Benefits of a motivated workforce

Motivation affects how employees feel about their work, and a motivated workforce creates a number of clear benefits for a business. These gains include keeping staff, attracting applicants, raising productivity and increasing profit.

Keeping staff and saving costs

Motivated employees are more likely to stay with the business, so staff turnover — the proportion of employees who leave and are replaced each year — falls. Every leaver can mean money spent on advertising the job, interviewing candidates and training a replacement. Avoiding those costs protects the business's finances. For example, a furniture workshop with 20 employees might usually lose four workers a year. If better motivation reduces this to one leaver, the owner avoids three recruitment rounds and three training programmes.

Attracting able applicants

A business with a reputation for happy, well-motivated staff attracts more people when a vacancy is advertised. A larger pool of applicants gives the business a wider choice of candidates and a better chance of appointing able employees. Those employees may then work more effectively and need less supervision.

Working harder and raising output

Motivated employees generally work harder and more effectively, which raises productivity — output per worker. If the furniture workshop's staff build 120 benches a week instead of 100, without extra wages, its costs are spread over more output and unit costs fall. The business can increase output without taking on extra staff.

Together, lower staff turnover and higher productivity increase profits and help the business to compete more effectively.