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Establishing A High Motivation Human Resources Program

Guest post by: Leonard Scott

Article Overview: This article provides the nuts and bolts of establishing a high motivation human resources program which can enable a firm to attract the best employees available and create a positive work environment in which employee morale and productivity can be maximized.

Establishing A High Motivation Human Resources Program

The establishment of a high motivation human resource program can result in important benefits to a firm. In the first place and most obviously, such a program allows for the creation of a positive work environment in which employee morale, job satisfaction, and productivity can be maximized. Also, a good human resources program will enable a firm to attract the best available employees, create a positive work milieu, and build cooperation and teamwork among the various groups in the company.

There are eight basic elements in establishing a high motivation human resource program: (1) survey employee attitudes on a regular basis; (2) show an individualized concern for employee satisfaction; (3) communicate regularly and forthrightly with workers concerning company progress and direction; (4) treat all employees in a fair but firm manner; (5) maintain wages, salaries, and fringe benefits at competitive levels; (6) attempt to gain the allegiance of the natural leaders in the work force and channel them into management positions or employee organizations such as the suggestion committee or employee activity group; and (7) keep the work environment as clean and modern as the budget will allow; and (8) avoid hiring workers who do not have the qualifications to perform the work they are employed to do.

The building of a high motivation human resource program begins with the Human Resources function. If a firm does not have a human resources person, it should hire one or delegate this responsibility to someone already in the organization and have him/her trained in modern human resources techniques. If a human resources person is already on the scene, his/her effectiveness should be closely reviewed, and “new blood” brought into the function if performance there is found to be inadequate in the light of causes of any “people problems.” The next area to scrutinize is line management. If it is found that members of management are weak in handling employee relations problems, they should be exposed to intensive training. More about this later.

Organization and Communications
Organization and communications are vital elements in human resource motivation. Human Resources should propose human resources policy, and top management should review and approve it. After Human Resources codifies and interprets approved policies, line management gives life to them through their everyday directions and interaction with employees. Care must be taken that line management does not over time transfer to Human Resources through inaction the day-to-day responsibility for maintaining a high level of employee motivation. Human Resources and top management can assist and support managers in human resources matters, but in the last analysis they are the ones who will determine the success or failure of the company’s human resources program. Therefore, early in the development of a human resources program, a management training program should be presented. It should provide front-line managers with the following information:

—Responsibilities and benefits of a manager
— Leadership skills
— Human relations and communications
— Basic techniques of management, such as manpower planning, job analysis and evaluation, appraising employee performance, training, accident prevention, giving instructions, discipline and handling complaints and problem employees
— Understanding the management cycle — planning/budgeting, organizing, motivating and controlling
— Details of the human resources program, wage/salary structure, wage/salary payment plan, work rules, promotion and transfer policy, employee benefits, dress code, and conduct code
— Decision making and problem solving
— Keys to management success, such as self-assessment and development, managing time, creativity and building positive relations with superiors
— Company obligations under employment related government regulations

Effective communication within management and between management and employees is very important in building employee morale and high productivity. Communications on human resources matters must flow up and down the chain of command. Top management should hold regular meetings with line management to discuss company thinking on employee matters and get from these men and women the problems they are having in the working sphere and the gripes they are getting from their employees. Managers should hold regular meetings with their employees to get soundings concerning worker attitudes. A weekly five or ten minute “what’s up” meeting is an excellent device for securing information on employee thinking. It can be used not only to discuss work process related matters, but also to flush out gripes and problems in their infancy stages. Care must be taken, however, to insure that these meetings are not allowed to generate into scheduled gripe sessions or not take the place of meetings between individual workers and their managers to air and settle specific complaints. Formal employee attitude surveys should also be used to learn what employees have on their minds and their degree of company loyalty.

A company that wants to maintain a high level of employee motivation should tell employees that it has the will to settle employee complaints and wants workers to be an important part of the organization. These attitudes should be communicated to all employees via an employee handbook, general announcements, and orientation programs.

Also, the company should, on a regular basis, inform its employees as to the progress of the firm and what direction it proposes to take in the future. Employees are most interested in the condition and plans of their company in that they use this information to measure their employment security and opportunity for advancement. The company should give credit to it employees for business success which they contributed to and enlist their support in solving problems which they have control over.

Wages, Salaries, and Benefits
The first step in setting up an equitable wage/salary and benefit plan should be the review of wage, salary, and benefit levels for competitiveness in the market and for internal consistency. This should be followed by the drawing up of job descriptions and job specifications, the evaluation of positions, the taking of wage and salary surveys, the setting of new job rates where required, and the establishing of a wage/salary payment plan which relates output to merit increases and provides for wage/salary progressions which employees consider equitable. Wage/salary schedules should not be made general knowledge, but if an individual employee asks what the rate/salary progression is for his/her classification, he/she should be told. This information should include not only wage/salary rates, but also output levels and time in grade requirements that go with moves from one pay level to another. Openness and honesty in this matter are most important in building trust between employees and management. Subsequent to the establishment of an equitable wage/salary structure and wage/salary payment system, a 401(k) plan or profit sharing program should be adopted. This will provide long-term security to employees. The next order of business is to establish policy on how temporary assignments to higher paying jobs are determined, what rules guide permanent transfers and layoffs, and what severance pay policies are. The question of on-the-job training and accumulating company service credit (seniority) should also be addressed, and policy statements on these matters should be prepared.

Some additional programs which build employee morale, motivation, and loyalty are the following:
— Company newsletter
— Employee electronic bulletin boards
— Partial or complete subsidization of cost of production worker work clothes
— Reasonable wash-up time for production workers
— Company sponsored employee discount purchase plan
— Employee activity committee to organize dances, dinners and sports leagues
— Service award program
— Choosing employees at random for awards, such as free baseball tickets, paid dinners, etc.
— Formal pre-management training for workers aspiring to management positions — to be held after working hours
— Annual company picnic
— Program in which workers represent company at charitable events at holiday times
— Annual open discussions between employees and top management - small groups meet with President and Human Resources Director to discuss employee relations subjects and company progress
— Company sports program —partial or full subsidizing of cost of golf, bowling and baseball leagues and uniforms
— Scholarship awards to children of workers
— Company paid lunches when work groups surpass long standing output records
— Suggestion system - with or without cash awards
— Display of company products or services
— Sending of flowers to workers and members of their immediate families in case of illness or mourning
— Credit Union
— Open house for families of workers

It might be said that these programs would be extremely costly or that they reflect a “giving away of the store.” Not so! It must be remembered that the taking of the initiative with respect to human resources matters is greatly less expensive than “outsider” intervention or constantly shoring up an unmotivated work force. Also, many of these programs can be supported by the monies that are made through vending machines, lunchroom operations and employee activity committee events, such as raffles, picnics, etc. Further, these programs are reflective of a full-blown human resources activity. That is something that the company should work toward. Perhaps it would take a number of years to totally implement.

Concern For Employee Satisfaction
All employees desire satisfaction from their work, and most want the opportunity to rise to the highest level in their company that their abilities will allow. A firm seeking to maximize employee motivation must clearly show a realization of this situation. First, it must insure that its managers recognize that every worker is different and employ motivational techniques appropriate to each worker’s individual personality. Second, it should direct all managers to learn what the job related aspirations of each of their workers are and attempt to develop each employee to the fullest extent of his/her capabilities. Third, the company’s appraisal and promotion systems should involve reasonable standards, compensation increases which are based on performance, a commitment to promotion from within, and use, in tandem, of ability, performance, and company service in determining advancement.

Follow-Up
Human resources matters must be monitored constantly by top management. They are as important as profit and loss considerations where work force motivation and performance are critical to the achievement of company goals. If the company has a management by objectives program, human resources objectives should be included in all managers’ performance targets. Through information gained from line management and personal contacts, Human Resources should keep top management up to date with respect to trends in employee complaints and work force morale and motivation.

Regular Review
All human resources policies, procedures, and programs must be reviewed regularly. Human Resources should provide top management with status reports on the operation of all human resources programs on a quarterly basis. New programs should be added when old ones lose their effectiveness. Employees must feel that management is doing all it can to make improvements in the work environment. Then and only then will the work force trust management, accept changes that might be required to increase productivity, and pull with management with respect to company goals. It has been proven that this approach works. Concern for employees by management will build confidence in management by employees.

Work Environment
Employees expect a modern, orderly, roomy, and safe place in which to work. Also, their pride in their employment is heightened when they are given up-to-date equipment to work with and regular maintenance is used to keep it in good working order. Attention to employees’ needs with respect to their work environment and the condition of their equipment must be present in all high motivation human resources programs.

Natural Leaders
Line management and Human Resources should maintain close contact with the natural leaders in the work force. Involving these individuals on an informal basis in the determination of new company policy and plans can insure that communication channels between rank and file and management are kept open and provide management with information on the acceptability of company action before it is taken. Also, management should consider these individuals for management positions and using them as sources for hiring new employees.

Employment
Companies should be careful to properly screen prospective employees and train new hires. The hiring of employees who are not qualified for, or trained to do, the work to which they are assigned, can create serious human resource problems. Unqualified or marginally qualified employees can quickly become troublemakers or sources of low employee morale and motivation.

Some Additional Considerations
The following are some additional approaches that can be employed to keep employee morale and motivation high:
—Keep detailed files on poor performers and malcontents and terminate them when an “open and shut” case can be built. A company should rid its work force of these types. It’s usually easy. Oftentimes these workers are sloppy in their work, not punctual, annoying to hard working fellow employees and frequently insubordinate or destructive of company property. Promptly discharge sub-standard performers and employees who break work rules. The majority of workers will be looking at how management treats such individuals. If leniently, trust will never develop. If fairly but firmly, justice will seem to have been done.
—Give awards to managers with the least “people problems” and the highest output records.
—Establish a formal employee complaint procedure. Use an “open door” policy or a “speak out” program involving the choosing of employees at random from each department every month or so to discuss company policy, plans, and progress and provide management with the thinking of employees on matters of mutual concern.

There are situations wherein employee discontent grows because the company cannot develop the profits to provide competitive wages/salaries, benefits, and working conditions. If it is seen that productivity is the problem, management should establish a process reingeneering activity. The majority of employees will accept changes aimed at increasing efficiency, even though it means a decrease in the work force, if they see that the end result is an improvement for those workers who remain in the company, and layoffs are handled in an equitable manner.

Keeping employees productive and satisfied with their work is not a difficult matter. The key to success is building an awareness of the problems which create employee discontent and low productivity, establishing a human resources program to counteract them, and operating the program as an integral part of general business operations.


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