What motivates us in the workplace? HRAs’ view!

The HR Outsourcing and Consulting experts at HR180 Ltd based in the Yorkshire business hub that is the City of Leeds regularly provide updates on business and employment issues. Today, HR180’s Smita Mistry and Emily Simpkin reflect on what motivates us in the workplace. We’d love to hear what motivates you and the people in your workplace. Want to get in touch with us about this article or to let us help you with amazing ideas to help you with your business and people strategies? Email here or call 0845 458 5881 or 0113 287 8150.

Smita Mistry, HR Assistant, HR180 Ltd

On a hot and sultry Wednesday afternoon Emily and I were thinking about what motivates us in the workplace. Motivation can been defined as ‘a strong reason to act or accomplish something’. As we started thinking about what motivated us we realised we had similar motivators within the workplace. These are:

1. To be successful in your role for yourself and your employer. The willingness to want to do well and give 100% in your role to reach your employer’s expectations. Making your employer happy will in turn make you happy and confident in your abilities for the job role. This would then motivate you to carry on doing a great job in your role and exceed expectations.
2. To see the end result and feel a sense of achievement. It is satisfying to physically tick off a task from a long ‘to do’ list! The focus is always the end goal. So during my time at university I knew once I got that 1000 word essay out the way I could enjoy a night out with my friends!
3. To develop yourself. Developing your own skill sets and learning new skills in order to move up within the company. Wanting to be promoted is a key motivator for some. Emily recalled that when she wasn’t on track at University to achieve a 2:1, she was fuelled to work harder and achieve a better grade and says, “I wanted to prove to both myself and others I could do it”.
4. Team Work. Working together in order to achieve the same goal. Helping each other and learning too can be motivating for members of the team as it allows for everyone to succeed together. Because as a group we all want to succeed it results in everyone willing each other success and often results in a better outcome.
5. Influence of others. Working in the friendly and positive environment with the HR180 team makes us both feel motivated as the positivity creates a happy environment in order for us to achieve our goals. Colleagues who are supportive and helpful as well as conscientious makes you want to strive to be the same.

Emily Simpkin, HR Admin, HR180 Ltd

We had a think about motivators for others within the workplace. The obvious one that stuck out was money, which usually comes with a high level job. There is a danger with this approach that individuals who are focused purely on money can end up in a job they don’t enjoy. This be demotivating and has the potential of leaving the individual unsatisfied and not motivated in the workplace.

So what do you think? …. What motivates you?

(See what our HR Managers think here – how do we compare?)