Microsoft plans perks to retain staff
Employee motivation is central to understanding the needs and expectations of the employees. Psychologically, it pertains on producing the desired results through various organisational activities and managerially, it conforms to the relationship between ability and performance. Nevertheless, employee motivation deals with individual empowerment wherein employees are given the decision power and sense of ownership since this is perceived as a precursor of higher productivity and higher quality. The key requirement is to align individual purposes and vision to the organisation’s culture that could lead to interest, concern, commitment and responsibility among the employees.
One of the companies that well understood employee motivation is Microsoft, a multinational computer technology corporation which develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide array of software products for computing devices. Microsoft offers above average compensation and benefits packages that include perks, training and development, compensation, healthcare and investment programs. Compensation, specifically, is comprised of competitive salary, annual performance-based bonuses and merit pay increases based on annual performance reviews.
By virtue of the expectancy theory developed by Victor Vroom in 1964, Microsoft as an organisation believes that motivated employees put more effort which will yield to better performance to organizational rewards valued by the employees. As a process theory of motivation, represents an attempt to explain individual motivation in terms of anticipated rewards as a resultant of the different types of beliefs that people posses. These are expectance – the belief that one’s effort will result in performance, instrumentality – the belief that one’s performance will be rewarded and valence – the perceived value of the rewards of the recipient.
The strong points of the theory lie on the conception that there are extrinsic motivators that explain behaviours exhibited within the workplace whereby external rewards are envisioned as motivation inducers that fuel behaviours that are derived as a consequence of internal forces as enjoyment of work for instance.
As such, the result of these three beliefs is motivation embedded on individual factors such as personality, skills, knowledge, experience and abilities. Reward systems are considered as the frontrunners of employee motivation. It is in this sense that Microsoft’s reward system is commendable since it embodies the company’s continuing commitment and support to the employees by looking at effective ways to reward contributions, loyalty, dedication and efforts. Microsoft is a company that also fully realises that people and their knowledge, skills and abilities and the most important driving force to the success of the company.
Evidently, there are direct and indirect monetary benefits available to the employees in the form of wages and salaries, incentives, bonuses and commissions and healthcare benefits among others. Although there is no direct correlation to the Microsoft’s growth and development, these direct and indirect benefits encourage the employees to align their performance with the company’s objectives, philosophies, culture and values.
With that, there is the existence of psychological contract or unwritten agreement between individual members and the organisation. Such contracts conform to participation, measuring accomplishments, attaining goals, productivity, taking risks and other appropriate behaviours. What binds Microsoft’s employees to perform effectively and according to the values of the company is the reward system which also guides them to illicit the expected attitudes and behaviours among them.
Such psychological contract is part of maintaining the employer-employee relationships which contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation and morale. It concerns the prevention of and resolving problems involving individuals that arise out of or affect work situations. For the employers, employee relations are critical in achieving optimal performance. It is a strategic process of managing people risks. While for the employees, these are psychological contracts which lead to superior economic performance.
In sum, for Microsoft, the above industry compensation and benefits package serves as a covenant that entitles the company to monitor and measure the performance of the employees by which the benefits will be based. For the employees, the compensation and benefits package entitles them to perform more effectively at par from the performance of employees employed in rival companies. There is no pressure for the considering the fact that the reward system binds them to function as expected and produce the expected results.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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