Every company in the world wants to improve its efficiency and productivity, and it’s no secret that these factors rely heavily on employee motivation. Let’s be honest, work can sometimes be a little tedious. There’s no way that spreadsheets or repetitive tasks are going to motivate employees on their own (or at all), so it’s really important to offer a helping hand in lifting excitement around the workplace and getting the most out of your workforce.
As soon as workers lose their motivation, they become less hardworking, less creative and less of an asset to the business. Here are a few ways to help motivate your employees, and to help retain the best ones in turn:
Financial Incentives
This certainly isn’t the prettiest piece of advice, but it’s something that undoubtedly works with regard to increasing motivation around the workplace. Money is the reason people go to work in the first place. Giving everybody a random pay rise won’t do the trick however. You should set performance objectives, and reward employees financially when these are met. Not only will this improve their motivation levels, it also engrains a hardworking philosophy throughout the company. Profit-sharing programmes can also be beneficial, and can help to increase teamwork as everyone will share and work towards similar goals.
Non-Financial Incentives
A slightly prettier (and cheaper) piece of advice. Improving employee motivation does not necessarily have to involve money, and non-financial incentives can often be a lot more personal and have a better effect because of this. It’s surprising how perks as simple as finishing slightly earlier on a Friday, or having dress down Fridays for example, can have such a huge effect on employee motivation. Even amenities such as having a cafeteria or a gym onsite (or discounted rates for somewhere nearby) can help give employees a pleasant release before or after work, and allow them to come back more motivated and focused on their job.
Recognition
Recognition doesn’t have to be something as significant as a promotion. Offering praise or a simple compliment for a job well done can go a long way with regard to motivating your employees. This can be applied to both larger and smaller tasks, and a simple “well done” can be enough to let employees know their work is not going unnoticed (which can often be incredibly demotivating!)
Create a Positive Working Environment
You should try to avoid a ‘them and us’ culture within the workplace, as this can have an incredibly detrimental impact on motivation. It’s important to make employees feel involved in the decision process, and that they feel comfortable enough to communicate with people above them in the hierarchy. Make sure you talk to employees in person too, rather than just via email. Good communication can have an immensely positive impact on motivation.
Offer Education
Investing in your employees’ education can be a substantial motivator as it shows that you care about them, their skills and that you’re supporting their potential progression within the company. If it will benefit their job role, and consequently the work they produce for you, offer to pay for any relevant courses that will help them gain industry knowledge. It might be worth it to consider an outside service to come in and help as an employee engagement consultant. It would be worth it as everyone can be apart of a team learning process.
Ask Them!
The above tips and advice will certainly help to boost morale and increase motivation around the office, but the best way to find out what would motivate them is to actually ask the employees themselves! Obviously you won’t be able to cater to all of their requests, but simply getting them involved and listening to what they want can be enough to motivate them in itself.
About the Author: Sam Zalcman is the Senior Consultant of StratX – a management development firm that works with the top 500 global companies to develop their business campaigns. Visit them online at: http://stratxcorporate.com/
