AN EVALUATION OF EMPLOYEE

MOTIVATION FROM A START-UP TO

MNC

GROUP MEMBERS:
Aastha: PGP37167
Chinmayee Sarode: PGP37212
Dhruv Luthra: PGP37186
Ishu Gupta: PGP37192
Pranav Agrawal: PGP37203
Riya Chaudhary: PGP37207
Sanchi Gaba: PGP37210
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need
1.2 Herzberg's Motivation theory (Two-factor theory):
1.3 Motivation Practices in MNC’s and Start-Ups
1.3.1. MNC
1.3.1.1. Google
1.3.1.2. Apple
1.3.1.3. PepsiCo
1.3.1.4. Amazon
1.3.2. Start-Up
1.3.2.1. Byju’s
1.3.2.2 Oyo
2. Overview of chosen MNC and Startup
2.1 MNC
2.1.1 About MNC
2.1.2 Current Business Scenario
2.1.3 Vision and Mission
2.1.4 Strategy
2.1.5 Values and Ethics
2.1.6 HRM Practices
2.2 Start-Up
2.2.1 About Start-Up
2.2.2 Business Scenario
2.2.3 Mission and Vision
2.2.4 Values
2.2.5 HRM Practices
3. Objectives of the Study
4. Research Methodology
5. Data Collection & Data Analysis
6. Recommendations
7. References
Motivation is the driving force that propels people to act, set objectives, and achieve them. It is a
psychophysiological process that determines the actions, direction, and consistency of human
behaviour. It is deduced through a thorough examination of how personal tasks and environmental
factors affect behaviour and work performance. It is significantly influenced by society, culture,
and lifestyle. Employee motivation is critical for achieving targeted corporate goals since it
increases and ensures their readiness to give their best. The firm employs various incentive
strategies to accomplish the desired objectives, including greater productivity, high-quality
products and services, increased sales volume, and improved reputation. Employees that are
motivated and have a strong emotional attachment to the firm are not only happier, but they also
add real value to the organization. Employees that are highly driven and emotionally invested have
an impact on the company's overall performance.

This report aims to understand employee motivation and organizational performance by

reviewing existing employee motivation theories like Maslow’s and Herzberg and comparing them
with the current motivation practices in MNCs and start-ups.

Traditional motivation theories concentrate on specific factors that drive people to achieve
corporate goals. For example, Maslow's motives and needs hypothesis asserts that employees have
five levels of needs (physiological, safety, social, self-esteem, and self-actualization). According
to Maslow, lower-level needs should be first satisfied before moving on to the next higher-level
needs for motivating employees. In comparison, Herzberg's work categorised motivation into two
factors: motivators and hygiene factors. Motivator or intrinsic factors, like recognition,
achievement produce job satisfaction, whereas hygiene or extrinsic factors, like job security and
pay, create job dissatisfaction.

We can also classify motivational strategies to influence employees into two types. These are
financial motivation and non-financial motivation. Financial motivation includes increased salary,
rewards, bonus, profit sharing percentage, etc. While the non-financial motivational strategy
includes compliments, good employee-employer relationships, recognition, a convenient work
environment, etc.

Hence today, companies aim to reward their employees in unique ways outside the usual methods
of salaries and wages. They are involved in planning comprehensive benefits packages that would
help them find and keep good employees. They also understand that employees are motivated to
maintain a balanced relationship with their organization in terms of contributions and inducements.
This understanding is crucial, and it helps them design suitable employee motivation packages that
would lead to maximum satisfaction and increase work productivity.

Employee motivation is essential as, motivated employees:

● Tend to take lesser leaves

● Stay in the company longer
● Involved in higher quality work
● Maintain an optimistic workplace vibe
● Are more productive
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

Maslow’s first need is physiological. Employers can satisfy employees' physiological needs by
providing monetary compensation and accepting their need to work in clean workspaces or where
free or subsidised food is provided at work. Making policies that focus on work-life balance and
offering telecommuting, fitness centres, and vacation time are also some ways.

The second Maslow’s need is safety. This includes not only physical safety but also extends to
mental health. Health insurance, possible disability and life insurance provide means for financial
planning. Conducting assistance programs and counselling is one-way employers can help
employees feel safer.

Maslow’s third need is love/belonging. Everyone desires to be loved and feel as though they belong
in the organisation. Employers can fulfil this need by creating various engagement programmes
like luncheons, team events, off-sites, and allowing kids and pets to come to work, an open
atmosphere where employees can mingle without restrictions. An overall friendly and optimistic
vibe is what will help them thrive.

The need for self-esteem is the fourth in Maslow's hierarchy. The esteem need refers to
responsibility, prestige, reputation, respect, and recognition. Promotions and titles and little things
like your own office and business cards with the employee's name create significant appeal to the
employees. They also include unique practices like reserving parking spots, conducting
competitions, offering rewards, and recognising and appreciating employees within the
organisation.

The fifth need in Maslow's hierarchy of needs is self-actualisation. This refers to becoming the
best person you can be and fulfilling yourself. These needs look to improve yourself, others around
you, and the world in general. Tuition reimbursements, paid sabbaticals, donations to charities
chosen by the employee, volunteer opportunities for community wellness.

To apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs model, an employer must first determine where a person
falls in the hierarchy. Using this, they should create an organisation's benefits package to allow the
company to meet all five of its employees' needs. This will motivate employees, ultimately
resulting in more revenue for the organisation and culminating in a workforce that is constantly
improving their workplace and the world around them.

Herzberg's Motivation theory (Two-factor theory):

Frederick Herzberg's Two Factor Theory asserts that two variables in an organisation lead to
workplace contentment and discontent. These are motivators and hygiene factors. Employees are
motivated to work hard because of motivator factors. At the same time, hygiene factors demotivate
employees when they are absent from the workplace. These motivators or intrinsic factors are
excitement to work, job appreciation, satisfaction, stress, while hygiene or extrinsic factors like
job security, promotion and growth, incentives, work environment, recognition, etc. Employees
gain intrinsic motivation while searching for enjoyment, interest, self-expression, or personal
challenge in work. Similarly, employees gain extrinsic motivation when they work to obtain some
goal other than the work itself.
There are various types in which employees can be motivated through either material or immaterial
sources of incentives:

● Monetary: Fair salaries, bonuses and pensions, disability and survivors’ insurance
● Perks: tickets, vouchers, Merchandise for employees
● Other perks: Company cars, employee shares in the company
● Team building: Sports and leisure activities, team meets, offsites, company outings
● Opportunities for further studies, continual learning opportunities and development
programs
● Facilities: Food and canteen facilities, yoga, zumba classes, spa services
● Attractive and clean workplace design
● Mentoring programs, Surveys and feedbacks
● Sufficient holidays & leaves, work from home, flexible working hours, regular breaks
● Autonomy in work, clear objectives and key results system, a clear path of advancement,
transparency
● Gamify work/ Competitions
● Recognition & Appreciation: Celebrate wins/ results, small, consistent rewards
● Positive workplace- without unhealthy competition, sense of security

Motivation Practices in MNC’s and Start-Ups:

Given below are motivation practices at various MNCs and Start-ups:

A.) MNC

1.) Google:
● Google motivates employees by going beyond typical perks like healthcare or vacation
time.
● It focuses more on growing the work environment to foster employee motivation.
Offering free food in the cafeteria, a fitness centre, a nutritionist, yoga classes, and a
personal trainer are other perks it focuses on to keep its employees happy.
● Google also offers more perks like nap pods, subsidised massages, football, video games,
and ping pong.
● It also has rules which permit dog-owners to bring their dogs to work.
● It also provides in-house tech support called TechShop, appropriate leave permits to new
parents, encourages employees for continual learning, gives extended time off for
community projects.
● One of the most attractive perks is the possibility of using Google products before they
are available to the public.
 ● 80/20 Rule: According to this rule, employees can spend 80 percent of their work time on
their primary job. While the other 20 percent of their work time can work on "passion
projects", which they feel will benefit Google.

Google is not employing a very innovative and new employee motivation model, but it uses
Maslow's hierarchy model with a unique and innovative twist. They focus on using creative
ways to motivate employees across all five levels.

2.) Apple:
● The company runs several skill development activities, including training sessions, career
counselling, workshops, seminars, job rotation, job enrichment programs, etc.
● These programs focus on making employees highly efficient and skilled. This results in
employees' value increase in the job market. So, Apple ensures a better career for an
individual even after Apple.
● Apple Inc. focuses much on providing non-financial motivation more than giving
financial motivation to its employees.
● Financial incentives are provided less frequently. The company thinks it pays its
employees handsomely.
● Employees are provided with gym memberships and an opportunity to participate in
community health programmes, medical check-ups, and sports.

Financial incentives always influence the employees rapidly. They become more job-focused and
attentive to their roles and responsibilities. There is an opportunity for Apple to focus on this arena
for improvement too.

3.) Pepsico
● Culture of acknowledging employees and their families in creative, personal ways

● Indra Nooyi-CEO of Pepsico, wrote letters to the parents, employees’ spouses of the
company’s executives, thanking them.

● They give employees a clear, explicit purpose and autonomy and influence within the
company to bring about a difference and make decisions.

● Mission and vision which match personal values. So, employees feel involved in the more
significant cause.

● Flexitime, daycare centres, and generous maternity and paternity leave are the USP of
Pepsico.

● Pepsico is also culturally sensitive to the differences in cultures of people working in their
companies in various parts of the world and adjusting and adapting to them.
Finding a way to thank employees is an incredibly powerful method of letting them know that you
see their contributions and are grateful.

4.) Amazon:
● Amazon is a highly performance-driven organisation that continuously monitors its
employees and rewards exceptional work with increased and diverse job responsibilities
and various opportunities to buy into stocks as awards.

● Amazon campus also has dog-friendly offices, the workforce that skews young, an on-site
farmers' market

● Competitive compensation: It provides successful mid level managers with opportunities

to gain about tenfold through grants from stocks instead of their regular salary.

● Amazon also motivates their employees by providing them with various learning, growth
opportunities, and attractive work environments with upbeat posters.

Amazon has realised that money itself is not a huge motivator for people, especially when they
have already started earning. However, the 'hope for money' is a huge motivator for employees,
and it keeps them going to better. So, it believes in running a continual performance improvement
algorithm on its staff that rewards exceptional workers handsomely and goes a long way to ensure
good productivity and efficiency in work.

B.) Start-ups:

1.) Byju’s:
● Byju’s keeps their largely millennial workforce happy by taking them to international
sports tournaments.

● They once took a hundred of their top performers to Russia for the football World Cup.

● Another time, Byju's took their star employees to the India-Pakistan match in England.

Byju’s founder believes that millennial employees primarily seek two things: instant gratification
and constant feedback. He mentioned in an interview that this generation constantly wants to
rectify, modify, and improve themselves on a real-time basis. And hence, appreciating their work
and giving them due credit drives them to perform well. He also believes that international trips
like these offer a massive boost to employee morale and confidence.

2.) OYO:
● Virtual coffee sessions with its leaders and monthly rewards and recognition meet attended
by the CEO himself.

● In Covid time, the company hosted Virtual Family Days aimed at building better
interpersonal bonds among OYOPrenuers.
 ● Launched OYOVersity: a skill training institute in Gurgaon to enhance employees'
efficiency and provide them with opportunities to form a good bond amongst themselves.
It includes lessons on productivity boosting while working remotely, leadership, etc.

● Internal tech support platform OYO Seek has been instrumental in resolving most
technology-dependent concerns promptly.

● OYO also provides a reasonable salary rate and many benefits in kind, for instance,
healthcare and childcare.

● They offer time off for their employees, including sick leave, public holidays, maternity or
paternity leave, emergency leave, and others.

● They also have in-house daycare services named 'Little O' at their corporate office in
Gurugram, India. It is operated by Klay, India's largest and most trusted pre-school and
daycare facilitators.

● Provide a reimbursable monthly allowance for OYO parents over the country who utilise
other daycare services for their children.

● Provide employee stock options based on performance

● They provide challenging work as they believe that an enriched job offers more autonomy
and freedom in executing the related responsibility. It further adds variety and challenge to
an employee's daily life.

● They provide employees with a sense of security through honest communication and
transparency about their health and long-term viability.

OYO Homes & Hotels provide both intrinsic factors, which include job enrichment and skills
development; extrinsic factors such as employee benefits and a healthy working environment to
employees.

MNC
Introduction

The MNC selected is a global leader in partnering with organisations to transform and manage
their business by utilising the power of technology. Every day, the Group is guided by its mission
of unleashing human potential via technology for a more inclusive and sustainable future. It is a
responsible and diverse organization of 290,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. Clients trust
the organisation to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from design and strategy to
operations, fuelled by the fast changing and innovative world of AI, data, cloud, software,
connectivity, digital engineering, and platforms, thanks to its strong 50-year heritage and deep
industry expertise. Global revenues of €16 billion were reported in 2020 by the company.
Current Business Scenario

● Consulting: A division of the company combines strategy, technology, data science, and
creative design to solve the most complex business and technical challenges
● Application Services: devise IT applications that cover the group's system integration and
application maintenance; Develop, implement and maintain Activity
● Technical and Engineering Services: Provides assistance and support to the client
enterprise's internal IT team
● Other Administrative Services: Integrates, fully or partially, the customer's IT
infrastructure systems (or systems of client groups), manage and develop transactional
services, on-demand services, business activities (business services).

Vision & Mission

Vision: the business value of technology comes from and through people.

Mission: with you, we create and deliver business and technology solutions that fit your needs and
drive the results you want

People matter, results count.

Strategy

The company's business approach provides top-down leadership and strategic vision, and to
provide the ambient environment to its employees in order for them to apply their creativity,
experience and expertise individually to develop innovative and effective solutions in their area of
influence. The approach to sustainability is exactly the same as the CR i.e., Strategic vision and
leadership that combines personal dedication and passion.

Six Strategic Pillars

Their strategy has been framed around Six Strategic Pillars that underpin all aspects of their
business.
1. Values and Ethics
2. Commitment to People
3. Client Services - Leveraging combined innovation and technology capabilities for a sustainable
future
4. Community Engagement
5. Responsible Delivery
6. Environmental Sustainability
1. Values and Ethics
Seven Values of the the company:

1. HONESTY, loyalty, integrity, uprightness, a complete refusal to use any underhanded

method to help win business or gain any kind of advantage.

2. BOLDNESS, which implies a flair for entrepreneurship, and a desire to take considered
risks and show commitment

3. TRUST means motivation to give opportunities to both individuals and teams, to take as
rational decisions as possible to the point where they will be put into practice.

4. FREEDOM means independence of thought, judgment and action, entrepreneurship and

creativity. It also means tolerance of other cultures and customs and respect for others.

5. FUN means feeling good about being part of a company or team, being proud of your work,
and feeling a sense of accomplishment.

6. MODESTY, that is simplicity, the very opposite of affectation, pretension, pomposity,

arrogance and boastfulness.

7. TEAM SPIRIT means fairness sharing the benefits of age, friendship, fidelity, generosity
and collaboration. An instinctive will to accept responsibility and support joint efforts.

2. Commitment to people-
With over 200,000 employees in 44 countries representing 120 countries, they are proud of their
cultural diversity. Their differences attract innovation and inspiration. That's why they see
diversity and inclusion as both a strategic advantage and an endless opportunity.

Diversity and Inclusion

1. Respect differences: Their support of personality is strongly reflected in corporate
responsibility and diversity efforts.
2. Fair performance management: They assess employee performance depending on what
you do and how you do it
3. Career management: Through a career and competency framework, they support clear
career advancement and flexibility for employees to grow into a variety of roles.
4. Learning and development: They provide tools for success, including online learning and
campus education modules.
5. Rewards and recognition: They recognize achievements that boldly exemplify their shared
values of achieving outstanding results.
6. Professional networks: They promote thought leadership and knowledge sharing across
teams through a community of experts and a digital communication platform.
7. Communication and employee engagement: They promote sharing among employees and
formal two-way communication between employees and management
8. Health, safety and wellbeing: They bestow a healthy and safe working environment and
programs that encourage work-life balance among its employees
3. Client Services – Leveraging the combined innovation and technology capabilities for a
sustainable future.
The most significant environmental impact they make is through the services they provide to their
customers. They have the ambition to help customers save 10,000 tonnes of carbon by 2030. As a
responsible company, they want to play a leading role in ensuring that technology creates a
sustainable future. More innovative resources for the products and services they make.

Services and capabilities

● Developing sustainable technology.
● Creating sustainable business models.
● Leveraging data and insights to achieve sustainable performance.
● Providing managed services that increase efficiency.
● Optimizing assets to minimise emissions and consumption.
● Providing platforms that enable sustainable technologies.

With a group employing over 190,000 people, they directly impact the communities in which they
operate around the world. Supporting these communities and people is an integral part of their
corporate responsibility.

Global Initiatives to support charitable foundations

Globally, the company supports several programs, such as the Naandi Foundation, a leading Indian
charity fighting against poverty.

Investing Time in Local Communities

To provide the most effective solution for the community and to produce the greatest effect, the
company works with other organizations in the world with similar ultimate goals. They also
encourage local teams to support the closest causes, especially in the context of education,
technology and social integration for the future.

Global Community Engagement Awards

In 2014, they launched the Global Community Engagement Awards (GCEA), among which they
recognized and rewarded changemakers, innovators, and humanitarians. GCEA recognizes
employees who lead global community engagement initiatives, empowers and inspires others by
being proactive in addressing social issues and building the company's leadership culture.

4. Community Engagement Activities

The company strongly encourages employees at various levels in hierarchy to participate in
their communities and live and work. Coordinating future business activities, customer
relationships, and community participation focusing on technology for education and inclusion
for high results has always been a top priority for the company. Community Engagement has
been achieved through the following activities:
● Volunteering
● Pro Bono Consultancy
● Mentoring
● Financial Contributions
● Fundraising
5. Responsible Delivery
By Responsible Delivery they mean that ensuring their procurement process adheres to strict
ethical and sustainable standards.

A. Sustainability: The Company takes steps to ensure that their suppliers and sales partners adhere
to the same principles in the purchase of products that meet recognized environmental standards,
taking into account social and environmental impacts across their supply chain.

B. Ethics: They devote themselves to high ethical standards. Those who choose to work with them,
including everyone else who does business with their suppliers are treated with a fair and respectful
attitude.

6. Environmental Sustainability
Company has set the target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025 and achieve carbon net zero
business by 2030. The company is focussing on fast-tracking their methodology to reduce carbon
footprints across their key business areas

Leadership

Navigating organizations through digital transformation

Technologies are the drivers for disruption, but Digital Transformation needs people leading it.
Company believes in the following success factors of every digital transformation:

Company’s Approach:
To them, leadership is about giving the necessary environment to its employees and organizations
for further development. They offer leaders an organised approach to successfully navigate their
company through the digital transformation and to encourage and motivate their employees to
participate on this exciting journey.

Leadership Savvy is an everlasting stable and important stepping stone of leadership. Faith and
esteem are essential components required to initiate change.

Building Digital Literacy is key to creating the digital DNA of a company. In order to shape the
digital vision of an organisation and derive pioneering digital business strategies, leaders need to
know their alternatives and tools.

Digital transformation leaders spotlight the right leadership style to guide through an unstable
environment. Digital Leadership Proficiency means creating the right leadership style to lead the
journey.

Company’s Offerings:
They believe that digital transformations must be defined and driven top-down, but implemented
and scaled bottom-up. They assist leaders in shaping the digital future of their organisations
through their target-group driven Learning Journeys.

Shape the Future supports executives to shape and promote a Digital Vision across their company.
Set the Direction supports division heads to coordinate and focus their investments. During Digital
Focus Days, division heads develop implementation plans and establish digital transformation
governance.

Deliver Results supports team leads to set up a digital ecosystem. They receive appropriate
leadership and digital skills in a Digital Leadership Academy, allowing them to implement
transformation initiatives and create a connected company that includes all employees in the
transition.

HRM Practices

HR is more technology-driven at the chosen company and has evolved to become more focused
on business and outcome.

For them, employee relations is all about making sure that they are always on the ground and are
always accessible to people and their concerns. They ensure that their grievances are addressed
and employee experience across different dimensions is positive at the desired level.

As a member of the transformational industry, the company also has a precedent in HR functions.
As part of the cumulative transformation process, they have focused on projects such as improving
learning and developing skills, the redeployment of skills, and so on.

Learning & development

Various programs initiated by the learning and development team successfully up-skilled more
than 60,000 employees in 2018. The Digital Talent Academy allows employees to learn, develop
and up-skill extensively. This digital platform gives learners the flexibility to book the time, place,
and method they want.
Technology was leveraged to provide L&D with a multi-platform and user-friendly interface that
can be accessed at the convenience of employees.
They are a large organization with a significant presence in India. They are a gifted market, and
they are doing the right thing to capitalize on it. They continue to launch new initiatives and
strengthen existing initiatives to bring the marketplace to new talents.

'Ace your career' initiative

"Ace" Trump is connected to the Ace of Spades, and the same phlegm forms the company's logo.
The Company's HR is driving a business to promote the career growth of its employees. They
improvised the company's recruitment program and started a career cafe. The latter facilitates cafe-
style interactions between employees and industry professionals. Casual atmosphere urges
conversations Employees benefit tremendously from conversations by acquiring a career roadmap.
HR has endeavoured to optimize internal talent through frequent promotions and circulation of
talent with a small promotion cycle within the organization.
Reward & recognition
Time and effort have been spent to improve the organization's reward and recognition framework.
Awards were also established for excellence in people's leadership. They believe that employee
engagement results from effective leadership, and they encourage awarding leaders who do the
same. When the industry is going through turmoil, managers help people stay agile and overcome
change.
Compensation-related programs that allow employees to participate in the ESOP option were
implemented worldwide. The purpose of the ESOP was to enable employees to become sustainable
partners in the development of the Group and benefit from potential outcomes. In 2018,
subscriptions increased by 50% compared to 2017. The company strives persistently to transform
talent to align their skill sets with the present, not just in terms of core technology skills but also
in terms of building leadership.
A career acceleration program for mid-level management is also offered, and a selected group of
talent is embarked on a six- to eight-month journey. They enjoy various experiences, learnings and
challenges. A platform that helps accelerate your career in your organization.

Elite programme for hiring fresh talent

They are one of the copious recruiters from top Business Schools. The Elite programme aims to
foster early career talent into senior leadership through a rapid career path.

Diversity
The company is rapidly developing in gender diversity and is building female talent within the
organization. One of the highlighted programs is the "Power Ahead" program, which focuses on
building women's leadership.
They show employees' journeys with a range of experiences, including shadowing industry leaders
and allowing them to learn directly from professionals. They had the opportunity to interact with
people like Naina Lal Kidwai through special efforts for female employees.

Monday is the new Friday.

The company broke the formal dress code and started casual wear on Monday. This movement has
helped solve the perpetual problem of "Monday Blues", which staff eagerly welcome. A casual
dress code policy is now being extended to all days of the week.
This program, with minimal governance, is more resonant with their philosophy and culture.
Formal attire strains the staff and makes them feel arrogant.It is Fun because it's their core value;
they started casual wear on Monday and did it to develop it.
Chosen MNC has transformed its workplace to create an environment that fosters creativity and
agility, including open spaces, meeting and casual living rooms. It has become as Gen Z friendly
as possible.
 Startup
Introduction
The selected startup is one of India's largest discovery and rewards platforms. It is a platform for
customers and merchants in a locality to discover, interact, and transact. The company is involved
in providing discounts to customers on their offline visits to stores around them by providing
vouchers and on home delivery of groceries, Food n Beverages and pharmacies. For the merchants,
the company helps boost their revenues and utilization by providing them with the feature of real-
time promotions and highlighting their uniqueness to showcase it to their large customer base.
With the immense data capturing capabilities, mixing technology and social gameplay the
company offers hyper-personalized experience to the users.

Business Scenario:

The company helps drive discovery that leads to business for local as well as online retailers across
categories like restaurants, fashion, beauty, electronics, pharmacy, grocery, spa, gyms and many
more.
For users spending on their online and offline spends they get rewarded in points that can be used
to buy more services and experiences at other partner merchants in the form of vouchers and home
delivery. Points can be earned at ALL stores in a city, and it doesn’t matter whether you pay
through cash, credit/debit card or e-wallet. The company has its presence in major cities of India
including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Goa,
Ahmedabad, Chennai and Jaipur and also expanded its operations internationally in Indonesia.
A user can save in the following two ways:
1. Vouchers: The company has partnered with offline retailers and brands across categories
and online brands and provide discounted vouchers to the users
2. Home-Delivery: To grow their business vertical during the COVID scenario, the company
started to offer home-delivery on the platform. A user can browse through the catalog of
50k+ partnered merchants in food, grocery and pharmacy category and get the items home-
delivered with huge savings.
Here’s how it works: Pin a location on the map to identify the trendiest individuals in the
neighborhood and where they hang out - cafes, restaurants, trendy fashion boutiques, premium
spas, and health clubs. The company focuses a strong emphasis on user-generated photos, videos,
and reviews to help users find fascinating people and locations while also earning cashback or
prizes for visiting them.
The company has developed their community who have their finger on the pulse of their city’s
neighborhoods. Their picture stories inspire other users to have those experiences. The company
started to tap and reward users whenever they transact using their debit card/ credit card/ UPI on
any offline or online merchant. The reward earned can be used to get discounts on the partner
merchants.
In summary, it is the go-to platform for merchants and brands to connect with relevant local
customers, highlight their uniqueness, reward loyal customers with points and vouchers, execute
real-time promotions, augmented reality games, micro-influencer campaigns, and more.

Category-Wise Weekly Growth in Business in the month of September’2020

Mission and Vision:

The vision is to become the one stop application to provide best in class savings on customers
spends.

“The company’s mission is to enable small and large retailers by giving them the power to get new
and repeat business from their smartphones. They focus on their partners first, they decide how
much they want to invest in marketing and when – they can invest anywhere from Rs 100 to
10,00,000 and the company promises to deliver the precise ROI to their stores. It’s similar to what
Google ad-words does for online business, just that they don’t stop at clicks but deliver footfalls
and revenues to our retailers’ offline stores and offer customers with discounts on all of their offline
and online spends”

Values:

The startup has a strong culture and focuses on inculcating the below 7 values into their employees:

1. Ownership: Take initiatives, own your tasks, get stuff done

2. Innovation: Question status quo, be creative, think out-of-the-box
3. Courage: Say what you think, take hard decisions
4. Curiosity: Listen, seek to understand, insatiable appetite to learn
5. Integrity: Do the right thing, be transparent
6. Empathy: Have respect for customers, merchants and team
7. Teamwork: Collaborate, help, have fun

HRM Practices:

1. Performance Appraisal:
In order to keep the employees motivated for their work and to drive better employee
performance, there are two performance appraisal cycles at an interval of every six months.

2. Recognition of good performers:

To ensure employees are appreciated for their work, the company has a policy of awarding
the most valuable player every month from each team. This helps in driving motivation
into the other team members to go for an extra mile in their work.

3. No Personal Cabins:
In order to have better approachability to senior management, all employees including the
founder, CXOs sit together.

4. Sponsored team outing budget:

The company has a policy wherein it offers a specific budget that can be used by the teams
for any outing once every 3 months. This helps in team building.
 5. Town Halls:
Every month to motivate employees about the business functioning and growth of the
company, there is a company level meeting to discuss the same with all the senior
management

6. Sync-Ups with Manager and HR:

To know employees better, solve any problems faced by employees, providing them with
the feedback and solutions on their work in order to ensure everyone works to meet the
business goals, there is a policy of monthly/bi-monthly sync up with the manager and the
HR

7. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs):

For startups employee retention is a major task, the company offers ESOPs to the
employees to enhance better employee retention.

Objectives of the Study

The main aim of the study is to find the relation of these factors with employee motivation and to
understand their role in creating an environment where people are ready to work with initiative
and enthusiasm, with a high personal and group satisfaction, with the sense of responsibility and
confidence to achieve their individual as well as organizational goals. We will be analysing these
factors across start-up and MNC companies and evaluate the differences in the nature of motivation
among them.

Research Methodology
Introduction

This chapter describes the methodology of the research. Methodology refers to the method used in
conducting the research. We have done both Qualitative and Quantitative research as both primary
and secondary data are used simultaneously. Selecting an appropriate research approach, designing
the research, studying the population, choosing the sample size, selecting a data source,
instruments of data collection, validity and reliability of the data collection instruments, etc. are
discussed in this chapter.
Research Design

The most significant element of a research process is research designing. We adopted a quantitative
study to fulfill the research purpose. It is purely an empirical study that relies on primary data
through the questionnaire as the source of data. We recorded the subjects’ perception of each
variable using a five-point Likert-type scale, where 1 indicated strong disagreement, 2 showed
disagreement, 3 was neutral, 4 agreed, and 5 indicated strong agreement. The questionnaire
consisted of 10 questions measuring 10 different variables, such as interesting work, job
appreciation, satisfaction and stress, job security, good wages, promotion & growth, and
recognition and performance. 64 questionnaires were collected from employees of both
companies.

This is essentially correlation research that applies a quantitative approach and uses the survey
method to collect data. This method was chosen to make references to phenomena as they occur
in real life and it is more economical in terms of time and resources.

The research strategy was selected by matching research philosophies, methodology and research
problems. Since we make research on a relationship between work motivation and employee
performance by collecting quantifiable data through questionnaires and analyzing it by using MS-
Excel, therefore, it is appropriate to follow a quantitative research strategy.

Different researchers used different intrinsic and extrinsic factors to check employee motivation.
After investigating different motivational factors, we chose four intrinsic (such as: interesting
work, job appreciation, job satisfaction, stress) and four extrinsic factors (job security, promotion
& growth, good wages, recognition) for our study. These factors are taken on the basis of Maslow’s
Need theory and Herzberg’s two factor theory.

Intrinsic Motivation: Employees have intrinsic motivation, they search for enjoyment, interest in
work, satisfaction of their curiosity, self-expression, or personal challenge in the work. For our
research we listed four intrinsic factors i.e. interesting work, job appreciation, satisfaction and
stress:

Interesting work is a term that explains the experience of employees who are passionate about and
energized by their work, know the meaning and the purpose in their jobs, are sure that they can
express themselves completely at their job and feel connected to those with whom they work and
elaborate. Because there is a belief that one's labour makes a difference, a sense of connection to
people and a common purpose, a sense of perfection and transcendence, it has a physiologically
good effect.

Job appreciation is described as recognising the worth and significance of an event, a person, a
behaviour, an object, or a favourable feeling associated with it.

Job Satisfaction can be defined as a feeling that reflects whether employee needs are fulfilled by
the individual job or not. Organizations should organize, arrange and manage jobs to satisfy
workers.

Stress is described as intellectually or emotionally distressing or disrupting conditions that emerge

as a result of negative external factors.
Extrinsic motivation: It is a type of motivation that comes from outside of oneself. Employees
are extrinsically motivated when they participate in work in order to achieve a goal that is unrelated
to the task. This research is held by the help of four extrinsic motivational factors i.e. job security,
good wages, promotion & growth, and recognition:

Job Security is the perceived powerlessness to maintain desired continuity in a threatened job
situation.

Good Wages means the monetary compensation an employee gets for offering his or her services
to the company.

Promotion and Growth means when an employee demonstrates exceptional performance or has
developed the appropriate skills and knowledge then one should be given a job with higher
responsibilities.

Recognition includes the organizational rewards that are given to employees for their desirable
attitude. It can be greeting, approval, appreciation, financial reward etc.

Sample Size

Selecting a proper sample size is very crucial to reach the research goal. It is regarded as the first
step of research data collection. We have selected 31 employees from MNC and 33 from Start-
ups. The employees have been selected randomly to remove any kind of biases.

Sampling Methods & Techniques

There are several data sampling methods. Random sampling is an easy and less complex sampling
method to conduct research. For that reason, we collected the sample on a random basis. This
method requires very little time and no cost to carry out this research.

Data Collection Method

1. Primary Data Source

We have collected primary data from various primary sources like newspapers, magazines,
Internet, books, etc. Primary data is easy to collect as it is available in the public domain. Since
group members had worked in those companies, their experience also contributed to the data.

2. Secondary Data Source

The data which is not available in existing sources, but the researcher needs surveys to collect
those are known as secondary data. We collected the necessary data through a questionnaire.

Questionnaires

We prepared a questionnaire with some specific questions and circulated it online among the
employees of both companies.

Data analysis

To comprehensively understand the data collected, we analyzed it using Microsoft Excel. Results
are shown through various pie charts and bar diagrams.

Research Issues

1. Ethical Issues

A researcher must follow an ethical code to conduct the research and should be very careful in
collecting necessary information. Nobody was offered any financial reward to provide data.
Sensitive and confidential data was not disclosed in this research. Any falsification, alteration,
manipulation of information was strongly avoided. We have decided to keep the names of both
organizations confidential.

2. Accessibility issue

We didn’t encounter any accessibility issues in our research. Most of the data has been collected
from various newspapers, magazines, Internet and surveys.

Research Limitations

Every research has some limitations. Despite providing full concentration and dedication, there
may be some mistakes in the research. A short time frame may lead to poor research as proper data
may not always be collected and analyzed. Choosing a right sample size is also important as it may
lead to large deviations in final results.
 Data Collection and Analysis
We have divided our questionnaire based on the intrinsic (job appreciation, satisfaction, etc.) and
extrinsic factors (rewards, recognition, etc.) that drive motivation in a person and did a comparative
analysis of the reponses. The first input that we asked for was whether they worked for an MNC
or a Start-up. We received a total of 64 responses with the following distribution –

Then, following are the 10 objective questions that we proceeded to ask –

1.Do you think your work was recognized and appreciated enough?

25

1
20

2
15
3
10
4
5
5
0

We can see that on an average people working in start-ups felt that their organization was more
forward in recognizing their work and efforts. This can be attributed to the fact that the strength of
people in an MNC is very high and it gets difficult for employees to leave their mark. At a startup,
you are more responsible and accountable for your actions as they have a significant impact
compared to that at an MNC.
2. Do you feel that your skill set was utilized to the best of your capacity?

30
25 1
20 2
15 3
10 4
5 5
0

The average rating by employees from start-ups is higher when it comes to the utilization of their
skill set. Start-ups value the skill each of their employees bring to the table in order to establish a
hold in the market while MNCs generally have a system of allocating a fixed amount of work to
respective employees and their main target is to deliver their product/service to the clients within
deadlines.

3.Did you feel challenged/excited while taking up new tasks?

30

25
1
20 2
15 3

10 4
5
5

For this question, we got almost the same ratings for the two work environments with a slightly
higher rating for start-ups. Since working in a start-up requires innovation and has a relatively
more informal work culture, employees feel more excited and challenged while taking up new
tasks.
4.Was your Senior/Manager approachable and open to communication whenever required?

35

30

25 2
20 3
15 4

10 5

We got an average rating of 4 for both MNCs and start-ups. This shows that the working style of
a Manager is not dependent on the kind of organization and is a personal attribute and with the
increase in importance given to communication in leadership and management styles, more and
more people are becoming a part of a healthy work environment.

5.Did you often feel overburdened with the work allotted to you?

25

20 1
2
15
3
10
4
5 5

We can observe that employees from start-ups were more overburdened with work than their peers
at MNCs. This is mainly because startup companies typically have fewer employees and they are
constantly trying to capitalize on upcoming trends to successfully get their product or service
noticed by consumers.
6.On a scale of 1-5, how much did your work motivate you towards your long-term goals?

30

25
1
20
2
15
3
10 5
5 4
0
Total

As is evident from the data, there is a stark difference in the way the employees working at a
startup feel compared to the way an employee working under a hierarchical structure at a MNC
feels. It is essential for a person to feel that his work aligns with his long-term goals to stay
motivated and have a productive approach in the tasks allotted to him. Startups provide authority
and independence to a person to work while MNCs have clearly defined roles and responsibilities,
which the employee has to fulfill irrespective of his will. It happens on multiple occasions that
people work in a particular organization before getting a role/project which they actually wanted
to work on.

7.How important do you feel was the impact of feedback on your performance?

30
25
1
20
2
15
3
10
4
5
5
0
Total

Feedbacks are a crucial aspect of keeping a person on track while he constantly tries to push his
limits and boundaries in aspiration of his goals. The survey indicates that both MNC and Startups
have a similar rating but we should keep in mind that the feedback processes in both organizations
have a very different approach. MNCs follow a structured system of annual and semi-annual
performance reviews by colleagues, reporting managers and other people in the organizational
chart of the employee. This leads to an exhaustive qualitative and quantitative analysis of
performance by HR department. The startups on the other hand are a small group of closely knit
colleagues who work together and keep providing regular feedback to each other on every aspect
while they work towards a common goal. Thus, the process of feedback and its impact on
performance is very direct.

8.How satisfied were you with your recent monetary incentive?

20

15 1
2
10
3
4
5
5
0
Total

In general, an average employee always feels he has been overburdened by work and is not being
compensated enough. But more so in startups where the team realizes that the efforts they put in
will not lead to any short term results and the compensation is not enough. They work for a long-
term goal of increasing the valuation of the company and generating returns for the investors. The
people spend a minimum value for personal use and most of the surplus is put in the business to
maximize gains and expand operations. While MNCs have a larger employee base and employees
have a weaker attachment with company objectives, thus their productivity is related to satisfaction
they derive from the monetary compensation provided for the work.

9.How will you rate non-monetary incentives in motivating you towards your role?

25

20
1
15 2
3
10
4
5
5
0
Total

On an average, non-monetary incentives received a rating of 3.8 out of 5 showing that the majority
of people believe that non-monetary incentives were an important factor for motivating them. The
addition of perks and rewards other than their salaries motivates them to go an extra mile and
creates a healthy work environment in an organization.

10.How many of these resources and facilities were provided and accessible to you?
We can observe that in general, MNCs have more resources and facilities to offer. Startups
evidently provide a lot less facilities to their employees due to the low capital they have to expend
on employee wellbeing. While MNCs have world class infrastructure and major expenses.

Recommendations
1) It was observed that startups recognize the employees’ efforts more when compared with
MNCs. Low level of recognition can cause employees to get demotivated resulting in diminishing
productivity and lower levels of engagement. This usually happens in MNCs because they operate
at a much larger level which makes it difficult for them to keep in track of each employee. To
counter this, we recommend sending short emails for appreciating and recognizing the
employees keeping the superiors in loop.

2) MNCs usually lack innovation as they are risk averse and follow “standardization” of processes.
However, this can be countered by finding a certain degree of balance between flexibility and
autonomy. Cross functional activities and embracing failure should be seen as a natural way of
innovation rather than obscuring it.

3) Startups can be tiresome as the sole purpose of them is to garner self-initiative to achieve
organizational goals even at long odd hours. This disturbs the work life balance leading to a decline
in motivation. The solution for it is not just the standardization of work hours but also
implementation on its face value. Employees can only continue to stay motivated when they
maintain a distinction between professional work and personal life which can be achieved by
stating standard working hours.

4) We observed that MNCs follow a more structured approach of taking feedback. Rigid systems
can lead to a loss of communication and lack of motivation to meet the organizational along with
the personal goals. To counter this, we advise the MNCs to take a hybrid model of feedback i.e.
both quantitative and qualitative on a regular basis. Quantitative data is easier to process but
qualitative data can provide better insights of the employees thereby helping the MNCs to identify
the motivation gaps (if any) and resolving them.

5) Startups usually face a misbalance between the intensity of work and remuneration. They are
often caught overburdened and not paid accordingly as opposed to MNCs. To cater to this,
incentives and bonuses in kind can be implemented. For example, free monthly subscriptions to
OTT platforms or fully sponsored virtual lunch parties can help in rejuvenation of demotivated
employees.
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