Suggest, with justification, ways of improving motivation in John Lewis's staff..

I would say that a very important point was missed by JL, and this is Childcare. I am going to discuss more about it as this includes lots of sub points. JL may help employees with childcare by offering different childcare vouchers. However, vouchers are bought out of their salary. But, you may probably think what’s the point, if employees may buy those vouchers by themselves. The main point is that employees do not pay tax or NI on the amount spent on vouchers. So they may save a huge amount of money, especially if the VAT in UK is 20%. These savings can make a huge difference to employees, depending on their circumstances. These vouchers can really show that the company cares about its employees.

More and more families are requesting to work in ways that allow them to better balance work and family life. Since 2003, parents of children younger than six (from April 2009, this has been extended to parents of children under 16) have had the right to request flexible working from their employer. Even if this is only a right to request, JL should consider each particular case. It is very important that they should offer much more flexibility to its employees as this supposes to make them happier (as they will spend more time with their family). This definitely will increase the levels of motivation of its employees as they will be more motivated to go to work.

Also, JL could help its employees with its children’s school fees. This is another rewarding system that has the purpose to motivate its employees even more. JL may help towards its tuition fees by paying 5% - 10% of the costs.

Another important way of improving motivation of it’s employees is by offering its them free (or cheaper) Health care services. This means that if JL’s employees are ill they can claim from the organisation to have a treatment privately. However, JL does not have such a reward system yet. Health care may be also given by John Lewis in the form of discount vouchers for treatments such as massages, visits to the osteopath or beauty therapy. This type of reward system may mean that employees take less time off-sick and are more motivated due to lower stress levels. This actually may benefit the company a lot as more members of staff will be motivated to come to their jobs. Another reason why JL should choose to offer health care benefits is so that itself can take advantage of less expensive health insurance than they could get on their own as well as tax breaks for the contributions made by the business. However, the main aim also remain the same as JL’s target is to motivate its employees. John Lewis should try to remain competitive with other businesses and start offering health care options to its employees. I was quite surprised when I found out that JL does not offer any health care options as some of its rivals, such as: Morrison’s and even Tesco’s has such an option.

However, even if these are just some of the issues, my opinion is that these are one of the most important ones that needed to be covered. All points/issues provided by me are more related to Maslow’s motivation theory that states that all employees have different needs that need to be satisfied. I paid more attention to employee’s extra work tasks such as parenting and health care. Mayo stated that ‘’rises in productivity were not only due to financial rewards, but also to management involvement’’. However, al the theories are just a general presumption that gives a general explanation that varies from case to case.

What are the consequences of having de-motivated staff?

First of all, I would like to mention that motivating employees to complete their job duties at a satisfactory or better level can be challenging. Dissatisfaction in the office environment, leading to no employee motivation, can cause negative consequences. The first consequence is poor performance. Employees who are demotivated perform at a lower level than other workers. Low productivity is a consequence of not being motivated. The next important consequence is dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction with their jobs can spread, and you may find that your employees want to quit. In order to avoid staff to be dissatisfied at their posts, the JL managers should talk to unmotivated staff members as soon as they notice a change in their behavior. Because JL revenues depends of sales, but sales depends of customers, there is a big possibility that unmotivated staff will offer poor customer service. Unmotivated employees may not have the energy or patience to deal with customers. Once JL develops a bad reputation in customer service, the negative impression can be far reaching when comments are posted on online review sites. When an employee is not motivated to do the job properly, they become an expense instead of an asset. This may lead to decreased revenues.

Why should they improve motivation?

First of all, I would like to mention that JL should always keep an eye on the motivation level of its employees. Better work motivation will have only positive results on the company. Motivated employees will work more effectively, offering better service. By keeping its employees motivated, JL will see improved productivity. When employees are motivated, they invest time, effort and brain power into offering best services possible.