Being a boss is hard. Managing a group of people who all have different wills and desires and putting them towards achieving a particular goal is exactly as hard as it sounds.
It gets even harder when despite how often you do your best, they still somehow lack morale. This is not on you, or the system, or on them for that matter. It just happens to be the way things are. Working day in and day out every day has a way of taking its toll on a person.
A motivated workforce produces a highly productive staff, all of which will help you achieve your business goals. And this should be the main objective of every organization and business plan.
So as a boss, whenever you discover that productivity is low because your employees have lost morale, you should swing into action and try to boost their morale and willingness to work and deliver.
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Things Employees Find Almost As Motivating As Money
Reward
Yes, despite being paid monthly salary employees also want to be rewarded. This is not as outrageous as you might think. Don’t think of this as vain or insane, people just like knowing that the hard work they put in does not go unnoticed.
Awarding such titles as Employee Of The Month is a guaranteed way to light the fire under an employee. Other titles or awards that appeal to people include, “Most Punctual Employee”, this will definitely inspire more employees to come early. While this may not appeal to all of them, it will appeal to the majority.
Different little rewards like this are sure ways to get moral back because everyone wants to feel noticed and appreciated. You can add monetary value to the award as well if you really want to get things going.
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Acknowledgement & Appreciation
As mentioned earlier, all the employees want is to feel noticed and appreciated. Once they know that management is noticing what they do, they have no choice but to sit up. And once they are appreciated for the work they do, they sit up even further.
Yes, you are paying them for the work they do and that should be ‘enough’. But thanks to human nature, it isn’t; and this is not necessarily a bad thing. Find different creative ways to let your employees know that you appreciate them every now and again; this goes a long way.
Autonomy
It is important to note that no one is recommending a ‘hands off’ approach. However, a little autonomy goes a lot further with your employees than micromanagement. They like to know that you trust them. Knowing that you trust them to carry out their ideas and to get things done is a definite way to increase productivity. Not having to run every idea by you before it gets executed enables them to get things done faster.
If you don’t like how things turn out regarding the execution of a project, you can use your veto power to correct it but in a short time, you’ll find them thinking of multiple ways to make the business better…especially if there is an Employee Of The Month title waiting for them at month’s end.
So allow your employees feel free to voice their opinions and ideas where and when necessary, without fear of being ignored or pulled back on. Welcome feedback from your team wherever possible, and instil in them the feeling that their views matter to you and the business.
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Note that by nurturing your best and brightest employees and giving them the skills they require to further their careers, your organisation would have succeeded in keeping the smiles on their faces and at the same time prevented a talent drain that could hurt them immeasurably in years to come.
There goes the list of 3 things employees find almost as motivating as money. Implement them today in your organisation to reap the benefits of an improved working working atmosphere and maximum productivity for them.