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6) The Link Between Employee Welfare and Employee Motivation

 

Martin (2001) put forward a good welfare case, as it was known at the time, as follows: "People [at work] have the right to be regarded as whole people with personal needs, hopes, and anxiety." Armstrong (2014) Said that this requirement has not changed since then. The practice of employee well-being involves creating a satisfactory working environment, dealing with issues that affect people, and providing individual and group services. A key aspect of employee well-being is their health and safety. As defined by Taylor (2008), the quality of work life is related to basic external work factors such as wages, working hours and working conditions, as well as internal factors of the work itself. However, Armstrong (2014) believes that employee happiness depends on the quality of work and life provided by the employer satisfaction and happiness produced by the work itself and the work environment.

Employee benefits are very important to the success and reputation of the company. No one wants to work in an environment that will hinder their physical and mental health. People must be treated with dignity in the workplace. This is not a favor, but the right approach. Therefore, it is becoming more and more important to focus on the well-being of employees (Ulomka, 2017).

Staff Benefits and Job Motivation 

Under the principle of employee benefits, if an employee feels that the management cares about him/her as a person and not just another employee, he/she will be more motivated and committed to his/her work (Luenendonk, 2017)). High performance is achieved by proactive people who are ready to make discretionary efforts. Even in fairly basic roles, Hunter et al. (1990). What motivates high-performance employees? Hunter et al. (1990) Furthermore, the special fringe benefits provided make them high-performance employees. Armstrong (2009) believes that money is an influential motivating force because it is directly or indirectly related to satisfying many needs. Money itself may have no inherent meaning, but it has gained important motivational power because it symbolizes many intangible goals. Employee benefits, also called allowances or fringe benefits, are provided to employees in addition to salary and wages. Employee benefit packages may include overtime pay, medical insurance, vacations, profit sharing and retirement benefits, to name a few (Virginpulse, 2017).

The figure 5 clearly shows some of the prominent Employee benefits that leads to highly motivated employees.

Figure 5: Benefits of a motivated workforce 

Source: (Swet Nie Tan at el, 2011)

According to Schawbel (2017), the company will continue to allocate more funds to benefit plans because employers benefit financially, and employees will therefore be more productive, motivated, happier and healthier. As health care costs rise, these programs can save money, increase participation, and provide companies with a competitive advantage in the market.

In video 4 below, Sir Richard Branson, founder, and chairman of Virgin Group, discusses why companies should care about the value and importance of employee well-being, and how Virgin Pulse is leading the program on a global scale. He also stead that Productivity and performance are boosted when employees are happy. Employees that are in good health exhibit healthier behaviors and make better decisions. Higher employee morale executed, when employees' needs are satisfied on all levels, including physical, emotional, and financial, they feel more capable and appreciated.

Video 4: Why companies should care about their well-being of employees their employees

Source: Walker Morris LLP ( 2021)


References

Armstrong, M ( 2014) A Hand Book of Human Resources Management Practice, 14th Edition.

Employee Benefits , 2019 , Virgin Pulse, 75 Fountain St Providence, RI 02902, https://www.virginpulse.com/our-products.

Hunter, J.E., Schmidt, F.L. and Judiesch, M.K., 1990. Individual differences in output variability as a function of job complexity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75(1), p.28.

Martin, A O (1967) Welfare at Work, London, Batsford.

Martin,L (2017) Employee Welfare, https://www.cleverism.com/lexicon/employee-welfare.

Schawbel, D (2017) Why Companies Should Care About the Well-being of Their Employees, Research Director at Future Workplace & NY Times Bestselling Author, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-companies-should-care-about-the-well-being-of-their_b_59f398c3e4b05f0ade1b572c.

Taylor, S (2008) People Resourcing, London, CIPD

Ulomka Limited Staff Welfare; How important, 2017, https://ulomka.com/2017/06/12/staff-welfare-how-important/. Taylor,S (2008) People Resourcing, London, CIPD.

Comments

  1. Hi Nadee, As you correctly stated, Herzbergs Two Factor Theory is an efficient theory which has made it simple for managers to create an environment which can boost performance by the application of motivation (Jannica, 2017). The theory insists the prime need of hygiene factors to eliminate dissatisfaction and retain employees. And then subsequently stimulate the performance by adding the motivation factors (Mohammed et al, 2014) which would propel organization to higher level achievements.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Chathuranga, Thank you for your valuable addition with regard to Herzbergs Two Factor Theory, I would like to add that the motivational-hygiene model states that employee motivation is achieved when employees are faced with challenging but enjoyable work where one can achieve, grow, and demonstrate responsibility and advance in the organisation. That is, when the employees’ efforts are recognized, it brings about job satisfaction and motivation (Kwasi, 2011).

      Delete
  2. Agreed Nadeeka, Employee engagement in management circles has become an important term, as employee engagement helps the company to succeed and achieve competitive advantage. Employees engaged are often loyal, innovative, creative and customer-oriented and intend to stay with the company for a long time. Likewise, not engaged employees do not hesitate to take an extra mile to achieve organizational goals. (Joo and Mclean, 2006).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Agreed on your view Nimna, further Alexis (2009) emphasizes that Innovative and creative thinking is one of the best benefits that results through a culture of employee engagement, enabling things to be done better and effective. The author further explains this is because employees are encouraged to bring out their potential, learn continuously with the accountability and freedom given with the trust embedded. Also such cultures doesn’t step back if anything goes wrong as they allow continuous development with the teamwork and great support.

    ReplyDelete
  4. According to Chandra S. P. (2017) providing welfare schemes is to create efficient, healthy, loyal and satisfied labor force for the organization.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Agreed with your argument. Luenendonk (2017) stated that if an employee feels that the management cares about his/her as a person and not just another employee, he/ she will be motivated and committed to his/her work. It is evident that employee welfare has a direct impact on employee motivation. Through that employees will highly engaged to the organizational goals and objectives.

    ReplyDelete
  6. According to Humana Resource Philosophy employees are an important business resource that must be managed carefully in order to maximize return on investment and achieve business objectives. Organizations have to provide various benefits to ensure employees welfare is taken care off. In fact in this age and era it is almost impossible to operate an organization without offering a basic set of benefits for employees’ welfare. Organizations should understand that a healthy and stress free worker is a major asset to the organization and should therefore provide welfare services and programmes (Ankita, 2010).

    ReplyDelete

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