Tesco began in 1919 with one man, Jack Cohen, a market stallholder selling groceries in London. TESCO was formed out of a merger with T.E. Stockwell from whom he purchased tea for sale on the stall. The first store opened in 1929.Since then, Tesco has expanded across the world. It now has over 2,200 stores including hypermarkets and Tesco Express outlets to meet different customer needs. As a conglomerate Tesco also offers alternative goods and services such as insurance, banking and online shopping. With net profits of around £3.4 billion Tesco has become the largest British retailer and one of the world’s leading retail outlets on three continents. Tesco’s growth has resulted in a worldwide workforce of over 468,000 employees.
To support its growth, Tesco needs staff that are motivated, flexible and well-trained and who recognize customer needs. In turn, Tesco’s employees are supported by the company in their various roles and at different levels - from customer assistants in stores to department managers; from warehouse employees to office and logistics staff. Tesco recognizes that employee motivation is important for the continued growth of the company.
This case study looks at how Tesco motivates its employees by increasing their knowledge, skills and job satisfaction through training and development and providing relevant and timely reward and recognition.
What’s motivation?
Motivation may stem from personal interest such as keeping safe or from external factors such as praise and reward. Different theories have been suggested for motivating employees. Pay is considered a primary motivator. Other motivating factors include:
∙appreciation of hard work
∙a sense of achievement
∙responsibility and empowerment
∙opportunity for advancement
∙A sense of challenge and enjoyment.
Benefits of motivated staff
A motivated workforce will work harder and achieve greater output in less time, therefore reducing labor costs. It requires less supervision and demonstrates pride in its work, making a greater impact on the customer. Motivated employees have greater concentration and are less likely to make mistakes, cause accidents or be involved in conflict. They are also likely to show greater loyalty to the company and have less absenteeism. An unmotivated workforce will be the opposite, being dissatisfied with its role in the work environment. This can negatively affect both the quality of the work as well as how efficiently employees carry out their jobs.
Tesco considers that the business depends on two groups of people customers and staff. It appreciates that staff are unique and have diverse lifestyles outside of work. To this end Tesco supports staff with a work/life balance and offers reward through:
∙flexible working
∙free or reduced rate health benefits
∙discount gym membership
∙competitive salaries
∙staff discount
∙Company share options.
Valuing employees
Tesco has discovered that it is important to create trust and respect. It has found that by valuing employees, providing realistic goals and an interesting environment for them to work in, it increases employees “motivation. At Tesco a motivated member of staff “works in partnership with others to achieve individual and team objectives”. This means that he or she focuses on customers, treats people fairly and is determined and devoted to receiving feedback from others.
Employee rewards
Tesco’s Employee Reward Programme has some similarity to Taylor’s theory. Its financial reward packages are one motivating factor. However, there are factors other than money which motivate people in both their personal and working lives.
Tesco goes far beyond Taylor and gives more than just simple pay increases. It supports the varied lifestyles of individual employees through relevant and targeted benefits.
Many non-financial factors can and do motivate employees to improve their output. One such factor may be the desire to serve people; others may be to improve personal skills or achieve promotion. A person may be motivated to be a professional footballer not because of the salary but because they love football.
Employees are more motivated if they feel content in their work. This often happens when their employer creates a good working environment where employees feel valued, generally through increased communication and being asked for their opinions. Employee motivation is also likely to be higher if the organization invests in its staff through training and development. In turn this enhances their knowledge, skills and their sense of job satisfaction.
Measuring staff satisfaction
Every year Tesco invites its staff to take part in a staff satisfaction survey called Viewpoint which gives them the opportunity to express their views on almost every aspect of their job. The results from the survey help Tesco make sure it is offering the right things to its staff to keep them motivated. Some of the benefits available to staff include:
∙Lifestyle break this offers 4-12 weeks off work and guarantees the job back at the end
∙Career break this allows staff between 6 months and 5 years away from work with right of return
∙Pension scheme this award-winning scheme provides clearly defined long term benefits.
Conclusion
Employee motivation is an important task for managers. Early motivational theory such as that of Taylor suggested that pay motivated workers to improve production. However businesses now need employees to have greater motivation and have a stake in the company for which they work, as shown by Mayo. Maslow and Herzberg demonstrated that employees are motivated by many different factors.
Tesco provides opportunities for its managers and staff to take a share and a greater interest in their own employment. Since every employee is an individual, with different needs and aspirations, the process of reviews and personal development plans allows recognition of their abilities and achievement, as well as potential development.
This benefits the individual by providing career progression. It also benefits Tesco by ensuring the business can deliver high levels of customer service through its skilled employees.
刘锦冬
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