I recently read an article by Stephen McConnell, a former Software Practitioner at Microsoft. He describes how it has been found that motivation is the single most important contributor to productivity. Microsoft takes this very seriously. The company finds it very important to motivate their employees in a positive environment in order to be an efficient company. McConnell goes on to describe work days of 12, 14, even 16 hours. Hearing this most people would cringe at the thought, but at Microsoft, their motivated employees are more than willing to put in extra hours in order to achieve a goal. Happiness within the company leads to more productive workers that want to see their company do well and want to be an integral part of that success.
A big part of Microsoft's motivational tactics is morale. Each group at Microsoft has a morale budget and are allowed to use it on anything- food, games, trips, or anything. The idea is that if employees are given things that make them happy, they are in an environment that are glad to work in; they don't need a higher salary or bigger office. Even small rewards like t-shirts boost the morale of employers.
Microsoft knows that a happy worker is often a hard worker and they are doing everything they can to keep that true!
Do you think they are things Microsoft is missing?
Thanks for reading!
Alivia Lindbeck
http://www.stevemcconnell.com/articles/art05.htm
I find this to be very interesting in terms of employees working conditions and job satisfaction. Because I know and have experienced many of the problems and issues Microsoft has dealt with, I can roughly imagine the amount of hours they have their employees stay longer than they are required. I can believe that with some motivational tactics, such as morale boosters, will help drive the employees to keep trucking on past a 12 hour work day, but I find it hard to believe that this is the norm and that Microsoft continually asks their employees to do that.
ReplyDeleteI think Microsoft is missing the whole point of a work/life balance, but are more worried about getting things done so they can make more profit in the long run.
Other than that, it seems like the motivational factors are keen to employment at Microsoft.
Jon Locke - Team 2
This makes me want to work at Microsoft! I think this is a very interesting technique of motivation and if it seems to work for them then I say, Hey why not? I do feel strongly that the better the employees are treated, the more productive they are, and the better the company is run. Employee moral should come first and then everything will fall into place after it. Many companies focus on customer service, seeing it as their number one priority. I disagree with this. Employees are more likely to give better customer service if they are satisfied with their jobs.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Microsoft may be missing the work/life balance, I think they are doing a good job with their moral strategies and have obviously been successful thus far.
Danielle Trasatti
Team 3