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Proven Methods of Employee Motivation: Guide for Success

Performance Management
December 8, 2021
Rad time: 10min
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You’ve hired a talented and skilled team, but you want to make sure they’ll stick around while giving their best to the company. While you know about employee motivation, you’re unsure what methods are effective. We’re going to show you the proven methods of employee motivation.

Why is Employee Motivation Important?

As a business owner, manager or supervisor, you know very well the importance of having highly motivated staff. Plenty of research shows that motivated employees are very beneficial to companies as they’re more productive, develop innovative solutions to problems, are interested in deepening their skills and knowledge and have better attendance. 

The benefits of motivation are endless and have the capabilities to take your company to the next level. But do you know effective motivation methods? Now that’s something we’re going to talk about now. 

What are the Best Ways to Motivate Employees?

Luckily, workplace research has come a long way and can provide us with the methods of employee motivation that are effective in providing results. If you want your employees to go the extra mile, here are some factors to consider when developing your employee motivation strategy.

1. Make Your Workplace Friendly, Enjoyable and Inspiring

No one, including yourself, wants to spend their working days in an environment that’s dull. One of the effective methods of employee motivation is creating an inspiring space to work in. 

While you don’t need to make your workplace a circus, having an aesthetically pleasing and well-functioning office can make a huge difference in the atmosphere. Consider switching up your outdated equipment with progressive and sleek tools. If you have a small budget, adding some minor touches like art or plants - they can go a long way.

2. Be A Respectful and Supportive Manager

Stop for a moment and think to yourself, am I a supportive manager? While you may think you are, your staff turn-over and absenteeism stats may show otherwise. 

Naturally, respect, transparency, and communication act as the foundation for good management, but there’s more to it. How can you be a good manager if you don’t know the needs of your employees?

If you want a happy team driving your company forward, you need to know their wellbeing and needs are met. Employee wellbeing platforms provide staff support by identifying mental health issues and giving them tools to proactively manage and overcome issues that cause fear, anxiety, stress, and frustration. 

With these tools HR can monitor employee and team mood and understand how their workforce is feeling in real-time. This allows management to understand issues within their team or company structure and make the necessary adjustments to create an environment that increases employee wellbeing, improves productivity and reduces the costs of absenteeism.

3. Offer Rewards & Incentivise

Your staff needs an incentive to continue working in your company. So, how can you decrease staff turn-over and keep your team motivated? 

It’s time you considered implementing an incentive program if you haven’t already. Whether it’s providing a quarterly bonus, wellbeing programs, or private healthcare, incentives show staff members that their skills and talents aren’t going unnoticed. 

This is one of the proven methods of employee motivation as it’s psychology - people love being rewarded for a job well done.

4. Give Employees Space to Grow & Career Path

Creating an opportunity for your employees to grow is one of the major methods of employee motivation. However, it's essential to remember growth can happen in different forms. While typically, when we refer to growth, we mean moving up the ladder to management, but not everyone wants that. 

That said, offer growth in different forms. For example, provide the opportunity for your employees to deepen their knowledge and skills if they wish to stay in their position.

5. Give and Share Positive Feedback

Feeling fulfilled at the workplace includes various factors, one of them being feedback. If you’re wondering how does a leader motivate their team, it’s by providing frequent feedback to their employees. 

By doing so, management can give credit to their staff where it's deserved and provide constructive criticism to improve their skills. In addition, these regular feedback sessions allow you to deepen your understanding of your employees and provide support or guidance where it’s needed.

6. Transparency & Trust

Employee motivation extends beyond providing incentives and feedback. Your employees want to feel a part of the company. Therefore, it’s important you keep them up-to-date and are transparent with them. Give them the chance to ask questions and provide feedback for management. 

When employees feel included in big decisions, they’re more driven to achieve company targets and goals. Why? Because they don’t feel like an employee, they feel a part of something bigger.

7. Be Flexible

As you know, technology has changed the way companies work, and this includes employees. One of the major methods of employee motivation is flexibility. If an employee can finish projects from home or have flexible hours, they have more control over their work-life balance. 

In a Forbes study, 46% of participants stated that flexibility is the most important factor when job searching. By providing flexibility, you improve your employee’s mental health and wellbeing, thus, increasing employee motivation. 

8. Offer Food

No one likes to work when their stomach is growling. While it may seem silly, providing snacks or food-based perks works amazingly to motivate employees. One study found that 57% of employees feel more valued and appreciated if offered food-based perks. 

In addition, 44% said they would be less interested in accepting a job offer from another company if provided food-based perks. Through the power of food, you have the opportunity to not only reduce staff turnover but increase employee motivation. 

9. Recognise Achievements

Sometimes, it’s the small things that make an employee feel valued and appreciated. More often than not, employees want to feel that their efforts aren’t going unseen. One of the major methods of employee motivation is recognising achievements. 

Employees who have their achievements recognised enjoy working as they feel their time is being properly invested. Recognition could be a simple email or acknowledgment during a staff meeting.

10. Ask Employees What They Want

As management, you’ve probably thought of ways to motivate your employees, but did you actually sit down and ask them directly? A head-on approach can create constructive conversation to help you understand their needs. That said, not all employees will feel comfortable being open and honest about what they want. 

Luckily, employee wellbeing platforms anonymously gather data in real-time to help identify issues early and provide the right support to the right team. By doing so, employees gain self-awareness and take proactive steps towards their own mental health, and management learns how to provide the right support to their teams. 

With this knowledge, management can fix foundational problems to achieve a positive workplace environment and increase employee motivation.

By Leon from Unsplash

11. Give Employees Purpose and Meaningful Goals

Everyone needs to feel that they have a purpose in life, and this is no different when it comes to the workplace. Effective motivation starts when employees understand their role and how they’re contributing to the company's success. 

Thus, it’s important you openly communicate the company’s goals and values with your team and help them see how their individual goals connect to the bigger picture. In addition, providing constructive guidance will help foster a positive and safe work environment.

12. Open Door Policy and Open Communication

It’s simple: speak to your team the way you want to be spoken to. Your team should feel comfortable coming to you for whatever they need, whether it’s a question or constructive feedback. 

If your team is relaxed speaking with you, they feel their voice and position in the company matters. Encourage an open-door policy for your team and lead by example with open communication - your team learns from you

13. Work Life Balance

Happier people are more productive, stated by the Social Market Foundation and the University of Warwick’s Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy. And they’re not wrong. Some companies suck everything they can out of their employees; however, that backfires in the long run. 

As management, respect your employee’s life outside of the office and encourage them to create their work-life balance as overworking reduces overall happiness and productivity. 

Employee wellbeing platforms can help your team identify stresses in their life and provide them with reactive support to help them gain awareness of their wellbeing and mental health.

14. Offer Wellness Programs and Training

Your team’s mental health should be your main focus as management because wellbeing and productivity go hand-in-hand. One of the major methods of employee motivation is by investing in their overall wellbeing.

An employee wellbeing platform is an amazing tool that identifies foundational issues within the company as well as individual stressors that affect employee mental health.

After identifying the problems, employee wellbeing platforms provide tools and techniques for both the company and employee to use, thus increasing productivity and reducing staff turnover and absenteeism.

Wrap Up

Mindful leadership isn’t going to happen overnight; it’s a long-term process. However, with the right mindset and supportive wellbeing tools, you’ll be able to grow into a mindful leader and make a positive impact in your workplace and overall company’s success.

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