Motivating employees has always been a challenging issue. On the one hand, we can say that it’s not possible to motivate employees at all - people typically do what they want to do; they are motivated for their own reasons, not for your reasons. On the other hand, research has shown that there is a strong relationship between happy employees and productivity. So how do you ensure that your employees are happy and motivated? One thing you can do is create an environment that motivates workers. Here are 33 suggestions for you to motivate your employees.
- Ask employees their opinion; treat them as a valued asset.
- Keep the work environment clean and safe. Bright, tidy and organized beats dirty, dingy and chaotic any day of the week.
- Be friendly. Smile. Say hello to people every day.
- Have a reward and recognition program in place. Formal and information recognition. Click here to read our interview with the Charlotte Business Journal for some ideas.
- Offer flexible work arrangements - flex time, job sharing, telecommuting or part-time schedules.
- Encourage individual growth and development.
- Provide resources (tuition reimbursement, on-site training programs) for growth and development.
- Be a positive communicator. No one likes to be around whining, negative people.
- Encourage innovating thinking. At Google, employees are encouraged to work on their own projects.
- Share information and strategic plans with the workforce, in writing, via email and in person. The more communication, the better.
- Provide up to date equipment and tools.
- Support good causes. Give to the community. Become a company that employees are proud to work for.
- Have fair and consistent policies and procedures.
- Value diversity - diverse cultures, diverse people and diverse thinking.
- Hire ethical leaders.
- Provide employees with consistent, timely feedback.
- Set stretch goals for your employees.
- Provide perks to your employees, such as dry cleaning on site, subsidized lunch, corporate credit card, gyms, adoption assistance, back up child care services and anything else that might work for your diverse work environment.
- Learn everyone’s name.
- Manage conflict in a timely manner. Don’t allow people to hold grudges.
- Create a team atmosphere.
- Provide a mentoring program.
- Be polite, say please and thank you. Hold the door open for others.
- Provide sincere compliments to others.
- Put a succession plan in place. Develop leaders and promote from within.
- Practice daily process improvement. If a process is not working, fix it.
- Model effective communication.
- Get rid of problem employees in a timely manner. Just do it! Follow the corrective action process and terminate the employee.
- Hire talented, enthusiastic people.
- Have fun! Provide company picnics, white water rafting trips, holiday parties, movie days and other events for your employees.
- Use self deprecating humor. Managers who are humble enough to make fun of themselves relieve stress from employees who are trying to be perfect.
- Don’t micromanage. Allow employees to use innovative methods to reach results.
- Give credit where it’s due. When an employee has come up with a brilliant idea, make sure others know that this staff person is the originator of the idea.
