WorkLore

Intrinsic Employee Engagement Factors – Which Lever Will You Pull? 

My career began as a volunteer manager in the non-profit sector and then moved into human resources. In some of my first roles, I managed volunteers in health care, human services, the arts, and my local community group. 

One of the most valuable lessons I learned during that time was about volunteer motivation. Because after all, there’s no paycheck (or potential pay raise) that might motivate someone to keep showing up and doing good work. Volunteers donate their time, energy, and expertise to the organization and do so through one of 4 primary motivators for volunteers: 

1. Cause: The mission or purpose of the organization
2. Social: The opportunity to work with and make friends with others
3. Skills: Opportunities to develop new skills or contribute well-developed ones
4. Power: The ability to make a difference and have an impact

Once we have a salary to offer, we often forget about the other motivators, but they are still relevant. A paycheck is a motivator for sure, but beyond the paycheck, there are other needs that motivate people to give their time and effort to something. 

As employers, we can offer money as well as other things. In community or human services, we often find the cause or the mission of the organization is a motivating factor for our employees, and the social factor plays less of a role in paid employment than it does in volunteer work, but skill development and power, or the ability to do something meaningful are intrinsic motivators for employees as well. 

When we figure out what intrinsic factors motivate our employees beyond their paycheck, we have the opportunity to find ways of reaching employees hearts and minds to engage them more effectively.