9 Common Types Of Employees And How to Motivate Them

Workplace is a blend of different types of employees with distinct views and opinions. It is this uniqueness that makes for a perfect workspace. This mix helps workers meet new people, know different cultures, and derive a better professional experience altogether.

While all this sounds great, there are a few issues with handling a diverse group of people. The main problem lies in determining individual viewpoints. Since these workers come from a unique background, they will react differently to specific situations.

In this case, you must know what works best for every individual. Only by determining this, you can get the best results from them. One way of doing so is by understanding what drives or motivates these people. So, without further adieu, let’s uncover the secrets.

Here are nine common types of employees and how to drive them best towards success.

9 Common Types Of Employees And How to Motivate Them

1. The Stable Employee

Nature: A person of this type loves security in all aspects with no appetite for risk. They enjoy stability in their life.

How to Identify: These are the ones who are rarely on the search for opportunities elsewhere. They like a predictable workplace environment. While you may worry about employees interviewing elsewhere, you have nothing to worry about for this type.

Ways to drive them: The best way to motivate them is to inform them of how profitably a company is doing. It gives them hope that their future is secure in a company. They also like constant workplace communication from their manager. It helps them feel like a part of the company, making them more confident about their role.

2. Friend-seeker

Nature: These are the friendly kind of individuals who get along well with most of their peers. They are mostly extroverted and outgoing in nature

How to Identify: These workers tend to be most friendly in a group that gets along with almost everyone. They are very energetic when it comes to group activities.

Ways to drive them: Belongingness is vital to motivate this employee persona in the workplace. They thrive in a team with strong relationships, social activities, and opportunities to help others. To motivate this bunch, you need to have a great social culture among the team members. It can be through office parties, outings, mixers, etc.

3. Star Performer

Nature: These individuals are a competitive group of people. They are razor-sharp with a very “eye on the ball” kind of attitude.

How to Identify: A star performer is always in the spotlight regarding productivity and their work. They never miss their target and always stay towards the top of the leaderboard in terms of results.

Ways to drive them: The best way of motivating these people is through employee recognition. These individuals thrive in a rewarding environment with excellent employee appreciation.

4. Director

Nature: The people of this nature love having an influence and power.

How to Identify: They often jump at the opportunity to lead projects. You will most likely find them in leadership positions.

Ways to drive them: As in their nature, the best way to drive them is by giving them responsibility. This sense of responsibility translates into leadership for them. You can also get the best out of them in managerial positions.

Related Article: 25 Leadership Qualities That Makes You A Great Leader

5. Money Hunter

Nature: They are very objective and an analytical group of people. These individuals also enjoy a lavish lifestyle.

How to Identify: One way to identify these types of employees is through looking at their past jobs. They always leave jobs for much higher pay rather than new challenges. These people are also a bit tough when it comes to negotiating a package.

Ways to drive them: Since money drives these workers the best, you must offer a competitive package. You should also check for a healthy increment in regular intervals. Material possessions motivate these employees a whole lot better than anything else.

Related Article: How To Build A Competitive Employee Benefits Package

6. The Expert

Nature: An individual of this personality is usually very well-read. They are full of knowledge and masters in their field of expertise.

How to Identify: These are the ones who always have the right answer for every situation. They are also common among most workers for help with their projects.

Ways to drive them: Knowledge is this bunch’s supreme motivation. In this regard, employee training and development is crucial for them. They like to stay in an environment where they can learn new things.

7. The Creator

Nature: These individuals are very creative. They like innovation and live to create better ways for various things in life.

How to Identify: Workers of these categories are always full of ideas in meetings. They are also great at problem solving and often offer constructive feedback.

Ways to drive them: The creators dislike routine work. So, it would help if you kept them on their edge with new projects. They like innovation in a workspace and dislike being in one project for the long-term. You can motivate this group by putting them in a creative role and recognizing their results for the same.

8. Free Spirit

Nature: They enjoy autonomy and freedom in life.

How to Identify: These types of employees like to work alone without supervision. They want freedom in their way of work, use discretion, and like control of work.

Ways to drive them: As their nature suggests, these people dislike micromanagement. To motivate them, you should give them responsibility and trust in their efforts. It would help if you also gave them the power to make their own decisions for the best results. Any hard scrutinization will surely demotivate them.

9. The Entertainer

Nature: These personalities are the ones living for the moment. They are easy-going in nature and definitely a crowd favorite.

How to Identify: An entertainer is one who most people like to be around. He/She has a very happy-go-lucky attitude, which attracts many people. They are also pretty fun to be around, thereby making them the crowd-favorite.

Ways to drive them: You can motivate this personality by providing an outstanding work-life balance. A fun, informal work environment will encourage these people more than a full-on corporate setting. Having a harmonious relationship with team members also helps retain these employees as well.

These were the nine common types of employees in the workplace and how to motivate them.

Conclusion

The source of motivation differs for every worker; be it full-time employees, part-time employees, independent contractors, etc. It is because everyone is unique, and what works for one will not work for the whole team. So, you must know the different sources of employee motivation for every one of your workers.

We hope you understood what motivates 9 of the most common employees working in every workplace with this piece.

This article is written by Jyoti Prakash Barman. He is an in-house Content Marketer at Vantage Circle with interests in music and automobiles. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com