What gives staff the will to come into work every day? The Top 50 employers might all approach motivation differently but they're all good at it. Here’s a few of their secrets:

It’s not all about money.
“Doing your bit” keeps officers and staff at West Midlands Police motivated, says David Williams, the director of personnel. “There’s a tremendous loyalty among our police staff; they feel a real pride,” he says. “They’re not the highest-paid, but the loyalty comes through.” And employees don’t have to be serving the public to be motivated. At Goldman Sachs, “reward for hard work is given through training, development, mentoring and increasing responsibilities,” says Denise Wyllie, managing director of Goldman Sachs International.

Culture of motivation.
“Our meritocratic culture is key to everything that we do,” Wyllie says. “No matter how junior you are, you frequently get access to senior management. I think junior people find that very motivational.” Canon UK has worked according to the Japanese principles of kyosei (living and working together for the common good) since the 1930s. One of the manifestations of this is Canon’s patronage of charities such as the Prince’s Trust says Caroline Price, the HR director. “We find that linking in people’s own values and what they believe in with their work is a motivation for individuals.”

Trust your staff.
Assuming that you’ve employed the right people in the first place, then they should be allowed to get on with the job. “A lot of businesses get uptight about things like Facebook,” says Caroline WIlson, the HR director at Eversheds. “The challenge for us is to say that this is the way people want to work.”

Motivation works wonders for results.
Why bother putting effort into motivation? “It makes a huge difference to the company,” Price says. “It creates a buzz around the place, and it allows us to tap into discretionary effort – people giving more than they need to.” Williams has a few ideas too: “We have the highest attendance levels in the country. We get letters of appreciation from the community.” Motivation benefits more than just employees.

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