FIGURE 2 FINDING THE RIGHT MOTIVATOR


Cross-referencing FEVS categories to studies ranking the importance of those categories indicates that the areas where Army employees ranked their leadership less favorably are the ones they find most critical to their workplace motivation. To better motivate the workforce, the author suggests, leadership should take steps to address those deficits. (SOURCE: Nicholaus Saacks)


41% 38% 86% 72% 64% 58% 66% 49%


Appreciation Awards


Feelings on things


Good wages


Interesting work


Organization’s mission


Personal/ company loyalty


Promotion/ growth


against popular motivators


throughout


research literature sheds light on the driv- ing force for this level of satisfaction.


Tere is a large range in these scores. Tree motivators—appreciation, awards and potential for promotion and growth—fell below 50 percent positive responses. (See Figure 2.) Alternately, both the organi- zation’s mission and loyalty exceeded 70 percent positive responses. Knowing the importance or priority of these motivators would put these scores in a more useful light. To achieve this, compare the FEVS results to two research sources: Carolyn Wiley’s 1997 study on the top employee motivators over 40 years of research and the 2012 U.S. Merit Systems Protec- tion Board (MSPB) Federal Employee Engagement study.


Te juxtaposition of AAW motivators, FEVS results, literature review and the MSPB report provides a number of insights. First, appreciation is both the lowest-scoring motivator on the FEVS and among the most important motiva- tors, according to both Wiley’s study and


the MSPB study. Awards show a similar pattern, although the difference between their perceived importance in Wiley’s study and in the MSPB report indicates that they may be more important to the general employment population than the federal workforce. Tird, interest- ing work appears to be a high motivator across all three studies, and it is encour- aging that the AAW is generally positive in its current view toward that motivator. Finally, the opportunity for promotion and growth is a somewhat mediocre motivator across both the Wiley study and the MSPB study. So, while there is much room for improvement in this area, higher priority may be given to other, more preferred motivators.


So how can Army acquisition leaders raise the percentage of employees who see senior leaders generating high levels of motivation in the workforce? Before changing anything, leaders should keep doing what is working. According to the FEVS, employees are generally satisfied with their feelings of inclusion, wages, connection to the mission and loyalty


of the organization to the individual. In addition, employees are satisfied with the challenge of their work and the potential for promotion and growth. Tis is prom- ising, especially since interesting work is one of the top employee motivators across all the research. Managers and senior leaders should keep reinforcing these perceptions. Ignoring these strengths to chase improvements in other areas would be foolish; leaders should preserve what they do well to ensure that motivation levels do not slip further. Still, supervi- sors and senior leaders could improve in two areas of motivation.


First, leaders must take action to make the workforce feel more


appreciated.


Appreciation can be administered easily and is inexpensive. It can be as easy as saying “thank you” for a job well done. Currently, less than half of employ- ees feel adequately recognized for good work. Many supervisors and leaders are likely trying to show their employees appreciation, but in a manner


incon-


sistent with the employees’ preferences. Leaders should engage in dialogue with


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