Talent Connection Blog

In the long run, the purpose of employee motivation is to boost engagement and improve performance. But what happens when employee motivation practices don’t work? Take a look at these Gallup findings regarding a lack of effective motivation.

  • 30 percent of employees agree that their manager involves them in goal setting processes
  • 26 percent of employees agree that the feedback they receive helps them do their work better
  • 21 percent of employees agree that they have performance metrics within their control
  • 14 percent agree that they are inspired to improve by the performance reviews they receive
  • Only 2 in 10 employees believe that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do great work

With these numbers in mind, Gallup estimates that the cost of lost productivity and poor management—two major factors affected by employee motivation—will fall between $960 billion and $1.2 trillion every year.

This means performance motivation is a necessity. Getting started is as easy as a 4-step action plan:

  1. Performance self-evaluation
  2. Personal development plans (we call these ‘PDPs’)
  3. Impact descriptions
  4. Obvious needle movers

Motivated employees are productive employees—give them what they need, and work will be done right.