Reclaiming Employee Motivation

By Shen Ao - Friday, 1 March 2024

Kajang- “It’s Monday blue again”, “When is the weekend coming?” “I hate the alarm” those are the inner voice of most workers, how to motivate people to work are always big challenges to Companys.

  Figure 1.

Interviewer Shen Ao and interviewee Yuki Mok Ling Long

Leaders adopt rewards and incentives

When the topic comes to getting employees motivated to come to work, Yuki claimed that leaders play an important role. She said, "Leaders who are able to reward appropriately and say positive and encouraging things about their employees are more likely to be motivated to come to work."

According to The Statistics, only 15% of employees report feeling motivated all over the world. Yuki Mok Ling Long, a current UTAR student who is a part-time tutor, said, "I'm happy with my current part-time job because of the short hours and good pay, but I still sometimes don't want to go to work because teaching kids to learn is a tiring job." She said, "I sometimes avoid going to work due to stomach ache, yet assignments need to be done and not having enough time."

Yuki also said that when she is not motivated to go to work, she reassures herself that the money is the most important thing. Yuki also believes that the main reason employees are not motivated to go to work is because the workload is too heavy, and the employees are working too hard to bear the responsibility.

Figure 2.

Interviewee Yee Xin Ying

The key is Being responsible

Yee Xin Ying, who has a similar occupation as Yuki, with the difference that Xinying is an online tuition teacher. "I feel dull from time to time because it's hard to teach young children, which makes me feel so tired." Xin Ying said. She is a UTAR student about to join her internship, and she is not particularly happy with her current part-time job, she wants to find a job related to her major.

"I'll feel like I don't want to go to work from time to time, and I'll find excuses to avoid working. But I wouldn't leave early or cancel classes, I would postpone until I had time." Xin Ying said, "I feel like since I'm a teacher I need to be responsible for my students so when I'm not motivated, I will think about the responsibility I have and try to go to work."

Figure 3.

Interviewee Wong Xiao You

Find new and interesting ways to work

People often feel unmotivated to work because they find their jobs boring and tedious. The third respondent's name is Wong Xiao You, who is currently working as a basketball coach. XiaoYou said, "Of course sometimes I don't feel motivated to go to work, and even less so when I'm scheduled to work overtime on a temporary basis."

XiaoYou believes that when employees are not motivated at work, they should change the way they work to make their work more interesting instead of following the rules and doing boring work, which will affect the efficiency of their work and make them less responsible. As a matter of fact, changing the way you work to make it more interesting and innovative will keep your employees enthusiastic about their work.

Figure 4.

Interviewee Cheok Liyan

Find a goal and work for it

Indeed has published an article showing that finding a career you love is an effective way to incorporate goals and fun into your daily life. A career you love can also help you achieve goals that are important to you.

"Stick with it because I love it." Cheok Liyan puts it this way. As a dance teacher, Liyan has always loved her profession. Of course, there are times when everyone is not motivated to go to work, and Liyan is no exception, but she has always been clear about her goals. Liyan says, "When I'm not motivated to go to work, I look for the reasons why, and I understand that I love to dance, so I will set a goal for myself to become better and better."

Liyan believes that sharing her skills with others is a nice thing to do. She says, "Finding love in your work and realizing a win-win situation is the most important thing I think that can sustain an employee's motivation to come to work."

Figure 5.

Interviewee Lim Jun Min

Flexible work schedules

Flexible work schedules give employees more freedom to organize their work, set their own schedules, and find a work-life balance that works for them. Our final interviewee, Lim Jun Min, makes good use of flexible hours to balance his work and life.

Lim Jun Min is a freelance worker whose main source of income is helping clients with their games. "I'm happy with my current job, which allows me to be flexible with my time." He said. However, Lim Jun Min has also encountered situations where he had no motivation to go to work, saying that one time a lot of clients approached him causing him to work for three days without a break. Although the paycheck was substantial, he still found it unbearable.

"I've always believed that people's physical and mental health is directly proportional to how motivated people are at work, and that employees tend to be most motivated to work when they're well rested." He described it to us.

Not having the motivation to go to work is a situation that most people experience, and it is important to find out why and resolve the difficulties in order to go to work painlessly and get better and better at what you do.