Employee Motivation Made Easy
As an employer, it should be second nature for you to treat your employees with respect and boost their morale when your workplace is going through hard times. It’s your responsibility as a leader to look after your members of staff and spur them on when needed. After all, you are the reason they have a job in the first place but they are also the only reason that your business can survive. The employee and employer bond is a two-way relationship where you both benefit each other, so it’s only natural that you both take measures in order to solidify your professional relationship.
However, motivating employees is a difficult job that needs a lot of practice. After all, every employee is different so you can’t treat them all like sheep and hope that one method will improve everyone’s mood. You have to tailor your speeches and conversations to match the employee themselves, and this takes a lot of getting used to especially if the member of staff you are speaking to is new and you haven’t had the chance to become acquainted.
While a human resources department is great for large businesses, a small business usually doesn’t have the resources to invest in one. As a result, it’s your duty as the business owner to take care of employee relations, and here are a couple of tips to help get you started.
1.Create a Comfortable Workplace
Your employees should look forward to coming into work. After all, they are going to be spending a lot of time in your office and working at their desk, so it should be a priority to look after their wellbeing. There are many basic things to consider such as having a comfortable desk and chair combination, but you also need to worry about their personal space. Unless you plan on having a hot-desking system, you want to assign each employee a generous amount of space so they can customise it and bring in things such as family photos and memorabilia to help them focus and motivate them at work. The more control you give to your employees over their workspace, the more likely they will enjoy working in it.
Make sure that your employees get a lot of natural sunlight through the windows. If your office doesn’t get much exposure to the sun, then install lights around the office that are comfortable and pleasing to the eye instead of using bright fluorescent bulbs. You should also aim to create a casual workplace that doesn’t have too many formalities. This is to ensure your employees feel comfortable in their environment instead of feeling like they are constantly being judged and monitored. Keep in mind that there are many facets to creating a comfortable workplace and these points are just the tip of the iceberg.
2.Understand Their Needs
As mentioned before, every single employee is different, so it’s important to understand each of their needs and get to know their situation. Some of your employees will refuse to take overtime because they need to take care of their children or family members, other members of staff might always take overtime because they need extra money to support themselves, and some of your workers might suffer from illnesses that will prevent them from coming into work on certain days. Make sure you speak to your employees and interact with them on a regular basis whenever they aren’t busy working, and ask them about their situations outside of work so you can accommodate their needs.
However, this trust can easily be abused. If someone is constantly calling in sick without much proof, then you need to put your foot down and get to the bottom of these issues. If you let your employees get away with too time much off work then your business is going to slowly collapse and it will be less efficient. Thankfully, sickness absence policies stop this from happening and when used correctly, can stop employees from abusing your kindness.
3.Give Them Autonomy
This might not work for every office, but it certainly helps for a large majority of workplaces. Your employees don’t want to feel like they are back at school following orders and being told what to do for the majority of the time. Giving your employees some degree of autonomy will allow them to flourish and develop their skills instead of being pigeon-holed into doing what you ask them to do. If you find yourself constantly looking over their shoulder and changing their work for them, then you’re what’s called a micromanager.
Micromanagement can be helpful if you have troublesome employees or members of staff that need a lot of help to finish their work. However, if you are micromanaging every single employee then not only are you wasting your time, you’re not trusting them with your work. You need to believe in your employee’s ability to finish a job, and you need to give them a sense of purpose where they feel like they are actually contributing to your business instead of just following orders. Macromanagement is the opposite and usually involves leaving your employees up to their own devices. While it’s a lot better than micromanagement, it comes with its own problems. The best way to handle your employees is to have a delicate mix of both micro and macromanagement.
4.Give Them a Career, Not a Job
There is a major difference between job and career. A job is something your employees do just to make money to live their life and fund their hobbies. People that think of your workplace as a job aren’t interested in advancement. They don’t care for promotions unless it makes them money and they aren’t going to put in extra work to see your business succeed. These types of people clearly lack motivation—but that can be fixed.
If an employee has been with you for a long time but hasn’t seen any improvements or advancements then they could just be feeling demotivated because they don’t seem to be making progress. It’s important that you plan ahead for your employees and give them a path up the career ladder. No one wants to be working in the same office job for years on end, so if possible give your most loyal and hardworking employees the motivation to succeed by promising them higher positions in your office. You can also think about putting together an employee appreciation strategy if there are no higher positions that will be vacant anytime soon. In short, don’t focus on money as motivation, focus on their future and give them a reason to build a career with you.
5.Build a Team
You need to see your staff as a team instead of individual people. You need to give them a sense of companionship so that they bond as a team instead of being forced to work with each other. You can do this through team-building social events. They don’t have to be expensive outings either. You could simply invite everyone to a bar or for lunch on specific days. Not only do they act as work social events, they also double as meeting areas where you can discuss work-related topics and speak about generally anything.
Settling employee disputes is one of the most important components in creating a team. If some members of staff are constantly at each other’s throats, then you need to intervene and sort out the problem before their petty arguments bring down your business. Once you successfully build up a team of employees, your business will run more smoothly and many of the underlying issues will disappear, paving the way for a successful business and growing motivated employees who will go the extra mile for you.
