Motivation often comes in many forms; it can come from within you when aspiring to meet goals and objectives such as gaining qualifications, a promotion in work, or training for an event such as a marathon, this type of motivation is often referred to as intrinsic motivation. Other forms of motivation may be classed as extrinsic motivation, otherwise known loosely as ‘dangling the carrot’. Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources and is often used in the workplace in order to reach organisational goals. Performance related pay is a likely choice for businesses, most notably in the manufacturing sector. Many theorists have studied the art of motivation in and out of the workplace and consequently how it affects a person’s lifestyle in terms of self esteem and organisational behaviour.

With vast public spending cuts in the UK and unemployment figures at a high since the 1980’s, motivating staff has become one of the biggest challenges in recent times. Motivation is a hard task in everyday life, especially when trying to influence others and increasing morale in the workplace.

There’s no easy answer to this, especially when the purse strings are tight and money isn’t readily available as it was in previous years, the most common form of motivation usually comes in the form of bonuses on an annual or monthly basis, particularly within large sales teams. Managers have not only had to be resourceful but also thrifty to avoid top talent leaving for competitors.

Gift vouchers often provide a suitable cash alternative when it comes to incentives and rewards; the savings made on buying gift vouchers in bulk can often far outweigh the cost of paying out cash bonuses to staff. Not only are vouchers becoming very popular in the field of staff reward & recognition, they also provide a suitable way of reducing the costs in order to improve the bottom line.

There are also many ways to keep up staff morale without using monetary forms, including one to one appraisals, a mostly underrated technique that can go a long way to improving morale. Flexible hours can be introduced; this is often an incentive very popular with parents and Friday early darters! Employee benefits packages also provide hefty motivation as they often include rewards such as discount vouchers for leisure activities like restaurant deals or gym membership.

Other obvious forms of motivation include offering training, time off, corporate gifts, a clean and safe working environment, job rotation, a clear scope for promotion and not to mention a thank you now and again. When times are tough, choosing the right motivational reward can be a daunting and inventive task, however the rewards can turn out to be fruitful when it comes to productivity and retention.