Office Matters: The Signs of Self-Motivated Employees

Psychologists believe that the best kind of motivation is self-motivation. This kind of motivation works outside of money and other forms of benefits.

While companies strive to give out the most competitive salary and the best benefits package, they should never fail to look at the internal motivation of their employees. They should never fail to recognize employees who are, in themselves, inspired to do their job without a frown.

Here are some sure signs of highly self-motivated employees:

1. They are results-oriented.

Today, many companies adopt a flexible schedule - meaning, there's no strict policy on the time in and out of employees. As such, it's up for them as to what time they will come in.

If your employees are self-motivated, then this kind of schedule would work for them. They would come in early if they have loads of things to do, and will come in quite late if their schedule for the day is a bit flexible. This way, regardless of the actual number of hours that they "physically" spend in the office, they can still get the job done.

Employees who are purely motivated by money, on the other hand, would see a flexible schedule as an avenue to abuse company time. As a result, they don't get anything done - anything official or related to their work, that is.

2. They maintain a positive disposition.

It's not easy to always have a positive outlook - especially when you are bugged by a lot of issues in the office. It's not easy to always keep your customer service level at its peak especially when your boss is constantly dumping a few more things on your already-full plate.

Self-motivated employees, however, can deal with this kind of stress effectively. They acknowledge that things will not always run according to plan, but this does not mean that they too will shatter together with those plans. Self-motivated employees know that if they stress themselves out for something that is beyond their control, then they will be in the losing end - they will be the ones whose emotional and physical state will be affected.

As such, self-motivated employees simply let things be. They simply take issues as they are, and find a way to make those glitches work for them. By doing so, they'd still be able to keep a happy countenance, even if things are not going their way.

3. They are willing to take in more work.

Now, this quality has to be differentiated from the kiss-ass. Self-motivated employees genuinely take on new assignments - usually those that are not directly related to their official duties. Kiss-ass employees, on the other hand, use additional work as a trophy - so they can then brag about them to gullible individuals.

For instance, self-motivated employees would volunteer to be part of the online newsletter team, or to be part of the Christmas Party committee - without necessarily asking for anything in return.

In a time that's plagued by the economic recession, employees have been holding to their jobs more dearly now. Companies are finding it hard to give them the best compensation and benefits packages. As such, they need self-motivated employee more. Companies need employees who can inspire and drive themselves to success - with less outside factors. Companies need these employees now - more than ever.