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UNIT 8. PEOPLE

Pre-reading activities

1.Have you ever had a job? How did you get it? What training or skills were required?

2.Have you ever had the experience of being motivated to do smth? Describe this experience and say what reasons made you change your attitude to the work done and do it with satisfaction.

In your answer you may use the following word-expressions and phrases:

I’ve experienced, to do exercises, to lose weight, to enter the university, to attend courses, to be motivated, to result in, after finishing (graduation from), to get a wellpaid job, to get some useful knowledge, to praise, to be praised, to be promoted.

Reading

Read the text and say why motivation is really important for employers and employees and what a person can do to be motivated to work and show good results.

MOTIVATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Motivation is the force that makes us do things: this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied so that we have inspiration to complete the task. Depending on how motivated we are, it may further determine the effort we put into our work and therefore increase the standard of the output.

Nationwide studies have shown that up to 80% of employees are not engaged by their work. When we suggest factors that determine the motivation of employees in the workplace, almost everyone would immediately think of a high salary. This answer is correct for the reason that some employees will be motivated by money, but mostly wrong for the reason that it does not satisfy others.

The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago found that employees rank salary as only the third most important factor in how much they like their jobs: The opportunity to do "important work that gives a feeling of accomplishment" ranks No. 1.

Nowadays there is financial or non-financial incentive in most companies.

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Financial Incentives

Increasing motivation through financial rewards is a method that is most common when businesses rely on the quantity of the output of employees. For those employees involved in production, a piece rate system can be issued where they are paid for each individual product they produce. In which case, they would be motivated to produce as much as possible in order to achieve a high pay. Also a commission payment scheme could be introduced.

The businesses may even introduce fringe benefits instead of increasing wages or salaries such as company cars, private health, or interest-free loans from the business, more training, travel. These benefits are often valued higher than wage increases and can be less expensive for the business to provide. Another financial incentive is the offer of a share of the company profits, say, 5%, which is split between the employees.

Non-financial Incentives

For whatever reason you decide that non-financial incentives are more effective in your business, there are many forms in which they can be given.

Motivation can be increased by giving employees more responsibility so that they feel their contribution is more valuable to the business and that their role is of higher importance. Further, you can promise the chance of promotion if they reach a certain standard or target.

Managers sometimes forget to do "the simple things that cost nothing: letting employees know how much you appreciate what they're doing on an individual basis. That can be very motivating. Very often a more flexible schedule can be offered.

Without motivation in the workplace, the business will suffer from the lack of efficiency that the people may fail to apply. This is because they have no incentive to perform tasks to a high standard or complete them on time.

Everyone is motivated by different things and a majority of these factors are not money orientated: instead they react more effectively to incentives that offer personal recognition and achievement.

There is a fine line between factors that motivate people and factors that prevent job dissatisfaction. In other words, some things do increase the level of efficiency in employees by reducing job dissatisfaction but are not motivators themselves. This is because people need to eliminate unhappiness in their job before they can begin to be motivated and this usually, and some say must, begin with an *acceptable* wage that they can live on.

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Vocabulary notes:

to be engaged by smth. – to be involved in doing smth.

accomplishment – something difficult that you succeed in doing, especially after working hard over a period of time.

incentive – something that makes you want to do something or to work harder, because you know that you will benefit by doing this.

piece rate system – a rate of pay by which you get a particular amount of money for each piece of work that you complete rather than for the amount of time it takes to do it.

commission – an extra amount of money that you have to pay to a bank or other organization when they provide a service for you.

fringe benefit – something that you get in addition to your salary, for example, a car; any extra thing that you get unexpectedly.

recognition – praise, respect or admiration; agreement that something is true or important.

to eliminate – to get rid of something that is not wanted or needed.

Discussion

1.What is job dissatisfaction?

2.Why can’t high wages be an important stimulus for better productivity and job satisfaction? Why do you think a lot of people rank money only the third factor? What can be placed the first? Why?

3.What incentives are there in many companies and enterprises?

4.When do many businesses mostly use financial rewards? What financial benefits can be offered by the employers? Could you add more benefits to this list?

5.What reasons can be for using non-financial incentives? Give possible examples of

“without money” motivation.

6.What can make you be motivated in your work or studies?

Vocabulary

I. Give English equivalents to the following words and word-combinations.

Удовлетворение от работы, достижение, продвижение (по службе), плата (выплата, зарплата), продвигать (содействовать), иметь вдохновение, быть

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мотивированным, усилия, вкладываемые в работу, исследования по всей стране, быть неудовлетворенным чем-то, мотивация, стимулирующие выплаты, финансовые стимулирующие выплаты, поощрение, полагаться на что-то, быть вовлечённым во что-то, система оплаты за единицу производства, схема оплаты с процентами, повышать зарплату, беспроцентные займы, делить что-то между кем-то, предоставлять большую ответственность, ценный вклад во что-либо, возможность продвижения по карьерной лестнице, достигнуть определённого уровня, гибкий график работы, отсутствие эффективности, личное признание, приемлемый уровень зарплаты.

II. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and word-combinations.

Job satisfaction, motivation, social interaction, accomplishment, high productivity, to be inspired, to be motivated, to take professional qualifications, to have a position of responsibility, to work overtime, to develop skills, to make decisions, personal achievement, collaborate with, to prioritise more, to set deadlines, nationwide studies, to be engaged by smth., to rank smth. as, financial incentive, non-financial incentive, financial reward, to rely on, a piece rate system, a commission payment scheme, fringe benefit, interest-free loan, contribution, to appreciate, flexible schedule, lack of efficiency, personal recognition, acceptable wage.

III. Match the word and its definition.