A motivação no ambiente de trabalho e o seu efeito no desempenho profissional: um estudo no setor bancário

The Portuguese banking sector has been undergoing deep structural changes, influencing the motivation and productivity of its employees. In this sense, taking into account the importance of the sector and the scarce information in the literature on the subject, it was considered relevant to study it. With the objective of analyzing the influence that motivation has on the performance of the functions of the employees in the banking sector, a qualitative methodology was adopted, using 33 interviews with employees from seven different banks in the District of Viseu. The content analysis of the answers allowed us to conclude that motivation contributes positively to professional performance and, consequently, to productivity, that the factors that most contribute to motivation are the good relationship between colleagues, the workload, the recognition by superiors, the awards and the personal and family achievement, and that the focus on objectives, the positive spirit and the conciliation between personal and professional life are the strategies most used by employees for greater motivation. It was also possible to conclude that Bank managers should prioritize readjusting the number of employees, assigning new functions to those who have been in the same position for a long time, exerting less pressure, as well as providing greater recognition and praise and granting financial rewards or performance bonuses, in order to promote greater commitment and motivation from employees.