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Employee Motivation is Essential

Nov 1, 2021

how to keep your employees happy and motivated

What is Employee Motivation?

Employee motivation is the level of commitment, energy and innovation that a company’s staff hold during the working day. It is a key aspect for the organization’s growth and success.

Why is Employee Motivation Important?

Without it, companies will experience reduced productivity, lower levels of output which will result in the company not reaching their important goals.

Due to lack of motivation, employees stay unfocused and also do not put in their all toward the work assigned to them. This results in a waste of resources for the company and also could affect the energetic employees and then eventually, the goals will not be met.

From experiencing boredom to getting frustrated with office politics, job dissatisfaction can take many forms. It is important to make the job interesting for employees. In the case of jobs that are routine by nature, consider task rotation so that a single employee does not get stuck with the mechanical nature of the job day after day.

Since you pay a high price to train the employee, therefore, it is important to retain that employee. If not, all the efforts input to the employee will be a waste.

What are the Benefits of Employee Motivation?

Higher productivity levels – When employees are motivated, they maximize their effort toward the output of the task. This results in more quality work, customer satisfaction and more sales for the company.
More innovation – Motivated employees make an effort to improve the product and enhance the product.
Lower levels of absenteeism – Motivated employees less likely to miss work unless they have any unavoidable circumstances.
Great reputation and stronger recruitment – Motivated individuals spread the word and in turn, give the company a good reputation as an employer. As a result, it becomes easier to recruit the leading talent.

How to Improve Employee Motivation?

Lead with a vision – Make sure the vision for the company is clear so that all the employees will know that their efforts are driving towards the destination.
Motivation begins at the senior-level – Actions must begin with the senior-level employees at the company.
- Be approachable, be there for your employees when they need you the most and be willing to listen to them.
- Get to know your employees’ expectations and grievances. Make sure to give them fair responses to their grievances.
- Believe in your employees’ talent.
- Show the confidence that you have in each one of them.
Make sure everyone understands the ‘why’ – Communicate the ‘why’ of each task so that even though your employees know what needs to be done, they will understand the ultimate company mission. If everyone knows how their individual actions can personally add to the overall goal of the company, it brings much-needed motivation to even the simplest task.
Set frequent clear targets – Break your big targets into small attainable tasks so that the employees would feel less overwhelmed. Smaller goals are the key to motivation cause then the employees would more frequently achieve those targets and their satisfaction increases which will motivate them to work on the next set of goals.
- - - Avoid micro-managing the individual and let them know the expected results.
    - Be there to guide them when they need you. Stay away for the rest of the time as far as possible.
Recognize great work – Leaders need to see and appreciate all the efforts put in by their employees. These recognitions self-esteems, enthusiasts, motivates them to do even better the next time and boosts morale.
- We all need to celebrate the people who bring the company values to life.
- Achievements need not be limited to productivity and target completion alone.
- A good referral, low absenteeism and a never-dying positivity that cheers up the entire office are activities and qualities that deserve more than a pat on the shoulder or a “Job Well-Done” rendition.
- Rewards do not have to be expensive. A day-off, a lunch reservation at the employee’s favorite restaurant, a note of thanks on the employee’s desk, an email citation, or declaring the employee as the best for the month, are effective.
- Recognize and reward employees in front of the team for added effect.
- Provide valuable career growth opportunities to your deserving employees.
- A much-deserving promotion to a new role communicates to your employees that their work is showing impact and that you respect their work.
Give your team autonomy – Allowing for some elements of freedom in the workplace, whether that’s flexible working hours or unlimited time off, demonstrates trust from leaders to employees. This adds motivation, as the satisfaction of a job well done comes with the feeling that they were in control and did it on their terms.
Create a welcoming work environment – As motivation and mood go hand in hand, a poor mood can affect the ability to concentrate and will lower the feeling of energy to stay in that workplace.
- If workplaces create a friendly culture, with areas for rest and play, employees will look forward to coming into work.
- It should also be well-maintained and welcoming. All office-appliances including computers, headsets, A/C should be considered. When buying furniture, involve your employees and get in their ideas in the designing aspects.
- But today, due to the work from home situation, as we do not meet our colleagues face-to-face, think of ways where you can get the team involved. For example, maybe get on a call and play a game together like during a stressful time maybe. Take a video call and check on how the others are doing and their weekend plans (a bit of good gossip could be added).
Offer impressive benefits – Make everyone feel that they are working in the best place they can be.
- Push your employees out of their comfort zones so that they realize their own potential.
- Bring talented employees on board for challenging projects.
- Provide periodic training and promote deserving employees to higher positions are all signs of a positive workplace that rewards true talent.
- Offer employee benefits and perks, benefits aiming to make your people’s lives better both in and outside of work, helps to boost the mood and sense of loyalty to the company.
Creating a supportive work environment – Respect and honesty are the keys. Create a work culture, where the employees are able to admit their mistakes without being afraid of the benefits which will be removed gradually. Because at the end of the day, everyone learns only by making mistakes.
Encourage teamwork – Collaboration between teams in the company allows ideas to be developed further. Working with those with different skill sets will, in turn, create more innovative results. In teams, anyone experiencing a lack of motivation should be boosted by those around them. Employees learn to trust and lean on each other and especially be there for one another. Teamwork fosters wisdom, loyalty, individualism, a sense of belongingness and a healthy competitive spirit. Employees learn to look at the bigger picture instead of focusing selfishly on smaller benefits for which they can take credit.
Create a career path – Ask employees what they want from their career and layout what they need to do to get there. Have growth conversations with team members to design a career path, this will help to create the drive to reach the next stage and feel that they have a long and productive journey ahead within the company.

Measure and Maintain Employee Motivation

The only genuine way to measure this is to know how employees are really feeling. Talk to them and get to know them better. Casual talks would be helpful too. Short, frequent surveys would help rather than annual surveys or face-to-face interviews where the employee would adapt to live with the problems by the time the results are sent for feedback or they might not feel comfortable enough to say it out loud. Find out what is holding your employee back and swiftly implement a solution. Later, check on them to see if anything has been changed/improved. If there is a change, you will definitely see it from their facial expressions. Showing that you care, listen and act upon the things that really matter to them, will maintain motivation.