A motivated employee base is integral to helping your business reach its goals. Only when they are driven to help your organization will they maintain high productivity and allow you to reach a higher level of output. As the business owner of a remote workforce, you must understand employee motivation to be able to encourage them to work harder and smarter every day.
There are two main forms of motivation:
Extrinsic motivation refers to when are mote worker (or anyone else) is motivated by external rewards or other factors to perform better than before. A few examples are fame and money. If you offer a bonus, they will consider it valuable and want to do a certain activity.
In comparison, intrinsic motivation refers to feeling motivated by its inherent satisfaction or something else internal. For instance, a marketer on your team might have a genuine love of helping animals and, therefore, work hard to publicize your product line for dogs because they feel it aligns with their passion.
Rather than choosing one, your remote team will likely compose of those who have a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. It is important to try to find a balance between the two forms of motivation so that your remote team is not solely driven by money (primarily externally motivated) or, on the other hand, anxious about their financial future (mainly internally motivated).
By ensuring your team receives a balance of both intrinsic and extrinsic, you can have the most effective team possible. But how do you do so?
To fill your employees’ intrinsic needs, ensure that they each feel a sense of purpose, independence, and confidence. To check all three of these boxes for each worker, have one-on-one Zoom meeting where you explain how their work fits within the mission of your organization to help them realize the impact of their position. Easily set up these meetings using Talcura’s remote software.
Also, encourage your HR department to sent out training invites to team members to develop their skillset. Doing so will help them feel a sense of autonomy and personal fulfillment.
On the external motivation side, provide a salary that your employee is happy with and meets their needs. By considering extrinsic motivation in addition to intrinsic, you will avoid adverse situations where your workers resent the organization and leave because they do not feel they are getting the deserved compensation.
Another external motivator is praise, so tell your team when they are doing good work. Not only will doing so improve their positive behavior further, but it will also show others what is actions get rewarded when you complement individuals in a group meeting.
With a remote workforce, it is essential to spend time with your team so that they do not feel isolated when working from home. That point is more important than ever during COVID-19. By following the recommendations discussed above, you can understand your employees more and meet their needs, both intrinsically and extrinsically.
