February 8, 2024

9 Practical Ways to Motivate Your Employees

You live, breathe, and believe in your business. Your determination and inner fire are your motivation. It’s the fuel that pushes you to give your best every day.

However, the same can’t be said about your employees. Employees simply are not driven by the same things you are. A Gallup poll shows that only 15% of employees worldwide are engaged and motivated in the workplace.

But that does not mean that they can’t do good work. Fundamentally, employees’ priorities are different from yours. By understanding what drives them, you too can motivate and empower your people to do their best and put effort into their work.

Here are nine practical ways that you can use to motivate your employees.

Create a Pleasant Work Environment

Never underestimate the power of a clean, airy, fun workspace. No one wants to show up to a dingy, untidy office every weekday. A soul-sucking space like that will also quickly suck out the life out of your employees.

So, keep things clean, tidy, and well-lit with plenty of natural light from open windows. You can also pick up decorative items on the cheap from charity stores or dollar shops. These little touches can make the workplace just that little bit more cheerful, increasing the motivation of your staff.

Show Your Employees a Purpose

Sometimes, employees can feel like they’re only working so the business can make more money. It’s not a great feeling and can lead to employee turnover.

But when you link employees’ work to a greater purpose, they are able to give their best. For example, you can show how your products have benefited your clients. Or how the company’s work connects to a social purpose like sustainability. An employee is better able to see how they fit into the big picture by understanding both their purpose and the company mission.

Tailor Incentives to Employees’ Needs

You can always buy your way to motivation by increasing salaries. But that represents a poor return on investment. Not everyone is motivated by money.

Each employee needs different incentives – whether its vacation time, hybrid working, career advancement etc. When you can figure out what these incentives are, giving it (rather than a simple pay raise) can work wonders.

Provide Career Opportunities

Giving your employees room to grow is one of the most powerful motivators out there. Knowing that they are trusted and respected for their work will enable them to do their best work.

When you give your employees growth opportunities, they stop thinking that their job is ‘just another job’. It becomes a career and a way of life.

When you know that your work has made a positive difference, it gives even more motivation to carry on. For example, when a customer leaves a great review, share it with the team so they draw satisfaction from what they do. Positive feedback makes employees feel fulfilled and motivated.

Even for non-customer facing teams, positive feedback helps as well. Comments from the company’s leadership makes it known that their work is appreciated, and gives them a deeper connection to the business.

Be Transparent

Having knowledge of how the company is doing makes your employees more emotionally invested in the business. Make it a point to regularly communicate this information with them.

You can share information about clients, sales figures, company initiatives etc in daily, weekly, or monthly reports. Having access to all of this information not only gives your staff a sense of importance inside the company, but it also identifies opportunities for improvement.

Trust Your Employees

If you let your employees know that you trust and depend on them, they will repay that faith tenfold. Respect, honesty, trust, and support are not just the values that motivate employees – these values are the bedrock of running a great company.

Set a Good Example

The quickest way to deflate motivation is to ‘do as I say, not as I do’. As the business owner and leader, you need to set an example for the team. More often than not, your employees will look up to you, as well as look to you as a paragon of how to behave.

This will have a significant impact on employees’ mentality. Positive thinking is contagious, so if managers lead by example, employees will copy them and the workplace environment will become more inspiring and motivational.

Give Your Team the Best HR Solution

When it comes to motivating your team, HR plays a big role. But if they and the rest of team are bogged down in repetitive minutiae, no one can focus on their work.

With automated time-off management solution of Leave Balance, your team member can manage their time off in a way least impacting the team’s output and help maintain the motivation of the team.

Contact Us today for a free demo