wage as those whose work is the same or broadly similar, regardless of their gender or race, etc.

Although how much employees take home is very important, it’s not the only reason for feeling motivated at work. Non-financial factors can lead to better engagement levels, increased productivity, and higher job satisfaction. Perks and benefits We have established that it takes more than just good pay to keep your employees engaged. The other factors that bring job satisfaction include respect at work, trustworthy managers, job security, a healthy working environment, an upward career path and good employee perks and benefits. In the UK, mandatory benefits include pension, healthcare, holiday, maternity/paternity and sick pay. Employers who offer above and beyond this will be more likely to encourage employees to stay working for them. These supplementary benefits can include, life and critical illness insurance, dental cover, and perks such as a company car, season tickets, childcare vouchers, workplace canteens, gym membership or a bike to work scheme.

Retention rates

Maintaining a high employee retention rate can result in increased productivity. The longer someone stays in their job, their knowledge and skill level increases. By developing a better understanding of the company culture over years of work, and building good working relationships with customers and/or suppliers, the more experience is gained and the more efficient your employees become.

Demonstrating that you have a low employee turnover to prospective candidates demonstrates that your organisation is stable and a great place to work. Click here to read our top tips on improving staff retention.

Training and development

Setting your managers and their teams up for success can increase their engagement and job satisfaction. By giving your employees access to digital learning, on-site courses, coaching schemes or development plans and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that are tied into their wage rises, staff can be incentivised into learning more and developing their skills. Ultimately, this investment will enable them to carry out their tasks more efficiently and increase their loyalty to the organisation.

Tools and tactics

Blue Arrow can help you to tackle inefficiency and increase productivity by reducing absenteeism and staff attrition. Click here to read our client case study on how our recommended operational changes resulted in improved productivity.