20 Easy Ways to Motivate Employees
Milton Herman
How do you boost employee morale and motivation? What are the factors affecting employee motivation? It takes more than just money to motivate. People want to feel valued, part of the team, and that they matter to the company. This employee motivation article discusses how to get your staff to look forward to their working day.
Employee motivation techniques are essential to the success of a company. When you know how to motivate employees you’ll get the best out of them. Motivated employees will work harder and dedicate themselves to the company’s mission. Happy workers are more productive and more likely to stay with the company than look elsewhere for another job.
It doesn´t matter what the business is, employee motivation in the private sector and the public sector are as important as each other.
Consider this situation – the high-flyer you hired a year ago no longer seems motivated. They’re doing the minimum of work, not coming up with new ideas, not interacting, and seem like they want to be someplace else. How do you improve their morale and motivation?
Rather than giving up on them, the first thing is to find out what the problem is. Arrange an informal chat and find out why this person who was such a hard worker before now lacks motivation. Then address the problem and turn the situation around.
You may have to work out how to motivate an overwhelmed employee, how to make them feel valued, or how to give them a more challenging role. Whatever the issue is, supporting a demotivated employee will give them a boost.
There are two main types of employee motivation:
- Intrinsic – personal challenges, job satisfaction, self-fulfillment
- Extrinsic – physical rewards, salary, bonuses, gifts
It’s the employer’s role to facilitate employee motivation and figure out what employees need to motivate them. There are a number of ways to do this so your company becomes the one everyone wants to work for. It could be something as simple as ensuring equipment and systems such as the intranet work effectively, running an employee engagement survey, or buying the team lunch once a month.
Here are 20 ways to improve employee motivation :
1. Improve corporate and team culture
These are essential for a motivated workplace. Productivity improves when employees feel part of a team and a valued member of the company.
Company culture starts at the top and filters down. It’s reflected in a philosophy where everyone is equal and of value, and contributes their skills to the objectives of the company. It includes working as part of a team and sharing knowledge and ideas.
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2. Develop a modern work environment
The work environment is one of the critical motivation strategies. A smart modern office fosters more success than an old building with peeling paint and bad decor.
The office should be a pleasure to work in, full of natural light, and a comfortable temperature. Employees will appreciate extras such as an area to chill, eat lunch, play games, and chat.
If you’re due an office re-design why not ask employees for their ideas?
3. Provide an Employee motivation platform
Another key motivation strategy is to supply a platform where everyone can work together, such as LumApps. A cloud-based intranet is the perfect tool to do this. People can stay up-to-date with projects, collaborate with team members and colleagues, and have access to company information.
This is a sure-fire way to promote employee motivation, develop team building and engage people in their work.
LumApps, the Employee Experience Platform:
4. Provide transparent and clear communication
Clear communication leads to positive outcomes. When employees are clear on their roles and what they should be doing they feel motivated.
A company intranet is a way to achieve this. It can give access to whatever an employee needs to perform their job:
- Project schedules and briefs
- Technical data
- Marketing materials
- Employee handbooks
- Product information
- Internal news…
5. Encourage teamwork
Teamwork is the key to improved employee motivation. Working as a team ensures everyone feels valuable and plays a part in achieving a goal.
It also means you can share ideas, solve problems and plan together with colleagues. This can take place as an intranet messenger chat, a virtual meeting or face-to-face.
6. Encourage innovation and creativity
Boredom destroys motivation. Allow employees to express their creative side and bring their ideas to projects. Just because someone works in accounts or the technical department doesn’t mean they don’t have innovative ideas.
Encourage employee engagement motivation by inviting them to contribute ideas for new products, branding or a logo. Offer a prize for the winner. Being recognized for skills other than those we’re employed for can encourage a high level of motivation.
7. Express gratitude
It’s easy to say thank you or well done. These simple words go a long way toward motivating someone and showing appreciation.
Another way to recognize good work is through extrinsic rewards, for example, extra vacation days, vouchers, or travel. This gives employees something to work towards.
The intranet is a great place to set up a reward page, where employees can earn points and see the prizes on offer.
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8. Recognize a good job
Catch people doing it right and acknowledge it. When someone tells us we’ve done a good job we feel motivated to do further good work. It boosts confidence to know we’re appreciated.
This also applies to recognizing that someone’s done something brave, for example reporting a hazardous or uncomfortable situation.
9. Express clear company goals
Another motivating factor for employees is clearly defining the goals of the company. This means employees understand the bigger picture and where they fit into the company.
The impact of employee motivation on employee performance is important. If an employee knows why they’re doing their job and how it contributes to the company objectives they feel confident in their role and will work more efficiently.
10. Give individual and team rewards
This is an opportunity to achieve increased employee motivation by giving people something to work towards. If a team knows that if senior management accepts their project they get a free weekend in Paris or a trip to the Maldives, it’s an incentive to work hard. The same applies to individuals. Offering rewards can motivate and create healthy competition.
11. Provide a Positive communication
Positivity breeds motivation. Positively presenting new ideas and projects encourages employees to support the success of the company. When everyone understands the company goals the level of employee motivation can increase dramatically.
This also applies to problem-solving. If there’s an issue it’s more likely to be solved if it’s addressed positively, over an informal cup of coffee, rather than with negativity.
12. Provide a Positive competition
Friendly competition is good in the workplace. This form of motivation works. It encourages team spirit and facing challenges in a positive way. This can take place through employee recognition, such as a page on the intranet that features the employee of the month. Competition doesn´t have to be cut-throat – if presented in the right way it can boost employee morale.
13. Build regular objectives with each employee
Don´t wait until annual reviews to set objectives. If you regularly set each employee individual objectives they’re likely to devote a high level of energy and commitment to their job. Doing this will ensure employees are constantly motivated to achieve their targets, especially if they receive rewards.
This is also a way to get to know employees, which makes them feel their manager has an interest in them as a person.
14. Include employees in decision making
How can you use employee engagement to increase motivation? Giving employees accountability and listening to their opinions can increase intrinsic motivation and engagement. From setting up a survey on the intranet to asking what color the new product labels should be to finding out what people think of remote working. When you need to make major decisions that will affect the lives of your employees include them in the decisions.
15. Ask employees for feedback
This is another way to enhance motivation is by using intranet surveys. Your employees can be your most important focus group when you launch a new product, plan to expand or introduce new systems. And don’t only ask for the feedback, show you’ve listened, and considered people’s opinions. This will make employees feel they’re an important part of the company.
16. Discover what motivates each employee
Money and material rewards don’t always encourage an employee to work harder. Of course, they help, but not everyone is motivated in the same way. Some people feel their career path is more important than incentives.
Every person that works in a company is an individual and should be treated like one. This means talking to people and asking what motivates them, which will build trust. Do this face-to-face or with an employee motivation survey that lists a series of employee motivation interview questions.
➝ Read more: 10 Great Ways to Empower Frontline Employees
17. Develop an easy work-life balance
Balancing our personal lives with work isn’t always easy. We have children, parents, partners, studies… An employer that understands this and allows fair vacations and time off for personal issues will motivate their staff.
When the right work-life balance is achieved, employees can concentrate on their work as they’re not worrying about external issues.
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18. Develop employee career paths
People feel motivated when they have a clear career advancement path. If a promotion is in sight it can promote better employee productivity. We feel motivated when we know we have a career goal. Every employee should be allowed to grow and develop with the company, to encourage them to give their best.
19. Provide regular training
Training can be inspiring and shows an understanding of the importance of employee motivation. It shows an employer is dedicated to helping their employees to learn as much as they can about their job and how to do it better. Training outside of roles can also be a great motivator. For example, offering first-aid, budget management or computer training can motivate employees to expand their skills. Mentoring is also a way to motivate as it offers guidance when someone is new to a role and can build their confidence.
20. Give employees autonomy
Trust people to do their jobs without constantly checking up on them. A good manager does this while letting their employees know they’re there for guidance if needed. Being left alone to do a job raises motivation as it reinforces the fact that the employee knows what they’re doing to complete their tasks.
- Intrinsic – personal challenges, job satisfaction, self-fulfillment
- Extrinsic – physical rewards, salary, bonuses, gifts
Employee motivation techniques are essential to the success of a company. When you know how to motivate employees you’ll get the best out of them. Motivated employees will work harder and dedicate themselves to the company’s mission.
- Improve corporate and team culture
- Develop a modern work environment
- Provide an Employee motivation platform
- Provide transparent and clear communication
- Encourage innovation and creativity
