Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

There is still a lot of confusion among business owners and managers into what the major motivators of employees are. While many understand that money isn't always the primary motivator, they are still in the dark many times; not only on why, but what to offer in its place.

Now when we talk about money not being the major motivator, we're talking about once the needs of employees have been met through their wages or salaries. Maslow's hierarchy of needs gives us some insight into what this means. The bottom line in this area is that when the needs of a human being are met, according to Maslow, then that need is no longer the motivator to higher performance.

What this means for us managers is that our employees will than look to have needs met that are on a higher level. This is why money isn't the primary motivator of the majority of workers anymore. They already have their primary needs met (food, shelter, and clothing) and are looking for something more. This is why when employees are offered more money, it isn't the motivator that management thought it would be.

While there are a lot of things that employees value after there needs are met; like being part of a team, respect, input, making a difference and helping the business to succeed, we need to get to know our employees to find what it is that is the true motivator for them to give their all to the company.

This is why having numerous options available is so important to people, and one of the reasons why companies that understand this become great.

Money, when you come down to it, is really the easy way of trying to satisfy an employees needs. They are looking for a lot more than that in our current business climate, and we need to communicate openly enough with them to give them the opportunity to let us know what those important things to them are.