Best Ways to Motivate Your Employees

Finding ways to motivate your employees can be crucial for the survival of your business. Studies have shown that properly structured incentive programs can increase employee performance by as much as 44%. However, while the possible gains you can get from motivating your employees are apparent, finding and implementing the adequate ways to do it can be quiet tricky. 

While most employers choose to go with traditional means of motivation such as promoting their employees or giving them a raise, there are in fact methods that can be both far more rewarding and less demanding on your budget. With that in mind, today we are going to take a look at some of the best ways to motivate your employees and keep them satisfied. 

Build a positive team spirit

One of the main goals of any employee incentive program should be to make your employees feel valued and appreciated, and there is no better way to achieve this than building and nourishing a positive team spirit. While incentivizing your employees to work and engage with others will have many positive effects on its own, using it as a tool for motivation will also have far-reaching effects on their motivation. When your employees start building meaningful bonds with each other, they are also going to be making a deeper connection with your business as a whole, becoming more personally invested in seeing it succeed and even identifying with its successes. There are many ways you can foster a positive team spirit while motivating your employees at the same time. For example, you can take your whole team out for lunch to reward them for a good job, or you can do something more symbolic like rewarding them with symbolic team rewards to place in your office and remind them of a job well done.

Focus on the little things

People often overlook the value of small things when thinking about motivating their employees and instead think that the only way to do it is through luxury gifts and bonuses. This is a big mistake as the costs you will face will be a lot bigger than the gains you receive through this type of motivation. Instead, it’s good to remember the small benefits that you can provide your employees with,  that will really show them you care about them and motivate them to work as hard as they can. For example, making their life easier by implementing employee income cards,which can allow them to have faster access to their money and eliminate extra costs associated with traditional methods of payment. Or alternatively, focusing on things such as making your office as pleasant to work in as possible, or providing them with benefits such as dedicated parking spots, or even letting them go home early when they have plans. All of these things provide them with small perks that make their everyday lives a bit less stressful, which will in turn function as a much more efficient form of motivation.

Build relationships with individual employees

While focusing on the big picture, whether it’s through team spirit or small benefits for everyone, is certainly a good way to motivate your employees, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, not everyone has the same needs, drives and overall things that motivate them. Because of this, building relationships with individual employees will allow you to get to know them better, understand how they operate and exactly what it is that drives them forwards. This will give you a chance to tailor your incentives according to their personal preferences, whether it’s by choosing the right reward to give them after successfully completing a task, or knowing what to say when they need a bit of encouragement. 

Building relationships and generally talking and listening to your employees is also great because you give them the opportunity to voice their concerns and make them feel heard, which will additionally contribute to their sense of worth and motivate them. However, an even more powerful motivator you can give them is feedback. By giving them constructive feedback and telling them where they need to improve, but also what they are doing well, you will allow them to form a solid understanding of just how they are performing and a chance to fix their errors. You will also make them feel good about their accomplishments.

Conclusion

Finally, it’s important to remember that there are many techniques and methods you can use in order to try and motivate your employees, and the ones listed here are but a few. With that being said, the ones listed here can have many added benefits that go along with them. These make your business more attractive to employees overall, but also more productive and efficient, giving you the best value for the least amount of money.