When your employees are motivated, everyone wins. Not only does motivation help increase productivity and efficiency, but it creates an all-around stronger workplace culture, which can greatly increase employee retention and decrease turnover. Here are 5 solid ways to increase employee motivation (that don’t include money).
Trust Them
When you micromanage your employees, you can expect a few things to happen. 1: They won’t build confidence in themselves. 2: They’ll stop putting forth any real effort.
Trust your employees. Let them know that you’re counting on them, and that you have full confidence that they can get the job done. Let them own their successes, and reward them for it.
Listen to Them
As the leader, you may feel like you know what’s best. But when you write off an employee’s opinion, it can damage their self-esteem and make them feel undervalued. This is a fast track to demotivation.
Listen carefully to your employees—especially when they have an idea for job improvement. Let them implement their own ideas from time to time. And even if you disagree, have a conversation about why, but encourage them to keep thinking ahead.
Take an Interest in Their Future
Millennials officially make up the largest share of the workforce, and 91% of them stay at a job for less than 3 years. However, this isn’t because they’re lazy or don’t want to work—it’s because they’re ambitious.
Studies show that most Millennials job hop to advance their career rather than work their way up in one company. And while this may benefit the individual worker, it can cause some serious turnover issues for employers.
If you want to motivate an employee to do a better job AND increase retention, take a real interest in their future. Show them there’s a ladder to climb, and lay out the steps they need to take to reach that goal. If they know that have a real future at your company, then they’ll likely stick around.
Let Them Know They Matter
Employees that feel like interchangeable parts of a machine will never give you 100%. You need to let your employees know that they truly matter to the company, and let them share in the success. Doing this gives employees a sense of ownership over their work, and it will motivate them to do the best job possible.
Prioritize Work-Life Balance
Work life balance is a big deal. Coaches and consultants can contest to that. In fact, over 3/4 of business coaches report getting into personal territory at some point when working with a business.
Bottom line: your employees have a life outside of work just like you, and it’s important to respect that. Where you can, offer as much flexibility as you can. Promote the idea that family is always first. Don’t ask them to work overtime unless it’s absolutely necessary, give them ample sick leave, and don’t ever make them feel guilty for taking personal time off.
