The survey was developed by Accountemps, the world's first and largest specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. It was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CFOs across the United States.
"Employee motivation should be a continual priority for businesses, but in a period of economic uncertainty, managers need to invest even more time and effort into maintaining team morale," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Motivating Employees For Dummies(R) (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.). "Companies that work diligently to keep their top performers engaged improve their chances to retain these key contributors."
Messmer noted, "Professionals crave information about the company's performance and their own job stability. When there is little or sporadic communication from the company, employees are more likely to fill in the blanks themselves, perhaps by jumping to negative conclusions."
He added that although financial rewards are a powerful motivational tool, not all incentives have to involve an expense. "There are many cost-free ways to improve the mood in the office, including offering public praise, adopting flexible schedules when appropriate, and even soliciting employees for their business development and cost-savings ideas."
