6 Ways To Motivate Your Employees
Your business may have all the right attributes: a killer product, a business plan, a strategy, and so on. However, without efficient and productive employees, you would never fully gain the success you wish to achieve. Employee satisfaction and engagement play a significant role in the attitudes of your employees towards work. An effective way of boosting these workplace attitudes is by motivating them. So, how can you effectively do this? Here are some creative and highly effective motivational techniques you should introduce today.
Your business may have all the right attributes: a killer product, a business plan, a strategy, and so on. However, without efficient and productive employees, you would never fully gain the success you wish to achieve.
Employee satisfaction and engagement play a significant role in the attitudes of your employees towards work. An effective way of boosting these workplace attitudes is by motivating them. So, how can you effectively do this? Here are some creative and highly effective motivational techniques you should introduce today.
Set Measurable Goals
The workplace is a continuous cycle of projects and tasks, making it relatively easy to get stuck in a rut. This makes it difficult to see progress and celebrate it. In effect, the rates of motivation are reduced in your company. By setting clear and measurable goals, you set a target for your employees to strive for. This, in turn, encourages them to work hard towards seeing a result and progress. It always feels good to see yourself work hard towards a goal, and watching yourself getting close to it only pushes you to work harder and more effectively.
Recognize And Reward Hard-Working Employees
If you want to see your employees work hard and efficiently, offering rewards is an effective form of motivation. There are many ways of doing this; however, some methods have proven to be more effective than others. For example, annual bonuses are a great incentive.
However, many employees are not so excited about it as it is a common incentive and enjoyed at the end of the year. Be more creative! Introduce small yet effective reward systems such as giving a gift voucher or putting their face up as an employee of the month on your company website or around the office. There are many reward incentives you should consider to boost motivation.
Create A Pleasurable Work Environment
There are numerous ways to create the ideal work environment for your employees. The first is the nature of your leadership. Being a stuck-up “all business” boss would have you gaining respect on the outside. However, it only reduces their motivation to work hard amongst your workers and see the business grow. To be a great leader, you must respect your subordinates and be honest with them. Be more human than a dictator.
You should also be supportive. Suppose you have a pregnant employee. You can offer support by getting her pregnancy gifts such as diapers, feeding bottles, and other necessities. Another way to show your respect and boost motivation is to provide adequate digital solutions.
No employee would want to work in a place with old and outdated devices. Hitting your 1990 Windows computer to come on is not the ideal workday activity. Listen to your employees’ complaints and suggestions as well. All these factors make your employees enjoy where they work. And in turn, motivate them to do more to see the business flourish and grow.
Listen And Provide Feedback
As mentioned in the previous point, listening to your employees is an excellent way of motivating them. Everyone likes to be heard. Your employees would be motivated when they know their employer is listening to them. This doesn’t mean you have to implement every single idea or fix every complaint- you do so according to your discretion (after all, you are the boss). What matters is your employees knowing that they have a listening ear ready to listen to them, regardless of the idea.
In addition to listening, it is advisable to provide feedback. Again, this does not mean you have to follow all the requests and ideas. By providing feedback, you create an effective communication channel. Appreciate outstanding ideas and gently deny ideas that are not so feasible. Kindly explain why specific processes are the way they are and offer advice when necessary. Be sure to also pass on good reviews your employees may receive from customers for their services. This encourages them to keep up the excellent work and motivates others to do the same.
Provide A Sense Of Job Security
Job security is essential for employees. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, job security falls under the physiological needs of employees. This group of needs includes food and water. The theory suggests that this is the first point of motivation for employees. If a job can provide them with these needs, they would be more likely to bring out their authentic selves to get their jobs done. Without a guarantee of job security, your company would incur more costs to train new employees as more qualified workers leave.
Encourage Regular Breaks
Your employees may look busy but are they? It is pretty challenging to get work done efficiently and productively when you are hungry and tired. Filling yourself up with coffee doesn’t always do the trick. Unfortunately, the nature of the workplace often leaves employees missing out or not making time to take breaks for lunch or to relax without the day. This, eventually, demotivates them. How can you fix this? Encourage breaks.
You can provide lunch and other healthy snacks and ensure that employees have something to munch on during the day, especially if they have no time to prepare a work lunch in the morning. You can outsource such services from a reputable catering company. It would be best to encourage your employees to take some time from their workstations to walk around and stretch their legs. You can also create a meditation space where you take a few minutes off work to meditate, relax tense nerves, or get a few minutes to yourself during the day.
There are so many factors that go a long way to motivate your employees. The factors mentioned above are just a few ways to help you boost motivation and maximise productivity. However, you must explore other techniques to get the most out of your employees. Implementing the right motivational strategies would create a win-win situation for you, your company, and your employees.