David Rock in his book “Your Brain At Work” makes a mention of “Status” as a key factor in the SCARF framework for emotion arousal of the human brain.

A sense of “Status” has been found to release neurotransmitters such as “dopamine” , “serotonin” as well as testosterone to make a person feel “at ease” as well as help “focus” for achievement of stringent targets.

Hence subtle acts of hiking the “status” feeling goes a long way in motivating an employee at work as well.This though is not a long term solution and can help achieve effects in the near to short term with good effect.