In order for an organization to succeed, it has to give emphasis to its employee motivation.

Failing to acknowledge its employee motivation may cost and employer dearly in the form of absenteeism and high labor turnover.

Employers have a big responsibility other than hiring workers and giving them wages.

When employee motivation is low, workers need more supervision. If left unsupervised, they will spend more time attending to unproductive things that do not benefit the company.

Employees are human beings with individual needs. The first reason anyone secures a job is to earn an income to meet her basic needs to pay for food and shelter.

She then expects more out of her job like having some extra cash to spend on a little luxury and for her savings.

If the basic monetary reward were met, she would look for something more like recognition for a job well done.

She welcomes challenges and more responsibilities that allow her to demonstrate her skills and capabilities.

When she starts off she may feel motivated and idealistic about her career. The opportunity seems encouraging as she meets new friends.

She sees her chance of using her skills to improve herself in the organization and expects that the reward will follow.

But as she continues to work she may lose her motivation and is no longer inspired to perform at a high level.

Employee motivation can decline because of several reasons.

• Organization without a shared mission and goals to achieve.

The company does not share its mission and has no specific goals for her to achieve. She will find work becomes routine and dull.

A company that shares its vision with the employees makes them feel like a team and partly responsible for its success.

The organization should make its policies about rewards, recognition plans and future plans clear.

• Rewards do not match expectations.

Since humans have different needs, each employee has her own expectations and expect appropriate rewards.

A worker may expect a salary increase, another would want a promotion while someone else would love to feel important and crave recognition.

An employer who is concerned about his employee motivation must not assume that all employees want the same things. Giving something that a person does not value will not motivate.

• Unfair rewards and performance appraisal system.

An organization that rewards its employees based on seniority and favoritism will frustrate the employees who do not fall in this category.

When a worker realizes that the performance appraisal system is unfair, she will not put in her maximum effort.

She perceives that her effort will not provide the promotion, salary increase, promotion or personal growth.

• Lack of reinforcement.

An immediate praise for a job well done is motivating. If she gets feedback on how well she has done her job, she will do better.

A superior can acknowledge her performance by personally congratulating her, offering an incentive or celebrating the success.

Without reinforcement, she is uncertain of her progress toward the company's objective and even her own goals.

• Inadequate tools, insufficient resources and non-supportive working conditions.

Having a supportive and clean working condition with adequate tools provide personal comfort and employee motivation.

She is able to facilitate a good job in a situation where she can work with ease and perform at her highest level.

A supportive supervisor and a cooperative atmosphere allow her to put in the efforts. Offering training and development programs will encourage her.

The workplace motivation is important because she spends one third of her daily life associating with the people and conditions at work. It can make or break her.

Does this mean that employers have to meet all the employees' needs?

Employers, managers and supervisors have to understand individual needs and use the knowledge to keep the employee motivation high.

All motivation is self-motivation. Each individual is motivated by her needs but the leaders can trigger her to perform and give her best effort.

Most individuals no matter what level they hold in an organization crave for recognition, encouragement and to feel valuable.

An employer who is able to raise a person's self-esteem is helping her see herself beyond her salary and her job.

A leader who is opened to communication with his workers and provide guidance and mentoring will obtain cooperation and loyalty.

Motivated employees will do more that is expected from them because they feel that they are doing the job for their own success.

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