A Short Guide to Motivating Your Employees

May 19 2022 - A motivated workforce is a productive workforce in any business, making employee wellbeing a crucial element to business success in 2022. But there are many ways in which businesses can fail to inspire their workforce - leading them to lose operational capability in the process. Times are currently hard enough for many households across the country; what can you do as a business to motivate your staff, and guarantee long-term growth as a result?

Creating a Comfortable Working Environment

One of the more immediate and direct ways you can facilitate motivation in your staff cohort is by addressing their working environment. Stuffy office spaces with no natural light are not conducive to a positive mood, which can have a knock-on effect on productivity. By introducing light, colour and air to a space, you can create a comfortable and positive environment for work.

This principle extends to other areas, such as music. Providing a workplace sound system in the form of a Milwaukee radio would give employees background music to work to; music is a great motivator, and has other cognitive benefits which can manifest in the form of productivity.

Recognising Hard Work

Of course, material changes to the work environment can only go so far as to address the root cause of any poor motivation in your staff. There may be deeper, systemic issues in your business strategy, hierarchy or leadership style that have had knock-on effects on departmental productivity.

As an example, there may not be a culture of recognition in your workplace, with employees expected to continue to work without feedback or encouragement. In this scenario, simply taking the initiative to recognise the hard work of other employees could go a long way to improving morale, and with it productivity. This recognition could simply be an informal thanks in the form of an email or desk visit, or it could be part of a robust program including rewards and bonuses for performance.

Supporting Growth

Lastly, meaningful progression opportunities can give employees real incentives to perform their best. If an employee does not feel nurtured by their employer, they are less likely to give their best to a role. If that employer has a clear route to promotion and new responsibilities, and processes by which an employee can train for new responsibilities, they will feel much more valued - and more motivated as a result.

As such, you could introduce a leadership training program in your business to give employees an opportunity to learn new skills, and understand your level of investment in them. You could also arrange skill exchange programmes between departments, enabling employees to teach each other the ins and outs of certain roles - and opening the possibility for transfers to new departments and career paths.

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