What employees want?

What employees want?

(A creative approach to trigger motivation among workers in Egypt according to their age groups)

What is employee motivation?

Employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, and creativity that a company’s workers apply to their jobs. In the increasingly competitive business environment of recent years, finding ways to motivate employees has become a pressing concern for many managers. In fact, a number of different theories and methods of employee motivation have emerged, ranging from monetary incentives to increased involvement and empowerment.

This article addresses key employee motivators and will advise the most effective motivators for each age group of employees.

This study has been done in Egypt on 750 samples from the Egyptian work force according their age group.

The study sample is mixed men and women 64% and 36% respectively, from the public and private sectors 23% and 77% respectively.

Below 30 Egyptian employees motivation manual

Egyptian workers below 30 years old tend to care more about interesting job as they aim to acquire experience in the field they like to continue their career in, they care about good wages to be able to fulfill their needs and fund their projects (like wedding), they like to make sure they have a career path, promotion and growth in their work, and appreciation of their work has a very positive effect on their performance and motivation.

To motivate the below 30 age group we recommend the following tips to follow:

1. Ensure that job is fitting his abilities and personality if not, rotate him.
2. Let folks do what they do best.
3. Give them a reason to come to work – every day. (Make work fun, spread love, make positive competition between them and rewards, make fantasy sports).
4. Ensure that he is offered the market wages level for his job and never below.
5. Give him attractive compensation and benefits.
6. Talk to him about his future in company, his promotion and growth plan and give him freedom to discuss it.
7. Invest in them, they are your assets (Training courses and comprehensive development plan)
8. Always link reward to performance.
9. Public Recognition, using crowns. (When he makes achievement they all know about it and the best achiever receives a custom made crown with his name)

From 31 to 40 Egyptian employees motivation manual

Egyptian workers from 31 to 40 years old tend to care more for the amount of money they make out of their jobs, also they can be motivated by offering them better benefit packages, or better incentive plans.

Another important aspect to motivate employees from 31 to 40 is make them feel secured at their jobs, their jobs has to be interesting, but it is very important to secure their income, and to have the sense of stability at their organizations.

We can’t forget that employees in this age group also needs appreciation for the efforts exerted in their jobs, they need to be recognized for their achievements, and give them the feel that their efforts push the whole organization forward in a steady strong steps.

To motivate employees from 31 to 40 age group we recommend the following tips to follow:

1. Offer high incentives and link them to the better performance, and these incentives could be money, extra vacation days, or even free working hours for certain period.
2. Cash is the king, nothing motivates more than the extra pound.
3. Talk about the future, by talking about the future you will make your employees certain that they are part of this future and they are secured in their jobs.
4. Call their spouses, by creating an award that include the employee spouse, (you are part of the family, and your family is our family).
5. Make things interesting, shaking things up to break the day-to-day routine, like having a surprise lunch.
6. Celebrate the good times, like celebrating their birthdays, anniversaries, and goals achieving dates.
7. Move the office outdoors, by moving the office to work in a coffee shop or park or any unconventional work space to move away from the office once a week.
8. Catch them red handed! By catching your employee making something right, and celebrate their good performance, make them feel very recognized.
9. Express appreciation and handwritten thanks, by writing the appreciation letters by hand to express how far their efforts are important a for the company.

From 41 to 50 Egyptian employees motivation manual

Egyptian workers from 41 to 50 years old tend to be included in work, to be part of the decision making process & to feel that they are part of the system. In this part of life there sense of self esteem at its peak, where he wants to make use of all of his previous work.

Moreover, he needs to feel that he is doing something interesting. He needs to feel that every day while he is going to work he is actually going to new challenge. This should be accompanied with good wages; it might not be the priority now but still an important supporting aspect.

All of this should be supported by showing him appreciation of his work. He should know that the company recognizes his work & let him know that.

Here are some tips to motivate Egyptian workers from 41 to 50 years old by mixing these priorities together:

1. A creative environment & thinking out of the box give the chance for the employee to be included in work through ideas. Sometimes this is even better for the company to benefit from these new ideas.
2. Start A “Mini-CEO” program, where you give the chance to employees to think as CEOs in company’s future & even discuss it with them. Also if the employee has an idea or project tell him “you are the boss” & let him to do all the plan & be responsible of this project followed by your support.
3. Lend the employees their glasses, allows your employee to see your vision, dreams & obstacles. Let him feel that he is part of the company & let him feel free to discuss the future.
4. Leading from the back, your employees will stay motivated because passion is coming from their own source. They feel ownership on the task as if the idea comes from them as well as you.
5. Don’t let them get bored, always break the monotony. Your employees should always come & find new challenges. From time to time even try to change the daily routine by new gatherings & events.
6. Move the office outdoors, get out of the office & have a day in the month where you go outdoors such as a coffee shop & do all the work away from the office. Everyone needs a break from the office & sometimes the best ideas flow when you are relaxed.
7. Never forget that cash is one of the most important weapons to motivate your employee.’
8. Give credit where credit is due, recognize the hard work by shouting them out to the entire company.
9. A handwritten thank you can have a great impact on the employee to feel that he is truly appreciated by his company.

Above 50 Egyptian employees motivation manual

Egyptian workers above 50 years old tend to care more about the interesting job and good working conditions as it is time to harvest the fruits of his efforts, his work to be appreciated, having higher level of responsibilities, enjoying his time and preparing for retirement.

To motivate the above 50 age group we recommend the following tips to follow:

1. Make things interesting (shaking things up every now and then is a good way to break up the day to day routine of the work schedule).
2. Share the memories (Creating a scrapbook chronicling the impact he had on his company and giving it to him on his last day at work).
3. Providing perks such a casual Friday, free lunches and cash bonuses or gift certificate.
4. Ensure availability of working condition he needs to enjoy his work (Bigger office, Window in the office).
5. Private membership for clubs and activities preparing for retirement.
6. Assign him with jobs having less physical effort than before.
7. Awarding him as employee of the month.
8. Appreciate his work and his legacy. (Financial rewards and praising).
9. Give him high level of responsibilities and let him included in major decisions.

Hope this study helps some of us to motivate their teams for better work environment and more fruitful results.

This study was done by Eslsca business school MBA students group 48C in 2015.