Motivating And Sustaining Non-Profit Employees Within An Organization

In non-profit organizations, the employees are driven by much more than monetary gain. Non-profit organizations cannot lure employees in with monetary perks as is the case with for-profits, nor can they motivate employees to work harder and increase productivity through monetary perks, cash benefits or paid vacations and leaves. These employees are much more likely to be motivated due to intrinsic factors than they are likely to see an opportunity for motivation in extrinsic motivating factors.

For non-profit employees, organizations need to focus mostly on the intrinsic factors that motivate individuals. The word non-profit naturally implies that extrinsic factors of motivation will not be as helpful in achieving the desired results where it concerns non-profit employees. When rewards and punishments are used as extrinsic factors of motivation, they usually result in only short term motivation, and accordingly, short term results. If an organization understands the psychological principles which are fueling employee motivation, however, and find effective ways to connect these principles to the relative business goals, individuals can be raised to much higher levels of performance than is usually thought possible. Also, connecting the underlying motivating factors with performance and, ultimately, results makes it possible for the organization to sustain the high level of performance over a longer term period.

A non-profit employee will be more inclined towards fulfilling his self actualization and esteem needs than the others. The drive to fulfill basic needs will be there, but the employee in question will be more concerned with the part that he can play in achieving the task at hand, rather than the material rewards he or she hopes to receive upon completing the task. According to McClelland’s theory of needs, a non-profit employee will be more concerned with fulfilling the need for achievement more than other of the three needs mentioned in the theory.

Non-profit organizations need to understand that the workplace is dynamic. It is a known and well established fact that neither the organization nor its workforce can be expected to be static over any period of time. Therefore, it is important to design motivation programs that are viable to survive through the dynamics of the workplace. This can be achieved through creating as well as sustaining an environment where each employee is capable of motivating themselves effectively. If developing and sustaining employee motivation is seen as an ongoing process, the results will ultimately be more fruitful.

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