Survey: Employee motivation doesn’t always mean more pay

MENLO PARK
January 19, 2007 9:44am

Team-building events and giving increased responsibility are common ways to motivate staff, but a new survey shows a simple "thank-you" will also win over employees.

Thirty-five percent of workers and 30 percent of chief financial officers polled cited frequent recognition of accomplishments as the most effective nonmonetary reward, according to the survey paid for by Accountemps, a unit of Menlo Park-based Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI).

Regular communication was the second most common response, given by 20 percent of employees and 36 percent of CFOs.

"No amount of team-building events or other perks can compensate for a manager personally thanking employees for a job well done," says Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of the book, “Motivating Employees For Dummies.”

Mr. Messmer says individuals want to know their work is appreciated and makes a difference.

While extra time off and flexible schedules help employees maintain work/life balance, they didn't rank as top motivators, according to the survey.

"These incentives are valuable in increasing loyalty over the long term, but there is no substitute for inspiring employees on a daily basis through words and actions," Mr. Messmer says.

The surveys were developed by Accountemps and conducted by an independent research firm and include responses from more than 1,400 CFOs from a stratified random sample of U.S. companies with more than 20 employees and 536 full- or part-time office workers.