In today’s world, people have way more job opportunities open to them than they did three years ago. If they’re not given incentives to perform, it won’t take them long to leave the companies they’re at for those who do offer the motivators they want.

Before we dive into the details, let's take a step back and examine how employee motivation works.

What is employee motivation?

Let’s go back to the basics that you might have learnt in a Human Resource Management course you took in university or a training session you attended. Motivation is the drive for a person to achieve a goal (or goals). This drive can be encouraged through intrinsic i.e. internal or extrinsic i.e. external means. Intrinsic motivation is basically self-motivation which has to come from within people. The kind of motivation we’re going to talk about in this article is extrinsic motivation where you as the HR Manager or employer steer the wheel.

Why is motivating employees important?

Have you ever heard of the saying ‘happy people are productive people’? It’s motivation that keeps people happy. When you offer them incentives, there’s no reason why they won’t feel motivated to make their best effort, and when they do, that translates into the company performing better overall.

Wondering how to motivate your employees in a competitive market? The answer to this is in this article.

So, keep on reading.

How to motivate employees in Pakistan (8 tactics you need to know)

There are many different ways to motivate employees, but not all of them work, particularly in the working culture of a country like Pakistan. We’ve done some digging so that you don’t have to. Here are tried-and-tested ways to motivate your employees, Gen-Zs included.

1. Get Earned Wage Access (EWA)

Money is the biggest reason most people work. Your employees won’t think twice about switching to another job that offers a 20%-30% salary bump. Now here’s the thing - you can actually give your employees on-demand pay or Earned Wage Access (EWA), that too, within a few clicks. In other words, you can give them some or all of their earnings in a given month before payday day using technology. Given the multiple price hikes that have happened in the past year, it would be hard for your employees to refuse such a brilliant benefit.

2. Pay well for overtime

Most employers in Pakistan don’t pay for overtime, and the ones that do give overtime pay on the basis of regular salaries. This is a recipe for dissatisfaction. In more progressive countries such as the UK, Germany, Denmark and even the United Arab Emirates, it’s company policy across industries to not only pay for overtime but also set a multiplier for overtime pay e.g. 1.5x for Saturdays, and 3x for public holidays. Do this and you’ll not only see employees showing up at work willingly on usual days off but also giving their best.

3. Quarterly salary increments

This may raise your eyebrows, but paying performance-based salary increments on a quarterly basis is a great way to boost performance faster then paying annual increments. Remember that your employees have options when it comes to job opportunities. They won’t hesitate to leave your company for one that has this Performance Management practice in place. So, if you want to motivate your colleagues to stick around and deliver their best consistently, it’d be a wise idea to hop aboard the bandwagon of quarterly increments. Yes, this does mean that you’ll have to conduct quarterly performance appraisals, but a Human Capital Management software can do most of the work for you.

4. Introduce Work From Home

We’re four years into a post-COVID world where remote work has become the norm across the globe. Today’s talent generally prefers working for companies that give them the flexibility to work from home (or anywhere) once or twice a week. If your company isn’t doing that yet, it’s high time it should. But get this - implementing a Work From Home policy will incentivise employees much faster than other motivation tactics. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your colleagues will step up their game when you tell them they don’t need to drag their feet to the office a couple of days in the week.

5. Announce appreciation openly

If there’s one thing that really encourages people to work, it’s receiving appreciation. We’re not talking about a casual ‘Great work!’ over lunch. That’s not going to cut it. Make it a point to give top performing colleagues credit where it’s due. The key here is to make sure you communicate words of appreciation on internal and public channels such as newsletters, LinkedIn and all-hands meetings. In addition to that, be specific about what the employee has achieved. When their colleagues see how much your company values its people, they’d be willing to put in a greater effort at work so that they get the chance to shine, too.

6. Have weekly one-on-ones

Great managers in today’s world are those who care about their team. One way they can show this is by having one-on-one catch-up sessions of 10 to 15 minutes with every team member on a weekly basis, ideally towards the end of the week. The goal here is for managers to ask their staff about the progress they’ve made in the week, what support they need to do their jobs, what issues they’re facing and how to resolve them. These one-on-ones are small initiatives with big impact. Don’t believe us? Try it out for yourself.

7. Emphasise feedback

In Pakistani companies with a traditional culture where one person calls the shots or what is popularly called a ‘sethiya’ culture, there’s no concept of giving constructive feedback. Even companies that try to be more progressive overlook the value in managers giving their team constructive feedback on a regular basis. That’s one of the biggest reasons why employees remain stagnant in their roles for years. If a feedback norm doesn’t exist at your company, why not introduce one? The best part is that it doesn’t take much for managers to tell their reportees what they’re doing right and where there are opportunities to do better.

8. Make learning a KPI

People who learn are people who grow. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. If you want to motivate the low-hanging fruit to perform better, make it a part of their annual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to complete X number of courses and attend training sessions based on their learning needs. The whole point here is pull up their performance from A to B within a given timeframe so that they can deliver the objectives laid out for them. When they do that and bring results, that’s an instant spike in their motivation levels. Make sure that you do your research on the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities available for every role or function, and tell your employees about them.

Moving forward together

Now that you know how to motivate people, it’s time to think about which of these tactics you can implement at your company. Thank us later!