Employee Motivation

In our previous article about employee motivation, we looked at the reasons why we need motivated employees.  In this article, we’ll look at the strengths and opportunities associated with having motivated employees.

Strengths:

• Our mentor-mentee programme: Each first-year trainee is assigned a mentor – this mentor is usually a third-year or assistant manager. They know best how to teach the trainees to navigate through the information overload associated with the first few months of articles and to get familiar with the processes that form part of their new work life;
• Regular evaluations: As a SAICA requirement, we evaluate our trainees every six months. This helps us to actively track their progress and gives us the ability to intervene where there are problems sooner rather than later.  Each trainee is measured against our Expected Competency Framework, from which they receive a development plan after each evaluation period providing them with additional guidance to ensure they achieve all competencies as set out by SAICA;
• One-on-one sessions with a manager: This allows trainees to further receive mentorship from our managers who are all CA(SA)’s, and handle queries in a productive manner. These sessions provide guidance to ensure that development areas are addressed before we reach the six-monthly evaluations as mentioned above;
• Regular training: In order to achieve all competencies they need to achieve to become CA(SA)’s / AGA(SA)’s and be able to perform their work to the best of their abilities, trainees receive extensive training throughout the programme;
• Can-do attitude: One of our department’s values include a positive, can-do attitude. It is part of our culture and trainees live by it; and
• Teamwork: Also being one of our values, our trainees pride themselves in helping each other. Audits are all about teamwork, therefore it is a vital requirement to assist each other and help each other reach deadlines.

Opportunities:

• Effective mentor-mentee pairing: Before each trainee starts, we carefully consider the mentor each trainee should be paired with to create a connection from which they can achieve the best outcome;
• Growth and development of trainees: By utilising the necessary resources and putting the required time and effort into their training, we will be able to turn out high quality CA(SA)’s / AGA(SA)’s; and
• Delivering constructive feedback: Through our extensive evaluation process, we have the opportunity to deliver constructive feedback to each trainee for their development on a professional and a personal level.

Motivated employees usually lead to satisfied customers.  In the famous words of Richard Branson: “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients.”  Therefore, by utilising our strengths and opportunities, we can ensure the best services to our clients.