Employers put considerable effort and resources in the recruitment of the best people, but very often very little is then done to keep these high performing individuals in their most productive state. This is because employee motivation remains a mystery to a lot of managers – and it shouldn’t be.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your company is, having a team of skilled and highly motivated employees is crucial to the success of your business. Unmotivated employees are less productive and less creative and this makes them less valuable to the business. There is a heavy price to pay when your employees have motivation issues.
So, how do you ensure that your team remains enthused and willing to give their all to achieve the company’s goals?
The following strategies can help improve employee motivation.
1. Identify what motivates your employees. All employees will not be responsive to the same motivators, and this is what makes employee motivation somewhat tricky. Just like people everywhere, each individual is unique. What makes one person tic may not necessarily work for the next. Learning what drives individual employees becomes imperative if employee motivation is to be achieved. The simplest way to do this is to ask your employees what would make them more excited about their job.
2. Take a genuine interest in your employee’s career path. An employee’s attitude can change positively if the employee believes that the manager cares about the future of their career. Mentor your employees, coach them and provide additional training and opportunities for your employees to advance their careers.
3. Compensate and give rewards appropriately. It’s a fact that most employees are motivated by money – at least to cater for their basic needs. Others use their salaries to measure their value to the business. Pay your employees competitively, based on industry rates. Rewarding exemplary work will also go a long way. Monetary rewards can be in the form of raises, commissions, performance bonuses and profit sharing. Other items could also be used as compensation such as vacations, gift vouchers or other non-monetary gifts.
4. Redesign jobs. Routines, when performed continuously and for some time, could lead to burnout. Creating new experiences for your employees could help motivate them and improve productivity. Some of the ways in which you could redesign jobs include:
Job enlargement. Increase the number of tasks involved in a job to reduce monotony.
Job rotation. Assign your employees to different jobs or tasks on a temporary basis. The idea here is to add variety by mixing things up.
Job enrichment. With this, you not only increase the variety of tasks but also give your employees more responsibility and authority. Just make sure that the skills required for the job match the employee’s abilities.
5. Create flexibility. The modern employee values personal time. It is for this reason that a normal nine-to-five workday may be unsuitable for many people. Allow your employees to control their own work hours to some extent. A once in a while telecommute can do a lot of good to an employee’s morale.
Recruiting motivated staff is the first step. For labour hire solutions Blue Collar People can help!
Information Sources:
http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/HR-Administration/Communication/Employee-Motivation-5-Key-Steps-to-Improve-Employe
http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2013/03/18/5-easy-ways-to-motivate-and-demotivate-employees/
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/principles-of-management/motivating-and-rewarding-employees/motivation-strategies
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