In the past, no business was engaged in an employee’s motivation and professional growth. Workers were replaceable for a long time because their level of competence was not high. Many firms used workers until burnout and then replaced them with new ones. In the modern world, it is impossible to imagine a successful business with demotivated and poorly trained personnel (Nickels et al., 2022). Many companies are still afraid to develop human resource (HR) practices because they believe that employees will get free training and experience and leave the company (Bar-Isaac & Lévy, 2022). However, advanced HR management attracts more valuable, highly skilled, and motivated employees to the company, which is beneficial for the business.
In the article “Motivating Employees through Career Paths”, the authors explored how providing training and career development affects employee motivation, performance, and the likelihood of staying in the company. First, employees do not evaluate only salary when looking for a job; career opportunities and personal development are at the top of the list of priorities (Bar-Isaac & Lévy, 2022). Second, workers achieve maximum efficiency when their tasks combine the right balance of challenge and routine (Bar-Isaac & Lévy, 2022). The manager must monitor the employee’s growth and provide him with new types of work and creative tasks to display his knowledge and talents. Third, if the employer does not invest in building relationships with employees, then they are willing to change their company faster (Bar-Isaac & Lévy, 2022). In the end, the more people are included in the various work processes of the company, the higher their motivation and desire to develop.
The authors of the article built a two-period game to balance the investment of a business in human resources and the results produced by an employee. They concluded that in the first period of modeling, it is impossible to achieve a balance between investment in an employee and their output (Bar-Isaac & Lévy, 2022). The employer needs to learn to keep skilled people to get the most effective performance for a longer time. Bar-Isaac and Lévy suggested that such a situation in the labor market may lead to returning the up-or-out organizational model in a new, more horizontal way (Bar-Isaac & Lévy, 2022). It is beneficial for employees to achieve career growth, and it is crucial to have more educated and talented workers who do not want to leave the company for an employer.
The labor market is increasingly filled with highly educated and mobile people in current times. The more skilled the worker, the less attention they pay to wages. The employer must accept that the best employees from the market are attracted by growth prospects, a comfortable working environment, and exciting and motivating tasks. Proper workload management allows employees to remain motivated and highly efficient and therefore not look for a new job. Businesses have to put up with the cost of hiring and training workers, so it’s in their interest to develop HR practices to retain the workforce.
HR management strategy should create the basis for developing internal, interpersonal relationships in the company. The more an employee is involved in the work and various processes of the company, planning, and changing working conditions, the more they will be satisfied and motivated (Bar-Isaac & Lévy, 2022). People should know each other by sight, communicate, and build horizontal and vertical connections. Thus, workers feel part of the same social group and include group goals as part of personal ones. Making informal personal connections within the company helps the business to get more motivated workers.
It is beneficial for businesses to retain skilled workers for as long as possible, reducing the cost of hiring and training new people. Promotion is only one possible way to make a person visible and inspired (Nickels et al., 2022). The novelty factor plays an influential role in human psychology; all people get used to the old stimulation and are predisposed to look for a new one constantly. Employees who perform the same monotonous and routine tasks are more likely to leave the company and go to another, even if they will be doing the same functions there (Nickels et al., 2022). HR practices should aim to provide new, varied experiences for workers. It can be new assignments or projects, internships, schedule changes, a change in a work environment or new approaches to project management. However, innovations must be balanced not to create a sense of chaos.
A well-developed and attractive HR strategy help businesses not only retain employees but attract more qualified and motivated workers to hire. With the current workforce market, companies have to put up with employee turnover, as people are no longer eager to find one firm and spend their entire professional career in it. Moreover, now people can start a new job from scratch already having decades of experience in another field. Under these conditions, businesses need to create attractive development opportunities, training units, and internships to not to miss talents.
To conclude, it is beneficial for a business to motivate employees, develop relationships with them, and apply HR practices. The primary motivating factors for workers are career and professional growth prospects and the novelty of tasks and experiences. The company’s horizontal and informal connections development leads to an increase in the level of involvement and inspiration. Social activity and motivating contracts allow a business to keep workers for more extended periods. Companies that neglect their employees’ welfare risk getting staff turnover and the most low-skilled and the least motivated workers in the labor market.
References
Bar-Isaac, H., & Lévy, R. (2022). Motivating employees through career paths. Journal of Labor Economics, 40(1), 95-131. Web.
Nickels, W. G., McHugh, J. M., McHugh, S. M. (2022). Understanding Business. 12th Edition. McGraw-Hill Education.