Chances are, you do not jump out of bed every morning excited to go to work. Keeping your employees motivated is difficult, but critical when it comes to things like workplace morale and retention rates. A lot of people believe that individuals are most motivated by things like salary and other benefits, but there are actually some really effective ways that you can motivate your team without having to shell out any extra money.
Get to Know Your Employees
One of the very best things that you can do to motivate your team is to get to know who they are outside of work. By taking the time to discover what they are interested in, you will be helping them feel more valued and comfortable. This is important because it means that they will be more likely to speak up when they have a great idea – and more likely to speak up if they are upset about something. To that end, getting to know your team will help produce better work products, and help decrease turnover rates.
Acknowledge a Job Well Done
It can be really easy to just expect a job to be done correctly, and to move on without saying anything. However, employees respond very well to recognition. By letting them know that you see their continued effort, you can help ensure that they stay motivated and continue to put in the work necessary. In fact, it is best to create a culture of appreciation. Make it a habit to regularly have both team and individual “shout outs.”
Create a Great Work Environment
You want your team to want to come to work. To do so, you need to make sure that it is an environment that someone would actually want to spend time in. For example, snacks are a great way to help people feel appreciated and keep them from leaving when they get hungry – also, no one works well on an empty stomach! You should also make sure that you are meeting your employees’ needs. For example, could you do flexible or remote work hours so they can more easily spend time with their kids?
The reason why “get to know your employees” is listed first on this list is that you need to know what is important to them. By taking the time to learn about their values and priorities, you can better recognize their work and offer benefits that truly matter to them – by doing so, you can more effectively motivate them.
Photo by LYCS Architecture on Unsplash
