In a law firm, keeping your employees motivated can be challenging. But with the right guidance and knowledge, you can handle every turning point and demotivated and disengaged staff like a pro!
The psychology behind employee motivation and engagement holds the unique key to unlocking your door to success. Follow this blog to understand employee motivation in your law firm and how you can help them perform better at their job.
Understanding Employee Motivation Psychology – Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Let’s simplify the complexity of employee motivation through the concept of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It is divided into five major needs in a person’s life to strive for better (physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization). When an individual fulfills one of their needs, they move on to acquiring the next one; the most basic ones are physiological, such as being fed, having a place to live, sleeping, etc.
Similarly, employees at a law firm stay motivated to do better each time their basic needs are met, they feel safe and included in the firm, and when their efforts are genuinely acknowledged.
Simply put, employees will perform better only once they successfully accomplish the previous level. We can link Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to employee motivation at law firms in the following way;
Survival: If an employee at your law firm is only working to meet their basic survival needs, their motivation level will likely be low, and they will move on to better opportunities whenever they get a chance. Your role here is to make them feel they belong, are respected, valued, and included in the law firm.
Security: It is crucial to make the employees feel secure and safe within the law firm as they pour in their efforts and invest their valuable time to fulfill your mission. Provide extra care in health insurance, life insurance, vehicle insurance, etc., to make them feel valued and taken care of.
Inclusion: It is fundamental to stay positive and creative in all areas of life as long as you are included. Talking about law firms, you can include your employees by arranging meetings, debriefs, extensive case studies, etc., so that each employee can get a hold of the important information necessary to solve cases or manage work.
Recognition: Recognition and reward play a commendable role in letting your employees know their efforts are respected, appreciated, and valued. You can offer performance-based rewards, bonuses, incentives, time offs, or long holiday breaks to those who put in the blood and sweat and hold the firm on their shoulders to strive towards success.
Self-Actualization: You might observe that once you have taken care of all four previous needs of your law firm’s employees, they are highly motivated and engaged at work, and their efforts benefit their careers as well as your firm!
Accelerate With the Psychology of Motivation
It is a scientific fact that humans function better when provided with reinforcements, incentives, and rewards based on desirable performance. Help your employees improve their assigned tasks and routine duties by offering incentives such as bonuses solely based on performance.
Make this achievable by setting up meetings with managers and those in charge of reviewing the performance of each lawyer/associate lawyer in your law firm. Create a weekly performance-based sheet where you can assign the manager to give points to each employee when they do better. This will motivate the lawyers to perform exceptionally daily, as they know they are being closely monitored! We hope this blog has guided you in understanding how to cater to employee motivation and engagement in law firms through the fancy concepts of psychology!
