5 Things to Look for in an Employee Motivation App

Employee engagement and employee motivation are linked, but aren’t the same. While employee engagement involves active participation in work-related activities, employee motivation relies on the desire to be engaged at work. Both motivation and engagement are essential when it comes to employee performance.

According to Forbes, motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Employees who are intrinsically motivated tend to be passionate about their work and gain satisfaction from performing well. Engaged employees tend to be intrinsically motivated.

Extrinsically motivated employees require rewards in order to perform. Otherwise, they’ll perform just avoid being disciplined or fired. How do you motivate your workforce? Technology simplifies things and employee motivation apps go a long way in aiding organizations in keeping their workforce motivated, and engaged. Here are five things to look for when considering an employee motivation app:

1. Recognition functionality: According to Forbes, “Just because employees are intrinsically motivated doesn’t mean they don’t require extrinsic rewards to keep their fire burning.” Being motivated by recognition does not mean that employees are extrinsically motivated – they’ve already completed their work by the time they are rewarded, as opposed to requiring the reward in order to fulfil their duties. Recognition does not have to be extravagant. Often a mere “thank you” can go a long way in fueling the desire to continue performing well. Ezzely allows employees to recognize each other publicly for excellent efforts, and award points to colleagues, which they can later redeem for rewards.

2. Easily accessible learning resources: Without easy access to resources to improve their skills or discover new aspects of their job, employees may become bored or experience their day-to-day work as monotonous. Although some courses might be  mandatory, it’s a good idea to let employees choose their own learning paths. Through Ezzely, you can easily assign training to staff from a variety of courses via the Coggno library. Best of all, they can complete it from work, from home, or on the road. Anywhere they may find themselves with free time to learn.

3. Transparent inter-communication: Employees who feel disconnected from the companies for whom they work are far less likely to feel motivated and engaged at work as a lack of communication also curbs individual agency (the ability to carry on with work due to an informed understanding of the organizational goals etc.) as well as a sense of community (fostered through the ability to ask for help, receive feedback, and feel connected to colleagues even when working from different sites). The activity feed on Ezzely is versatile in that it allows anyone within an organization in an assigned group to receive and post alerts about anything from schedule changes, relevant news, guidance around policies, coaching around incidents, training instructions, or even work-related photos. Additionally, the activity feed can be used to recognize employees and their accomplishments in real-time.

4. Enable employees to use their initiative: This point slots in with the previous two. Employees who are able to learn what they need to know to do their work or to improve their skills, are best equipped to take the initiative as they are likely to have the necessary resources at their disposal to do so. Being able to take initiative can instil a sense of pride and lead to improved motivation at work. A feature of the Ezzely app that further offers employees a sense of autonomy is the Pick up Shift functionality, which allows employees to request shift swaps with other available colleagues.

5. Rewards or incentives: We mention rewards and incentives last. Although it can be useful to incentivize work efforts, intrinsic motivation is cultivated by recognition rather than upfront incentives. Rewards and incentives are effective for intermittent boosts in morale in an organization. Ezzely allows organizations to set up rewards that would best suit their organizational culture, while Ezzely’s Raffle tool is excellent for energizing employees by offering a variety of prizes.

With the right employee motivation app, organizations can provide an environment that cultivates intrinsic motivation in their employees. It’s a prerequisite for continued passion, job satisfaction and employee engagement.

Check out www.ezzely.com to set up a demo or to start your free 15-day trial!