Motivation And Work Stress As Parts Of A Work-life Balance
The world “motivation” is derived from the Latin word “movere”, which means move. Motivation is a general term that can be applied to an entire class of individual drivers, needs, wishes, or similar forces used by a person toward reaching a goal. The process of motivation has six basic phases: need identification, exploring ways to fulfill the need, selecting goals, performance of employee, rewards/punishments as consequences of performance, and reassessment of deficiencies of need. Motivation is a goal -oriented process; it is a continuous process; it may be positive or negative; it might be monetary or non-monetary; it could be considered in totality, not in piecemeal; it is a psychological phenomenon which converts abilities into performance. Motivation can change a person’s attitude and can improve employees working performances.
Summarizing Chamorro-Premuzic T. (2013) article about the findings from a cross-cultural comparison about the relationship of pay with both job and pay satisfaction results presented similarities with no significant difference in numbers everywhere in this world. According to this research, the results indicate that is less than 2% overlap between pay and job satisfaction levels, and the correlation between pay and pay satisfaction has had a 4.8% indicating that people’s satisfaction with their salary is mostly independent of their actual salary. In my case, I can tell that I like to be very specific when I am listing my many goals. I am seeing positive progress when I see the amount of money increasing. I have the feeling that I am motivated and rewarded at the same time. I am reaching my work relating goals and I have additional motivation coming from my pay rate rise and altogether is giving me an element of job satisfaction and self-esteem.
Job stress is defined “as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker” according to AIS (2019). Stress is part of our daily routine, but excessive stress can interfere with work productivity performances, health issues, may affect personal relationships, or social relations with others. Managers can receive some warning signs and symptoms from employees who suffer from work stress presented by depression, problems sleeping, trouble concentering, headaches, stomach problems, social withdrawal, using alcohol or drugs. They need to be open to listen, to be able to have a face-to-face communication about stress, to support and sympathy the employees, and to present their liable solutions to decrease or eliminate this problem. Some of the companies are offering part of the full employment benefits packages in health prevention, free employee assistance programs to present some solutions to this stress problem.
Every work generation has a different vision for work-life balance, but Millennials demanded the most this benefit from the employers. Working a 40-hour workweek can free some time to be spent with family, friends, and can have a huge benefit for both sides in the workplace. Encouraging time off for all the active employees be a necessity to reboot and recharge energy to be more productive. A flexible schedule can be implemented, and the employer can leave to the employee the option to the start and end times of their workday. Many employers are considering part-time options to fill some positions, and job sharing is an increasing option available for the employees who prioritize their commitments to family. Companies who encourage work-life is becoming very attractive to workers, and tend to have a higher employee retention rates, and more loyalty. Motivation and work stress can be part of the of an actual work-life balance, it only depends on us how to set up our goals and what ways we are using to reach them.
