A Relaxed Workplace: Efficient Ways to Motivate Employees

It’s early Monday morning, and your employees are slowly making their way into the office. Their shoulders are hunched, bags under their eyes are visible, and one thing is clear: no one is motivated to work.

Every manager struggles from time to time to keep employees motivated, but great managers understand that employee motivation is critical to overall success. While there is no single method for ensuring that your employees remain engaged and inspired, there are a few specific and effective techniques that, when implemented, can have significant and long-term effects on workplace motivation and productivity.

That said, here are some well-known methods of motivating employees:

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Set Goals and Recognize Success

It’s human nature for your employees to want a challenge. It’s easy to become unmotivated if they show up every day with the same menial tasks to complete with no end goal. Setting attainable goals for your employees gives them something to work towards and gives you, as a manager, something to measure their performance against.

If employees aren’t meeting targets, it’s time to let them go or improve their performance. When objectives are met, make sure they are celebrated or, at the very least, acknowledged. This does not have to be extravagant; a simple incentive such as a team lunch or an internal email recognizing success will motivate employees to achieve their next objectives.

Provide Specific Training and Goals

Good job performance boosts self-confidence and motivates employees. Providing targeted training to improve job performance benefits both the employee and the company. Set clear, attainable goals and reset them collaboratively once they are met. The potential for job enrichment and advancement raises the level of engagement.

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Show Them You Care

A staff member that is invested in her work will naturally have questions, comments, or concerns. Having an open door policy and creating consistently accessible lines of communication will help your staff feel that their input matters. If having an open-door policy is unrealistic for you, it can be just as impactful to dedicate some time during staff meetings for people to voice or write down their concerns for a group discussion.

Encourage Friendly Competition

A little competition among the employees would not hurt. A competitive environment is a productive environment. Encourage employees to participate in competitions or challenges as it is healthy and may actually lead to increased camaraderie.

Friendly competition amongst teams helps with employee engagement and employee participation.

Set Smaller Weekly Goals

You want lofty goals, but you also want to set smaller goals along the way to keep people engaged. Rather than making a billion dollars this year, focus on acquiring 100 new customers this week—something that will get you there. The team should then be rewarded for meeting the goal with an afternoon off, a party, etc. They will see that your objectives are reasonable and that hard work benefits everyone.

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Pay Them Well

To retain your top employees, you must pay them a competitive salary. In some organizations, this may be easier said than done, but make sure you’re not skimping on pay. Give them a raise if their performance warrants it; this will show them they are valued and appreciated. Consider performance-based bonuses for individual employees or teams if you can’t afford competitive salaries or raises.