Motivation is one of the most important factors to work. Highly motivated employees are more driven and more likely to do their job well. It enhances their productivity and the satisfaction they have while working. On the other hand, a lack of motivation can have dramatic effects on the way people work and even business outcomes. In this article, we discuss how you can motivate your employees to perform better. We do so with giving you tips to increase motivation. These tips can be used by organizations of all sizes and across different industries.
Motivate your employees: Workplace
Let’s start off with the workplace. A good workplace should be a place that motivates employees and brings out the best in them.
You don’t want too many people sitting in the same room because it can decrease the attention span. Especially in workplaces where telephones are used a lot, distraction is everywhere. Ask your employees what they find most comfortable and see how you can support this as an organization. Now that we are getting slowly back to the office after the pandemic, it seems that people will work from home more often than before the pandemic. This gives you a chance create more space for employees now that offices are less crowded.
In addition to this, you want your employees to stay healthy while at work. Good ergonomics will prevent injuries in the long term. We wrote an article about ergonomics at the workplace. You can also use these tips for your home office. Ensure that you have a good chair, adjustable desk and a monitor and you are able to prevent most of the injuries if you combine these with a good posture. Another way to keep your employees healthy is by offering healthy food in the cafeteria or by exercising. Promote walks during lunchtime because it contributes to numerous health benefits. If you really want to do something bold, you can create meditation rooms at your office if you have the space. Numerous companies in Silicon Valley have been doing this for years, claiming that it helps with stress.
Motivate your employees: Growth and rewards
Growth and rewards have always been a very important part of human resources and motivating employees. When your organization is doing well because your employees did great, it’s only fair to offer them a piece of the cake. Moreover, most people want to grow in their professional career. In order to maintain employees longer within your organization, you need to offer them a Personal Development Plan. With this plan, you can map out the employee development. How can a Junior Developer grow to a Senior Developer? Or in what ways can a Manager further improve in his/her role? These are both roadmaps that can be defined with a Personal Development Plan. An additional benefit of employee development is that you can easily fill senior roles within your organization by promoting employees internally. This will save you on hiring costs. Moreover, you already know all about the employee so you are less likely to hire the wrong person for the job.
Motivation can come from two ways. Intrinsic motivation comes from within someone. Extrinsic motivation can be inspired by people, products or events. It can be applied by using monetary and non-monetary rewards. A good salary will definitely motivate your employees. In addition to this, you can offer your employees additional rewards such as bonuses, stock shares, tuition fees for employees with children, healthcare, retirement fund contributions and more. If your organization is offering this, you need to make sure that your employees know about this. If they do not, you are missing out on additional employee motivation. Non-monetary rewards include a company car, telephone, extra vacation days, a gym membership and more. You can view our ‘What is the best way to reward your Employees’ article to learn more.
Motivate your employees: Culture and Leadership
So we recently ran a poll on our LinkedIn page to see what would be the main factor for Employee Retention. The results are clear.
If you want your employees to stay working at your organization, company culture is certainly one of the biggest factors. Before we start with motivation increasing methods such as rewards and development, we need to make your organization ready to support these changes. We are not only talking about the right infrastructure, but also the right people in the right place. You need to create an environment that naturally stimulates motivation. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this.
Appreciation is key. If one of your employees did a great job on a project, always make sure that you show them gratitude. You don’t always have to give them something monetary like a gift card of a bottle of wine though. Words can also be enough. Just make sure you do it. Your employees will feel appreciated and more connected with your organization, which increases their motivation.
Secondly, leadership plays a huge roll in employee motivation. As a leader within an organization, always try to inspire your employees. A good leader doesn’t micromanage everyone. This can make employees feel incompetent, unnecessary or otherwise bad. A good manager gives the employees the freedom to do their work and assist them in the process. Lead by example rather than constantly correct everyone. Try to create a company culture where everyone feels safe and no one is afraid to make mistakes. This can have a negative impact on the overall culture, which demotivates your employees.
Use the right tools!
There are lots of different tools available that can get you started. Our Succession Planning Web App analyzes your employees’ skills, so you know who is most fit for a promotion. This motivates your employees to do well, because they see that hard work pays off. Our Performance Management Web App enables personal goal-setting and easy tracking. Moreover, it automates the Performance Management review process.
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