More productivity in the office. Why employees aren’t reaching their full potential

Four motivational strategies to increase your production.

| Engage  | Reward | Create well-being

Engagement is the watchword, because an employee that feels part of a project, who feels like it’s their own, tries harder. Work engagement isn’t a novelty. In 1990 the first person to introduce the concept of engagement in the work environment was Kahn, who defined an engaged worker as someone who is physically, cognitively and emotionally involved in their work. Essentially, working with passion is the underlying concept of work engagement and is what makes people happy, as affirmed by Schaufeli in his paper “Work Engagement: when work becomes passion.”

Ask me if I’m happy.
The etymological root of the word.

But what does it mean to be happy? If we look at the origin of the word, it’s surprising to discover an unexpected etymological root. Happiness is derived from the Sanskrit root “fe”, whence the verb φύω which means I produce, I generate. Hence, the condition of being happy is derived only and strictly from the emotional perception of the pleasant things that happen to us, but as a result of ourselves, of what we do. We ourselves are the actors of our own happiness when we physically and actively take part in our own space.

The correct way of formulating a request..

Hence why the simplest question may, or may not, lead to the birth of employee satisfaction.

If a question is formulated as follows:

“Can you send me photos X and Y?” Or: “I’m preparing a newsletter to send to all Italian distributors and installers of smart office control systems. I need some photos of Jackie and Giano lamps in the right setting. The subject of the newsletter will be the internet of things and I’d like to communicate the notion of interactions between people and objects.” Which of the two do you think is likely to have the greatest effect? Without a doubt, the time it takes to formulate the second request is slightly greater with respect to the first, but the result is decidedly better and inversely proportional to the effort invested in formulating the question. A collaborator or employee who is asked an engagement question will feel motivated and even proud to participate in the idea behind the project. It seems trivial, but one rarely stops to think about the effect our questions have on the people who need to perform a given task. In reality, it takes very little to create a sense of belonging and guarantee the collaboration of one’s employees. ”.

Congratulations, you did an excellent job.

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter of well-being. The higher the level, the more a person feels good. Dopamine levels can be raised by a compliment or acknowledgement.
An acknowledgement, confirms Liz Guthridge, coach for Connect Consulting Group in South Carolina, satisfies a worker need. “It confirms that you’re doing the right thing and encourages you to keep on doing it.”
A lack of acknowledgement is the main reason behind high turnovers, followed by disagreement with company policies, poor management, a lack of possibility for career growth and company failures.

Instrumental or emotional rewards?

A study by the Corporate Leadership Council has shown that instrumental rewards such as benefits, remuneration and career progress are not the essential elements that create engagement. According to a study by economist Angus Deaton and psychologist Daniel Kahneman, beyond a certain limit of monetary compensation, sufficient to guarantee a satisfactory social standing (this monetary limit is estimated at 75 thousand dollars, equivalent to about 68 thousand euros), money becomes less of an incentive and employee satisfaction starts to depend on other motivational stimuli. The most important reward, the one that is most satisfying, is that which gratifies our ego. A “well done” is sometimes worth more than a pay rise and creates an affiliation on the part of the employee, otherwise unattainable through the granting of an instrumental good.