No matter what, you simply can’t achieve the basic level of employee apathy towards SMS programs and your report rate is not on desirable level?
It is clear, your SMS program exists only on paper, and the desire to ensure a high level of safety is not followed by employee motivation!
In my sociological point of view, there are 4 possible factors that can affect employee motivation towards SMS:
- Your manager skills
Research shows that employee motivation decreases dramatically 6 months after coming at particular workplace, so only one in four employees is fully engaged, motivated and productive at work. One of the most important factors influencing motivation is managers’ behavior towards employee. If you are a manager and your employees are simply not motivated, ask yourself if you are doing any of these mistakes:
- Do you criticize the employee in front of other employees?
- Do you give enough credit when the job is done well?
- Do you listen to them superficially?
- Are you taking credits for their results?
Managers often seek active participation of employees in problem solving, but when they come up with a creative idea, managers ignore them. Such behavior has a significant impact on the employees’ future motivation. Instead, managers can build positive values, highlight good examples, serve as mentors, inform and provide support. It is important to make sure that you are motivated and competent to do your job. The personal impact you can make on employees is huge, try to remember that.
- Employees do not see benefit of using SMS
Let’s simplify the situation by the following example. If you report something in your office that is out of function and nobody at any time repairs the problem, are you going to report it in the future? I suppose not! It is the same with using SMS program, if reporting problems have repeatedly failed, the employee will eventually give up. If you set a clear expectation of an employee related to a particular task, it is more likely for them to be motivated. Motivation grows at work with clearly understandable expectations and responsibilities. Employees must see that their efforts are not useless. In what they do, they must see the value.
- Your SMS does not follow modern trends
Passive SMS programs have a greater chance of making employees unmotivated. Do you have an old, ‘paper’ SMS? Your SMS program should be adjusted due to the characteristics of the employees: age and education can play a certain role in the aversion toward SMS program. If employees in your company are informatically educated, ‘paper’ SMS may not be the most suitable choice. SMS programs that are not easily accessible to employees are more likely to be ignored. If the employee has to fill many papers, the motivation to report certain disturbances will be significantly reduced, because of the complexity of the process. On the other hand, if employees have access to SMS on their smartphones, that makes reporting simple, fast and efficient; it is likely that the number of reports will increase.
- Resistance to change
One of the basic factors of the failure of an SMS program is the human trait of resistance to change. How many times have you met people in your company who refused to be part of any change? Very simply, the fear of the new and different, and the fear of the impossibility of adaptation, are very frequent. However, this issue can be overcome with adequate trainings and constant investing in knowledge and employee progress.
Finally, it is extremely important that you evaluate the wishes and capability of your employees before choosing and implementing a specific program. At the end, be sure you have selected a program that could bring your company the highest level of success. Choose a modern software that is simple, effective, reliable, and safe, which can adapt to your company’s needs. Choose the SMS program you trust!
