Employee motivation and their productivity can be enhanced by creating a work environment which maximizes the factors affecting their performance. Often, these factors are simple to understand, easy to measure and can add tremendous value to any organization that is willing to implement them.
Here are the top 10 tips to ensure that your employees are energized and inspired to produce the best results possible.
1. Interesting Work
Internal motivation comes from the sheer joy and pleasure of performing a task. To maximize employee performance, find out what the employee like about their jobs and then try adding more tasks which align to their own natural interests and talents.
2. Feeling Involved In the Work Process
When employees participate in creating a system or a process, they are much more likely to follow it than when something has simply been imposed on them by an outside expert. The employees have knowledge of how things can be done better, faster and cheaper. If you want them to tell you and then make easy for them to offer suggestions- you may reward the employees contributing their ideas which add value to the bottom line.
3. Appreciation & Recognition
As quoted by William James, “The deepest desire in human nature is to be appreciated.” It does not matter how much you pay your employees, everyone wants to know that their efforts are being seen and appreciated, especially by their manager. Don’t just send them a thank you e-mail — signifying you care enough to hit the “Enter” key. Instead buy them a real “Thank You” card and describe how their behavior and performance has added value to the team and organization. Make it a point to catch up people doing things right and eventually they will do things right more often.
4. Achievement
Napoleon once remarked, “It is amazing how willing men are to risk their lives for a little bit of tin and ribbon to wear upon their chest.” Awards and prizes serve as a great motivator to harness the power of healthy competition in the work environment. Ensure to use rewards that are meaningful and inspiring. When an employee exceeds your expectations, you should recognize their achievement. On the day of retirement of your employees, they will pack up these awards and prizes to serve as fond reminders of a wonderful career.
5. Good Wages
The founder of the world’s largest automobile parts supplier, Robert Bosch said, “I do not pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages.” If you want motivated and highly productive employees you have to pay them according to their ability and performance. Good employees are motivated more than just good wages. Never allow the low wages to be the block for a competitor to steal away your best employee.
6. Job Security
As everybody doesn’t have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, many people prefer to be part of a large organization. They can be more productive when focusing on doing their job instead of worrying about developing a business plan or marketing strategy. Telling your employees that they are lucky to have a job will create an atmosphere of fear and worry that will decrease their job performance. Always tell your employees that the company is lucky to have such a skilled and committed workforce and let them take pride in their work and their company.
7. Good Working Conditions
If you want to get the most out of your employees, then you need to create an environment that facilitates success. Optimally, you must offer a safe, clean, and sanitary work site. To get the most out of employees, aid them to take pride in their workspace, even if it is only a cubicle or workstation. Allow them to personalize their own worksites with photos so they will feel like they have a place that belongs solely to them.
8. Increased Responsibility
We all know that some employees lack ambition and have no desire to advance on the job. However, a vast majority of employees want a chance to take on more responsibility and add more value to the organization. Always be aware of opportunities for training which will equip your employees with the skills and tools required to advance in their career. Always try to fill open positions with internal applicants before looking for an outside candidate. This will create a culture of career development and preserve the institutional memory and organizational knowledge such that it can be transferred to rising employees as they advance in their own career.
9. Being Part of a Team
Being part of a dysfunctional team can be an emotionally draining experience which will result in low morale, low productivity and high turnover. Individual commitment to a group is what makes a teamwork! We are all social beings and we all want to be part of a healthy team where we can give and receive support, help and encouragement. Organizations can harness this natural human desire by aligning employee efforts to achieve goals which are mutually beneficial to both the organization and its employees.
10. Help with Personal Problems
If you are one of that bad boss who told their employees to leave their problems at the door so they could focus on their job, then know that your employees probably left their motivation and productivity at the door as well. Smart managers know that it is not their job to be a counselor or a therapist, but it is their job to recognize when one of their employees is having personal problems which are affecting their job performance. Therefore, it is necessary to have open lines of honest communication so that your employees can feel encouraged to ask for help and they can be directed to their Human Resources Department or Employee Assistance Programs.