Maintaining high levels of employee motivation is crucial for any organisation, driving both performance and productivity. Motivated employees contribute to the overall success of an organisation, through enhanced workplace morale, employee retention and achieving business goals.
While a motivated workforce is key to ensure a business’s performance thrives, recent research shows that organisations still have lots of room for improvement, with over 70% of workers wanting their organisations to do more to motivate them[1]. This gap highlights the need for companies to reassess and enhance their approaches to keep their teams inspired and engaged.
To help boost employee motivation, here are some top tips for employers*
- Know your team
As a team leader or manager, motivating employees is a primary duty and a core aspect of leadership. It involves understanding your employees and ensuring the correct strategies are implemented to help them thrive.
To understand what will work best for your team and keep them engaged and motivated, the first step is to find out who your employees are as individuals. Every person brings a unique set of skills, experiences, and qualities to the table and by recognising these differences, it allows you to tailor your approach to each team member, rather than applying a one-size-fits all strategy. This will result in better overall employee performance as well as ensuring every employee feels valued and heard.
- Develop an action plan with clear achievable goals
Employee motivation can increase when an individual has clear goals and targets to work towards. By working together and creating a progression plan, you can address any areas of underperformance and ensure that all employees are aware of what is expected of them within their role. An employee development plan should contain achievable and measurable short-term objectives that individuals can strive towards, and helps employees feel supported in their career progression.
- Provide upskilling opportunities
Once an employee development plan has been put in place, it will be easier for employers to recognise each individual’s areas of development, and often, many of these improvement areas comes from a lack of skill development. Employers should look to support team and implement upskilling and training opportunities so they can develop the skills to perform better, and ultimately drive motivation within the workforce.
A great way an organisation can do this is by implementing a mentoring program. Now more than ever, mentoring is becoming a key element in the lives of individuals, with 79% of millennials viewing it as a crucial aspect of having a successful career[2].
It’s an incredibly versatile tool for organisations as well as the employee, providing many benefits such as improved workplace culture, improved teamwork and communication skills, reduced training costs and increased job satisfaction. In fact, 94% of employees stated they would stay at a company for longer if they were offered opportunities to develop and grow within the company and their careers[3].
- Schedule regular check-ins
Scheduling regular check-ins with your team is a great way to maintain open communication, track progress and foster a supportive work environment. Whether its weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, providing this dedicated time for managers and employees to discuss ongoing projects can ensure everyone is clear on their expectations and it creates an opportunity for giving and receiving feedback and recognising achievements. This consistent interaction will help employees feel valued and heard, which in turn will increase their motivation.
- Promote physical and mental wellbeing
Promoting good physical and mental wellbeing are both equally important for the overall motivation and productivity of an employee. It shows that an organisation cares about the health of its employees.
When an individual feels like their employer cares about their physical and mental wellbeing, they will feel more engaged as well as motivated to perform to the best of their ability. Some great ways to promote physical and mental wellbeing are allowing flexible working, providing opportunities for a healthy work-life balance, regular company performance feedback and surveys, and perks such as access to health and wellbeing apps or services.
*Guide provided by Pushfar
PushFar’s guide to employee motivation
