Employee engagement matters. Companies with motivated and engaged employees are 21% more productive than businesses that lack this environment. Far from being a buzzword, the entire team will perform better if your managers can help motivate employees.
Now for the bad news. Most employees lack motivation. Globally, the volume of engaged workers stands at just 15%. How can you change these numbers? The answer is to get 2023 on the right track by learning to motivate your employees. Here’s how to do it.
Employee Motivation in Three Steps
Set employee goals
There is nothing as bad as setting goals for the employee and not with the employee. You can’t expect employees to be productive if they don’t have goals to hit. You also can’t expect to achieve true employee motivation if you arbitrarily set goals in which the employee has no say. Every employee should work with their supervisor to set quarterly and annual goals. The goals should be measurable and attainable. You should also tie the goals to the overall mission of the organization.
Each goal should be discussed and revised at the end of the quarter. Employees should also have clear rewards tied to their goals. If you do this one thing with your employees, it will improve employee morale and motivation.
Give employees what they want—flexibility and work/life balance.
Forbes reports that 63% of employees say job flexibility aids their motivation and empowerment. Schedule flexibility ranks almost as high as traditional benefits when it comes to promoting motivation at work. Most workers also say they prefer work/life balance more than higher wages.
Employees have reprioritized what’s important to them since the pandemic hit. Employers that offer work/life balance are more likely to land new employees over companies that don’t offer this perk. Business Insider says, “It’s becoming increasingly clear that flexibility may be the greatest incentive of all.”
In addition to motivating workers, having flexibility at work increases their productivity. When employees work overtime, studies show their productivity declines. Flexibility and better work/life balance gives employees more control of their schedules and motivate them to do their best work.
Don’t micromanage and promote creativity.
Micromanagers may be the biggest detriment to a company trying to motivate its workforce. This negative form of overcontrol is often the norm in toxic work environments. Employees can’t make their own decisions and don’t feel like their work will ever be good enough. Over time, they’ll lose confidence in their work, further demotivating themselves and decreasing productivity.
Instead, foster creativity and autonomy in your workers. Offer them new projects and allow them the latitude to succeed or even the support to eventually fail. This creates trust between manager and worker and builds better teams.
Ready to Motivate Your Employees?
FoxHire knows a lot about what motivates workers. We are a technology-fueled employer of record (EOR) offering our clients an outsourcing option for HR hiring. Click here to find out more about how we can help your business.
