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An employer may incorrectly assume that money is the sole motivator for their employees. For many people, job design is as important as fair remuneration in motivating employees to be more effective. Job design has an influence on employee motivation, job satisfaction and commitment to their organisation, all of which have a significant impact on the efficiency of your business.

Jobs are often designed in a way that encourages specialisation. Work is divided into specific tasks, with the employee assigned to each task becoming very skilled, accurate and efficient at performing it. However, an often overlooked problem with specialisation is that it generally has a negative impact on employee motivation.

Whilst an employee may become very efficient and skilled at completing a repetitive task, the lack of variety in their day can lead to boredom and a feeling of detachment from the overall goals and success of the business. They feel that as long as they complete their job satisfactorily, there is no need to be concerned with any other aspect of the business.

A possible solution to this problem involves providing employees with more variety in their work. One technique to do this is introducing job rotation, where employees move between different jobs periodically. Not only will this reduce the monotony of their work, but it will develop a team with a wider range of skills.

Another way to improve employee motivation is through job enlargement. This is where employees are gradually provided with more challenging work and greater responsibility. Whilst you may think this would have the opposite effect, many employees enjoy learning new things and will get more fulfilment from their work if they are given extra responsibility. This also helps you to increase the skill level of your team.

Job enrichment is another motivational technique that you may want to consider. It involves providing employees with more control over the work they do. By providing them with more authority and responsibility, it may encourage them to seek out better and more efficient ways to accomplish their task, leading to a potential increase in productivity. The more interesting a person's job is, the more likely they will be motivated to apply effort and maximise their productivity. The Job Characteristics Model helps to explain the benefits of job design.^[1]

Core Job Characteristics:

• Skill Variety
• Task Identity 
• Task significance
• Autonomy
• Feedback

Outcomes:

• Motivation
• Performance
• Satisfaction
• Reduced Absenteeism
• Turnover

Psychological States:

• Meaningful
• Responsibility
• Knowledge of results

The core job characteristics will enhance employees' job satisfaction and motivation, potentially leading to better outcomes for your business.

Well designed jobs that don't invoke boredom and which increase the job satisfaction of your employees may help you to improve efficiency, productivity and morale within your business. In turn, this could lead to less staff turnover, absenteeism and potentially make your business more profitable.

^{[1] Source: Adapted from Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159-170.}