9 Strategies To Boost Employee Motivation In The Workplace

Employee motivation plays a significant role in a company’s success. Their commitment to being the best at what they do affects their team productivity and the business’s ability to grow and serve customers. A low level of employee motivation can negatively impact your business processes and ability to convert visitors to customers.

Given its importance, how can business owners boost their employee’s motivation? Fortunately, there are a lot of proven ways to do so. This article aims to provide workable solutions that owners and management heads can integrate into their workplaces.

Get your pen and papers ready, and let’s get right to the article.

Why Is Employee Motivation Important?

Before we discuss the strategies to boost employee motivation, it’s only fitting that we talk about why it’s essential to enable this in the first place.

Your employees are key players in your business. They are the ones that run the daily operation and are on the front lines speaking to your customers. Employees that have a high level of motivation have an increased sense of productivity. These are the people that want to get a lot of things done at the end of the day.

It is through these motivated employees that companies achieve both their short-term and long-term goals. They will also do more beyond their scope of work. They are willing to go the extra mile in making the company a bigger success.

Gallup mentioned that employees work 20% better when they are motivated. They would look for ways to be more efficient and help out overloaded workmates to really boost productivity in the office.

TeamStage reported that motivated employees are 87% less likely to resign. This would save a ton of hassle and money for companies looking for new employees and onboarding processes.

However, Gallup also stated that only 15% of employees feel motivated. Given such a low number, business owners and managers need a lot of work to do. Fortunately for you, the strategies below will help you boost your employees’ motivation in no time. These are tried and tested strategies across different industries and have seen great success.

Proven Strategies To Boost Employee Motivation

To help you in boosting employee motivation, below are 9 proven strategies that you can use immediately.

1. Give Credit Where It’s Due

Appreciate your employees. Let them know you value them. If they’ve achieved something great in the workplace, commend them. That is how you give credit where it’s due. That is also how you can boost employee motivation.

When employees feel they are appreciated by management and higher-ups see their hard work, it gives them a feeling of satisfaction. 70% of employees mentioned that motivation and morale are boosted significantly once their managers recognize their work.

It’s important for you to do this as well. Owners should know that recognition isn’t just giving bonuses and year-end rewards. Recognition can be a simple “thank you” during a team meeting and it will go a long way to motivate employees.

2. Set Specific And Attainable Goals

When setting a goal for your team to achieve, make sure it is specific and attainable. You don’t want to set up a goal that’s too broad and general – these types of goals tend to be hard to quantify if you’re making progress which makes it unmotivating for employees.

So when you’re setting up goals with your team, make sure that you can visibly see the progress. Visible achievements make it more satisfying. It’ll make you want to work even harder. Seeing the milestones makes it very clear that your employees' hard work is making a difference.

Now you might question how to set specific and attainable goals for your business. To help you with this, below are a set of strategies that you can follow.

Do A SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You need to define what these are for your business. SWOT analysis template can help you identify the specific goals you need to prioritize.

Use The SMART Method

Doing a SWOT analysis is good, but you can also supplement this goal-making process by utilizing the SMART method. You’ve probably heard of this, but for those who have forgotten, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

Setting up a clear goal for your company to achieve will help boost the motivation of each employee every time there’s progress or a mini goal is achieved. Seeing visible progress reminds employees that they are doing things correctly and effectively.

3. Provide A Positive Workplace Environment

No one wants to work in a negative and toxic workplace. It’s not conducive to growth, and it surely doesn’t support teamwork and goal achievement. Such an environment makes employees dread their job and puts them in the wrong mindset.

On the contrary, a positive workplace environment makes everyone excited to go to the office. Employees enjoy their job, and they are happy in the presence of their coworkers. This environment is where you can see teamwork and motivated employees.

You, as part of management, can significantly contribute to this. For example, you can properly distribute workloads, have flexible hours, or have health benefits like a Covid financial benefit. Looking after your employees tremendously helps to achieve a positive workplace environment.

Team buildings are a great initiative as well – it supports team collaboration and camaraderie. Gathering around a fire pit with drinks after a fun day could increase team spirit and get to know others better. Game night is a great option too. If you want to do this online, games like an online murder mystery, words with friends, virtual escape room, and the like are fun choices.

In the survey findings of Deloitte, they found out that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe that workplace culture is essential to business success. A positive workplace reduces resignations and long-term sick leaves.

Acceptance, happiness, respect, kindness, and teamwork are only some of the things present in a beautiful workplace environment. This puts everyone in a good mood. Plus, when the going gets rough, every employee in that office would be willing to help out if necessary.

Such a workplace environment breeds motivation, innovation, productivity, and creativity. All of which help the business be in a better place.

4. Celebrate Achievements

Celebrating achievements is like celebrating a special event or a milestone for a person. Celebrations don’t have to be over the top; a simple one will do. You can even give gifts as part of the celebration.

These gifts can be like a ticket to a new movie, a voucher to their favorite restaurant, or a one-on-one lunch meeting with a senior. To give you more ideas, here are out-of-the-box but well-appreciated gifts:

• Extra vacation time
• Commuter benefits (bus passes, parking permits)
• Flowers (desk flowers, wood flowers)
• Free chosen online courses & tests (digital marketing, cooking, woodwork, cognitive tests)
• Amazon coupon
• Snack box
• Wine or other drinks

Celebrating results and giving appreciation gifts greatly help boost confidence and motivation. This event can also motivate others to do great as well. Because who doesn’t want to be celebrated? When employees feel that their achievement is celebrated by many, they will be more motivated to perform better and achieve bigger results.

Celebrating things like this also aids in helping a positive workplace environment. The celebration could be a simple lunch out, handing out vouchers, recognition in front of the whole department, or even a handwritten note expressing how proud you are of them.

5. Offer Incentives

It has been proven that incentives or rewards are a great source of motivation for people. The same thing applies to your workplace. Offering incentives when employees hit a certain target will push them to produce better results. It gives them a short-term purpose while having their long-term “why” in the back of their minds.

Offering incentives for groups stimulates teamwork and cooperation in the workplace. Nobody wants to be the weakest link in the group that can derail the timeline of their department. So by offering a group reward, every team member puts in their individual effort to achieve a bigger goal.

This also can produce more productivity and better internal communication in the workplace. If there’s a group or department goal that needs to be achieved, members will be more proactive in relaying messages and updating the team on where they are with their tasks.

Whether you’re offering an individual incentive or a group reward, it can really boost employee motivation either way.

6. Include Employees In Decision Making

Making employees join your decision-making process makes them feel like they are part of the bigger picture in the company. It shows that they are not just working for the sake of having to work. It also gives the employees a sense of confidence that their opinion matters too.

You can include them in both small and big decision-making scenarios. For small ones, get their opinion on things like a good preset for your product images, what narrative you should take for your next video ads, and many others.

As for the bigger scenarios, you can also consider their opinions and suggestions. For example, you can ask them about cart abandonment solutions, how to convert more people or what’s a good marketing strategy to do.

To start including employees in your decision-making process, you can do these things:

Suggestion Box

Suggestion boxes are a great way to gather ideas in the workplace. It also gives out anonymity which makes employees motivated to contribute without fear of reprisals. This could be a traditional suggestion box or a link where employees can submit or write their ideas.

If you incorporate this in your workplace, make sure to read them. Don’t let weeks or months go by without reading a single one – this defeats its purpose and can make employees think that the suggestion box is worthless.

Surveys

Surveys let you hear the opinions of your employees immediately. You can give this survey anytime or partner it up after a performance review. Employee surveys are an excellent avenue for workers to express their opinion.

Make sure to take these surveys seriously. If you think that a suggestion is beneficial to your business, don’t hesitate to implement it. You can recognize the employee who suggested that change as well. It shows that you appreciate their input, and it’s evidence that you read their opinions.

Department Leaders

Department leaders can be the go-to person for each department. They are the appointed persons to list down employees' suggestions and their opinions on certain matters.

So instead of individually submitting forms or suggestions, a person would come to the management and relay the ideas to them.

7. Respect Work-life Balance

When a company grows, it feels like the business tasks don't end. Emails, client meetings, and presentations are lined up every day. This forces management to contact employees even after their work hours.

However, this scenario drains employees' motivation. Instead of resting or taking a day off, they still answer emails or finish up their presentations. These things don't contribute to a healthy work-life balance. This will only make employees dread their jobs.

So a way to boost employee motivation would be respecting their time off work. Although this can’t be the case in some jobs, at least try not to contact your employees when they’re not working. Having boundaries will be greatly appreciated by people working for you.

Those rest days and time off work give them enough time to recharge and tackle the job responsibilities when they get back to work. It makes them more productive than ever, boosting their motivation to get things done. You could go one step further and offer remote or hybrid setups or national relocation options which can be measured with a moving cost estimator. While the cost of moving out of state can be high, consider helping with these costs if a new location may improve your employees' motivation.

8. Assure A Great Career Path

Some employees are not just motivated by money and rewards. Some want a great career path where they can excel on the corporate ladder and achieve a higher position themselves.

As a business owner, you should assure your employees that what they’re doing now isn’t what they will be doing forever in your company. Make them understand that they won’t have a static position in your business. If they do well in their job responsibilities, they can rise in the ranks and be in a better job position. The right HR analytics software can help you with that.

Promotion can be a great employee motivation. It makes employees strive to achieve growth and develop with the company.

9. Lead By Example

You might have heard of this a couple of times already, but cliches are cliche for a reason. When you lead by example, you set the standard for your employees. If a business owner or high-ranking employee like you does what you expect from your employees, they will often follow in your footsteps.

Walk the talk as some would say. You are guiding employees through actions and not just words. The line “do as I say'' might have worked in the past, but it won’t be effective in today's workplace. Employees like to see their leaders doing the things they’ve preached.

Leading by example can build trust and respect. Not everyone can do what they preach, especially in a leadership role. However, if you show this to your employees, they will respect and trust that what you’re doing is correct.

It also helps in building a positive work culture. It doesn’t support the boss mentality, but it pushes forward the leadership mentality wherein the leader helps the employees reach their goals and not just boss them around.

Benefits Of Motivated Employees

Having a motivated workforce can bring a ton of positive news for your business. In this section, I’ll list the top 3 benefits of having motivated employees in your workplace.

I. Increased Productivity

Motivated employees are the ones that love their jobs. They like to get things done and finish tasks on a daily basis. If you have a garment store, you can have more production of your clothing, dress forms, and other apparel. If you're a manufacturing company, all the manual processes will be done at high quality with motivated employees.

A bunch of motivated individuals will ultimately help your business grow since productive employees greatly help increase business revenues and the scalability of any company.

II. Lower Level Of Absenteeism

Motivated employees are the ones that are excited to go to the workplace and get things done. They won’t find excuses for how they can miss work.

This is very beneficial because high absenteeism can derail a team’s productivity and progress. It can lower the productivity rate and morale of other employees since more tasks will be placed upon them to make up for those who are not around.

III. Faster Company Growth

When employees in your workplace love to achieve goals and finish tasks at hand, business growth is one of the best things that can come out of it. Remember, when striving for company growth, goal setting isn’t the most important thing – it’s the execution of your employees' tasks.

Conclusion

Boosting employee motivation isn’t an easy task to do. But with the right strategies like the ones above, you can hasten the process and achieve your desired workplace.

You can start by giving credit where it’s due and celebrating achievements. These strategies are fun ways to recognize employee effort and will almost instantly help in boosting employee motivation.