Motivation and retention - OCRNon-financial methods of motivation

Non-financial methods of motivation involve motivating employees in ways that don’t involve money. Non-financial methods of motivation include job rotation, job enrichment and autonomy.

Job rotation

Job rotation involves an employee having a large amount of variety in their day-to-day role. It can motivate employees by avoiding them becoming bored with their job. There are two types of job rotation.

In the first type of job rotation, the employee has a number of different job roles in the business. For example, in a car manufacturing plant, this could mean an operator applying bumpers for part of the day, lights for part of the day and then wheels for the rest of the day.

In the second type of job rotation, the employee has a range of different duties within their role. For example, a software developer might spend part of the day developing a website and part of the day developing a software package.

Job enrichment

Like job rotation, job enrichment involves enhancing employees’ roles through providing a wider range of tasks for them to complete during the working day. In addition, job enrichment often means giving employees more responsibility, allowing them to make more decisions and enabling them to have more of a say in how they complete their role. However, they continue to work at the same level in the chain of command.

Common methods of job enrichment include:

• completing a variety of tasks
• having more flexibility in how a role is carried out
• making more decisions
• having more control of tasks and duties
• developing additional skills
• enhancing knowledge

Job enrichment has a number of benefits, such as increased motivation, lower absence rates, increased productivity and higher staff retention.

Autonomy

Autonomy refers to the degree to which employees are able to make decisions about their day-to-day roles. Having more autonomy means an employee has the ability to make more decisions about their role, whereas having less autonomy means an employee has limited decision-making responsibility.

Having a high level of autonomy can be a significant motivator for employees as it can make them feel valued and trusted by their employer.