Microsoft's Employee Motivation Philosophies Of Microsoft

1. Introduction
There are many things that are key to the success of a business. Having motivated employees is one of them. Therefore it’s very important for a company to have a good understanding of what truly motivates an employee. A business also needs to know how to correctly act on this understanding to make sure that they can motivate their employees to deliver better work, to stay with the company for a long time and many other purposes.
The aim of this report is to examine the options a company has to motivate it’s employees. The author will take the model used by Microsoft in the 1980’s as a vantage point to further delve into the many facets of employee motivation. What was the philosophy behind Microsoft’s motivation strategy and is it a model that can be considered effective? Furthermore the author will try to find different philosophies on employee motivation in the hope of gaining a better understanding of the subject in general.

2. Microsoft’s 1980’s Employee Motivation Philosophies
In the 1980’s Microsoft utilised its own brand of employee motivation. This approach was considered very effective by some: ‘In its local area, Microsoft is known as "The Velvet Sweatshop,’’ which suggests that, if anything, Microsoft might be doing too good a job of motivating its employees’
When Bill Gates wanted to make Microsoft go public in 1986, this also factored into his decision. He had been selling stock options to attract top developers and managers but also used it as a ways of retaining important employees. He even deliberated with some important employees about going public before making his final decision (Uttal, 1986). This shows that this method was used both for attracting new employees as well as keeping current