Employee motivation is key to whether a business is successful as it has a big impact on your productivity and efficiency. However, managers often find it difficult to keep their employee’s motivation high, leading to disinterested staff and lower output.
Your staff are your most important asset, so it is highly important that you always have their best interests in mind. You should, therefore, review what you are currently doing to motivate your employees and check if this is in line with their motivational needs. In this article, we will look at 5 methods to improve employee motivation, to help you to get the most out of your workforce.
Improve communication
The way you communicate with your employees has a big impact on the motivation of your employees and how they feel about their role and workplace. If your staff feel like they are spoken down to and are constantly micromanaged it is likely that their motivation will drop, and they may become less productive.
So, if you are looking to get the most out of your workforce and keep them motivated, you should look to speak to them more in person and not just email so they feel more involved. When employees feel like they are more involved in the business they will feel encouraged to put in more effort, so their motivation remains high in the long term.
Increase employee responsibility
Increasing employee responsibility will have a great influence on motivation at your company. When employees are given more responsibility, they feel greater ownership in the business and therefore become more motivated to make the business succeed. There are many ways to increase the responsibility of your employees from giving them more access to meetings and involving them in decision making, to allowing employees to lead on projects.
By assigning these to employees they can further grow their skills and knowledge to become better in their role and to progress through the business. This will result in improved employee motivation across your business as your staff will be keen to succeed and become more involved in the company.
Introduce flexible working hours
Many businesses have now introduced flexible working hours to allow employees to have a healthy work/life balance. Not all employees are suited to the traditional 9-5 role anymore, so it is important that as an employer you recognise this and offer non-traditional work schedules to meet the needs of your staff. Introducing flexible working can have a positive impact on your staff’s motivation as they can take control of their working hours to an extent.
You also need to consider any personal issues that your employees may be having. Whilst you’ll probably want an Employee Assistance Program in place to deal with these sorts of issues (you can read all about Employee Assistance Programs here), you may find that allowing staff to be flexible with their working hours could help to solve some issues. Offering flexible options such as working from home, job sharing, and flexitime will be very beneficial to your employees, resulting in your workforce’s morale increasing. This can also have a positive impact on your efficiency and productivity as you will have access to your staff during the hours of their peak performance.
Recognise and reward outstanding work
Many managers fail to recognise and reward excellent work consistently and this is a big mistake as it plays a massive part in motivating your workforce. Reward & recognition is at the very top of employee motivation needs. So, whether you are giving monetary rewards for performance or recognising staff as an employee of the month, you should appropriately reward your workforce for their contributions to the company.
Having a rewards system in place including monetary rewards such as pay rises, profit share and performance bonuses will have a great effect on employees motivation. However, you should still look to be verbal in praising employees as they will feel recognised for their performance, which can lead to greater attitudes and morale. Fun rewards can also bring some added cheer – these trophies and plaques in Portland Oregon are commonly bought by local businesses to show appreciation for their employees, so have a look for a similar supplier in your own area if you want to do the same.
Plan employee growth and development with your staff
Growth and development are essential motivating factors for all employees as they want to continuously learn professionally and personally so they can reach their full potential. You should find out where your employees want to be and what skills they need to develop to get there. Identifying any Knowledge Gaps that need filling is a constructive approach to addressing this challenge. This can be done by setting up continuous personal/professional development plans. With these plans, you can then structure adequate learning and development for your employees so they can progress in their careers.
The more interest that you show in your staff’s career progression the more motivated they will be to work harder for your company. As a manager you should empower your workforce to take control of their own advancement, this will motivate them to work harder to progress their careers.
If you pay attention to these significant factors in employee motivation you are more likely to have staff that are willing to work harder due to the positive environment, you have created. Implementing some of these methods will ensure that motivation stays consistently high for better productivity and happier staff. So, make sure you don’t fall behind and keep these methods in mind throughout the working year to get the best out of your employees.
