Use the article below to answer these questions in simple vocabulary: 1. Why is it important to motivate staff? 2. What are the benefits to the business or organization?
3. Why can it be easier for a big company to motivate staff than a small one?
4. How does a business you know motivate its staff? Provide real examples with explanations. Attempt to identify how those examples fit into Maslow’s five levels.
What would motivate you to do your job and perform well on a regular basis? List 5 things you see as the most important motivators for you at a potential job. For each, classify them as intrinsic or extrinsic motivators, and also classify them according to level of  Maslow’s Hierarchy.SAP is the largest producer of business software in the world.
Motivating its staff is a big job as it has some 29,000 of them in 50 different countries, and yet it claims to be
among the best at doing this.
Indeed SAP has won awards for its innovative ways of keeping its staff happy.
It starts with the most obvious incentive of all - money.
After all, ask most people why they work and they'll answer in order to get paid and make a living and at SAP
the staff are very well rewarded indeed.
"Our average basic salary here is around £45,000," says Adrian Farley, human resources director at SAP.
"It's a very good package and our staff enjoy exceptional benefits, as well as a bonus scheme, but we're
competing for the very best people out there and often they will dictate their own terms."
Flexibility
Unlike a manufacturer which may see its machinery or equipment as its most valuable asset, SAP's success as
a business depends fully on the brainpower of its employees and their ability to serve its clients - hence its
efforts to keep them happy.
SAP has tried to create a flexible working environment and an incentive-based pay structure is designed to
improve overall operational performance and productivity.
To motivate and encourage, every employee's package includes fixed, flexible and incentive-based portions.
The flexible portion of each salary can be used to buy and sell annual leave, for dental or medical services, for
pensions, life assurance and concierge services. Pleasant offices
Furthermore, workers are provided with free lunch in the top-class restaurant, and the building is designed to
encourage team-work and creativity.
Staff and their families are given private dental and health care, and access to other services like dry-cleaning.
"The coffee lounges and workspaces are nice and bright throughout the building and this is good for
teamwork," says Rachel Cortes, a customer relations manager.
"It cheers you up, and we've also got flexible benefits so I can buy holiday time or choose to contribute more to
my pension, and a lot of the benefits are extended to family too."
But what if you're not a giant software conglomerate, and still want your staff to enjoy working for you?
Taking pride
Take Savoir Beds in west London for instance,
It's a much smaller, more traditional manufacturing business, but still has its own unique ways of motivating its
workers.
Savoir has been making beds since 1905; each one costs £6,000 and it produces only six a week, so speed
isn't the priority, quality is.
"Rather than have a production line with workers just operating on one part of the bed we actually encourage
them to do the whole thing" Alastair Hughes, Managing Director
Workers here don't get bonuses for making more beds quicker, and the firm could not afford to match the
salaries that SAP pays for example. "Bonuses don't work here; instead we want the staff to take pride in what they do by working on the product
from start to finish," says Alastair Hughes, managing director of Savoir.
Work of art
"Rather than have a production line with workers just operating on one part of the bed we actually encourage
them to do the whole thing, and then when it's finished we ask them to sign the bed. Customers come in and
meet the staff."
Customers write thank you letters to the person who made their bed, and everyone in the business has a
sense of pride in what they do.
Two very different companies, but what they both make is an effort to motivate their workforce.
The success of both businesses genuinely depends on it. 
Student Guide -
Whatever the business, the customers matter - or else!
Businesses large and small must look after their employees if they are going to meet the needs of customers.
Different businesses go about this in different ways.
SAP is the largest producer of business software in the world.
It has a large human resource department which works on schemes to keep motivation high.Savoir Beds is a
small firm which produces handcrafted, high quality, personalised beds.
It's found that money isn't the chief motivator.
The product needs care and attention so it doesn't want staff to rush things.
Just think...
Why is it important to motivate the staff?
Why can it be easier for a big company to motivate staff than a small one?
How does a business you know set about motivating its staff?
The personal approach
SAP and Savoir Beds both believe in the personal approach. Staff are human beings whose needs differ - so
the approach needs to be flexible.
SAP has a flexible remuneration package, a mix of fixed, flexible and incentive based parts. The flexible part
allows people to choose from these benefits:
• choice to take pay instead of holiday and visa versa
• dental care
• medical care
• pensions
• life assurance.
It allows people to start early, finish late, work part-time for a period, hhave a sabbatical or take periods of unpaid
leave.
The organisation is "flat" so there are few layers of management.
Benefits packages are common to all. The best benefits are not reserved for the top level staff. The difference
comes from salaries and bonuses - which are earned through incentive schemes.
The business has a strong bonus/reward culture so people expect those who do well to be paid well.
There are no "fat cat" secrets. Everyone is on the same terms. They each have a contract - and no more.
If senior management fail they won't get a big pay-off when they are pushed out!
The staff have asked to see how the system works and SAP is working on making everything as transparent as
possible. Just think...
How does the choice of benefits give opportunities to different sorts of people, young and old, married
and single, parents and non-parents?
How does the mix of incentives to earn greater financial reward and the non-financial rewards stimulate
staff to achieve?
Making beds
Savoir Beds is concerned about quality not speed. Each bed is made by one person - who, like an artist, signs the
product.
Customers visit the factory to discuss their beds.
Afterwards, they often write thank you letters to the person who made their bed.
Everyone in the business has a sense of pride in all they do.
Staff are encouraged to contribute their ideas. They even come back from holidays with bed catalogues!
Just like SAP, Savoir Beds has a flexible approach to work. Flexible working for people with families is the norm.
The needs of the multicultural workforce are also well catered for. All religious requirements are respected. Just think...
What benefits are there for staff and the business when one person makes a product from start to finish?
In what sort of business does this system work well?
In what sort of business is it not possible?
Why do staff find a thank you letter rewarding?
What evidence is there that staff have "ownership" of the product and their role in the business?
Work out how both businesses fit into Maslow's triangle.