Recruiting quality and talented staff can be really difficult, and keeping such staff is a double challenge. Such employees need a high level of motivation and trust to become part of your team.
In Croatia today, the accepted opinion is that the best motivator for employees is a higher salary, and the justification lies in the fact that the economic situation in the country is not a fairy tale. Such an understanding of motivation is called one-dimensional, and employers expect to solve all problems by applying it. Many, however, are unpleasantly surprised when they do not achieve everything they imagined, wondering where they went wrong.

Why are people persistent in the work they do? Why are they interested in some jobs while trying to avoid others? Why do some individuals strive for greater professional development? The question arises as to why motivation is even important for the company’s operations. People like to work motivated. Managers, as well as the organizations themselves, want a more motivated team of employees, that is, a more motivated worker. Motivation has its own direct and indirect influences, and in this way it significantly affects the success of work tasks, the improvement of employees’ work performance, their productivity and efficiency. The importance of studying this complex concept in the field of work lies in the fact that motivation affects not only the individual, his perception, needs, goals, satisfaction and results, but also the success, productivity and competitiveness of the organization itself. Motivation can be described as a force that initiates and keeps an employee working in a certain place. It is a complex psychological process of initiating and regulating behavior aimed at achieving a certain goal, and is guided by the internal needs of the individual.

It is clear that a good salary in today’s consumer society is a great stimulator for every employee. Likewise, it is known that one of the most important tasks of a manager is to motivate employees. If everything was solved only through money, then the function of management would become questionable. People in leading positions can do much more by using other motivational techniques, as well as a different approach to employees.
The combination of that with the first and basic motivator – money, always bears fruit in the end and the motivation then turns into its goal – efficiency. Efficiency then has an additional effect on motivation, which closes the circle, and employees become more satisfied. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to understand that the needs of employees are changing in today’s times.

According to Abraham Maslow’s theory of hierarchy of needs , every human seeks to satisfy five basic needs – physiological, needs for love and security, social needs, needs for respect and power, and needs for self-fulfillment. If we connect them with work, only the first of them is directly related to money, the rest are psychological. A good manager will recognize which employees have some of these needs and use motivational techniques based on that. For example, if an employee has an expressed need for respect, the manager will praise him when he does something well or help him in case of a mistake. In front of such people, the manager should not attribute the group’s success to himself, as this will cause a counter-effect. On the other hand, employees who strive for self-fulfillment, believe in their work and cannot be won over by rewards or flattery. These are usually highly skilled people who are ready to take responsibility. In order to keep such an employee, managers should talk to him as an equal and evaluate his work completely realistically. It is clear that for employees with expressed needs for respect and self-fulfillment, a democratic type of leadership is suitable. This type of leadership will not be as successful for employees who feel insecure and unmotivated. In the beginning, you will have to give them tasks within strictly defined frameworks, insist on improvement, and gradually point out to them the importance of perfecting certain skills. Professional training should be offered at the expense of the company to see the natural orientation of the workers to the company and vice versa. At the beginning, building mutual relations with such employees will not work, and if you give them support, they will understand it as approval of inaction. It should be emphasized here that this does not recommend an autocratic type of leadership, but only a gradual approach to the person until concrete results appear, on the basis of which a quality relationship based on trust can be built. For example, setting up a workflow controller is undesirable. Workers, on the contrary, should be helped to see the meaning of their own work by judging the effects, because they are the ones who know how to improve their work best.

The worst thing that can be done, if expectations are not met, is the threat of punishment. Ultimate decisions, such as dismissal or lower pay, should not be presented, but the employee should be given the opportunity to choose. The situation should be analyzed objectively so that the employee understands where he went wrong and that the manager is still here for his well-being. Criticism is never presented in front of other employees. On the other hand, never offer rewards that are inappropriate, and especially don’t offer them only to individual workers. This will certainly cause division and create antagonism. Offer prizes to everyone and always reward what you want as much as possible (higher quality products, lower costs, increased sales, etc.).
And finally, it should be said that everyone involved in business must understand that quality is the core of what we want to achieve. Quality products and affordable prices are the key to successful bidding. There is only one way to this, and it is made by healthy relations in the company and motivated employees.

Sources:

• Assoc. Ph.D. Danica Bakotić, Vanda Bogdanović, mag. father – THE CONNECTION BETWEEN EMPLOYEE TRAINING AND WORK MOTIVATION, Faculty of Economics, University of Split
• Josip Tafra, expert. specialist oec., Petra Graovac, expert. spec. ing. comp., Ph.D. Gabrijela Budimir Šoško, pres. – THE CONNECTION OF THE MOTIVATION AND REWARD SYSTEM OF THE EMPLOYEE WITH THE SUCCESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
• Maja Šajatović – Individual differences and work behavior: effects of motivation, Faculty of Philosophy, JJ Strossmayer University in Osijek