An employee is the most valuable asset to any organization. They are the building blocks of any organisation. Putting in long hours of work daily, slogging continuously for the benefit of the organization, being an employee is no easy job. Making work as their priority for the majority of their times, an employee is an invaluable addition to the firm. So, just as the employee takes cares of its organization, it is the duty of the organisation to take care of its employee base as well. Just like any machine needs its regular oiling to continue working efficiently, same goes for the workforce. Regular appreciation, support and motivation are all it takes to get them going.
All good companies make it a point to keep motivating their employees regularly so that they do not find their daily work as mundane. To keep the excitement alive, celebrate great team rapport and to retain the top talent in the organization, motivating the employees is the best way to do it. Listed below are some of the ways how various companies keep their workforce motivated. Check them out!
Also Read: 50 Best Motivational Quotes for Employees and Workplace
11 Methods of Motivating Employees in an Organisation
1. A Friendly Work Environment
As it is known that majority part of any employee’s day is spent in the office, so creating a friendly, good working atmosphere work wonders when it comes to motivating people. Employees will feel more at ease with friendly, approachable people, will strive to work even harder and will love coming back to the office every day with the same zeal as the first day. Creating a friendly work environment, not only gives the motivation but also creates a happy space in the minds of the employees.
2. Friendly Competition
A little friendly competition can bring out the best among the people involved. It just helps to create a productive environment. It will encourage employees to take part in healthy competition, bring out the best in each other and have great camaraderie. Every workplace comes alive with a little positive competition and it is a great way of motivating the workforce too. Do not pit your employees against each other as this may have some pretty dire consequences.
3. Encourage Creativity and Open Doors for New Ideas
Don’t be that dull, boring workplace, where employees clock in 8 hours of their lives every day doing the same 9-5 job, just to get the salary in their bank accounts. Be the place of flourishing where every employee is entitled to have their own opinion, express their creativity, where this creativity is not only appreciated but also valued, and there will be a remarkable difference in the attitude of the employees.
4. Fun Time
Don’t let your employees be bored. It is very easy in the current scenario to get stressed out, feel out of place, getting distracted due to the voluminous amount of work. To relax your employees, have a fun Friday, happy hour games session every week just to help your employees to take their load off and help them de-stress. An hour-long fun session will help the employees get their wheels back on the track and give in their 100 per cent again.
5. Be Appreciative
Appreciating anyone for all the hard work they have put in, has got to be the best way to motivate an individual. Not just appreciating via an email, some social recognition, employee of the month award, some incentives, giving them gifts and various other kinds of rewards, works as a great motivator.
6. Know Your Employees Better
Each employee in an organization is different. Some are extrovert, some are introvert, everyone has varied abilities. So, one of the most important jobs of the team lead/manager should be to get to know each of the employees at a personal level, find out things that tick them off and try to make a better working place for all of them. A great way to be a leader worth following!
7. Give Your Employees Certain Autonomy
Give all the employees a certain degree of autonomy to work the day they ant to. Every personality is different, working style cannot be enforced upon anyone. So, just provide the team with the necessary guidelines and leave them be. This will prove as a great way of establishing leadership qualities among the members and would be a great motivator for all.
8. Express Gratitude
Being thankful to the team for putting the amount of hard work that they do, is something that makes any manager a great team leader. Taking your team out for lunches, some personalized hand-written notes are something that goes a long way in making the team motivated. It releases positive thoughts in the brain, gives the employees the belief that their hard work is not being neglected and motivates the employees to strive harder.
9. Practice Transparency
No one likes a workplace that does not offer the room to grow, where biasedness is prevalent, hard work is not appreciated and something goes behind the closed doors. Make the system much more transparent, value your employees’ feedback, make them more invested in the decision-making levels and this will elicit a positive response from the team.
10. Value Work-life Balance
Don’t burden your employees with the extra workload. Encourage them to take time off if they are not feeling productive. Don’t keep on chanting the slogan if work comes first. Recognise each employee as an individual and not just money printing machines and let them enjoy their lives too.
11. Be the Person You Would Want to Work for
Lastly, a great, understanding leader is someone for whom anyone would love to work for. Make the workplace an enjoyable one, have a good relationship with your employees and be appreciative of the hard work they put in, all these will lead you to be a great boss and will motivate your employees to do their best.
A motivating workplace is somewhere, everyone would love to invest their time in. When the brain feels relaxed, everything seems extra fun. A motivated employee can do wonders for your organization, put in 200 per cent of their energies and give a fruitful result. Looking after your employee so that the employee looks after the organisation is a great way to set correct things in motion. Create a happy workplace for the workforce and it is bound to reach to bring great laurels to the organization.