Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation

Understanding the difference between intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation is important for improving employee motivation and productivity levels. However, ultimately, it allows an organization to achieve higher levels of output.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is when an employee engages in behaviour because they find it rewarding. In other words, an intrinsically motivated employee performs an activity for their own sake, rather than from the desire of an external reward. The behaviour or activity itself is the reward.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation is when an employee engages in behaviour or an activity because they want to earn a reward or avoid punishment. In essence, an employee engages in behaviour because they expect to get something in return or wants to avoid something unpleasant. 

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation: Examples
Intrinsic (on the left) vs extrinsic (on the right) motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
  • An employee participates in a workplace competition because they find the activity enjoyable
  • An employee learns all the tools and techniques required to do their job because they find it interesting
  • An employee arrives to work on time because they like having time to get situated
Extrinsic Motivation
  • An employee participates in a workplace competition because they want to win awards/rewards
  • An employee learns all the tools and techniques required to do their job because they want to be a top performing employee
  • An employee arrives to work on time because they want to avoid being written up 

What is Employee Motivation?

Employee motivation is the level of energy, creativity, and commitment that an employee brings with them to work everyday. Therefore, it has a major effect, positive or negative, on every aspect of a company. Motivated employees do their best to get the job done. Furthermore, they improve workplace efficiency and productivity, and serve as examples for the rest of the team. On the other hand, unmotivated employees only do what’s necessary to get by. In essence, they’re not going above and beyond to complete tasks. Additionally, they’re more likely to start looking for job opportunities elsewhere.

Motivate Your Workforce With TheLeanSuite

Employee motivation is something your organization can cultivate. In addition to traditional incentives, such as raises and promotions, your organization can offer more personalized rewards tailored to their workforce. TheLeanSuite has a built-in app called the Suggestion Platform. It is an employee suggestion system that has a built-in recognition and reward system to help organizations intrinsically and extrinsically motivate and engage their workforce.

Suggestion Platform

The Suggestion Platform boosts employee engagement and motivation, and fuels a culture of performance in just four easy steps:

  1. Collect Suggestions: your workforce earns points for every suggestion they submit that can be redeemed for prizes later on
  2. Provide Instant Feedback: with real-time notifications, rest assured that your workforce will feel heard and valued
  3. Take Action: collaborate with your workforce to create solutions
  4. Recognize and Reward: using the Marketplace, you can curate a prize catalogue unique to your workforce and recognize and reward top performers
Learn more