In order for a company to perform at it's highest level, employees have to perform the way management envisions. This does not come necessarily from raise in wages or more incentives. Rather, employees can be motivated through more simple methods that are just as effective. One method for motivating employees could be through teamwork. Allowing employees to collaborate with coworkers on important projects where they are allowed to give input and make decisions is one way. Empowering your employees through added responsibilities and duties is another way. If you can show an employee how important their role in your corporation is, it will give them a sense of pride when they do their job.
Another way to motivate employees is through a rewards program. Where their performance could win them a new electronic or a voucher for a resteraunt of choice. Something so simple as handing out paper awards or a plaque would motivate employees also. Letting your employees know that you appreciate their hard works would change their attitudes toward their job in most ciscumstances.
Here's a link to a article that I found.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5320198_motivate-employees-workplace.html
Another option that can also be used for your keeping employees post is the use of team building activities. These can show the employees that their employer cares about them in more than just a bottom line way. I used to work for a company that would regularly have team building activities all year. Every other Thursday was "happy hour" where we were given a full hour for lunch and the company provided food and drink. During the summers every other Friday we would end work early and grill food outside. We were taken to museums, skiing, and other things like that. The result was a closer work force and a more motivated workforce. It kept me pretty happy and motivated for sure.
ReplyDeleteI encounter this on an everyday basis. We have at the bank an online store, called the Logo shop. This is a store that you can buy a number of different products, such as T-shirts, office supplies, and other clothing as well. They give away different award points to employees for different types of things that the employee does.
ReplyDeleteHowever, one thing that I wish the bank did more, is allow us to use technology to collaborate more online. Using different online tools would be a great way to get employees to work for the greater good of the company.
As we discussed in class, newer generation employees can be motivated differently than more experienced or older workers. With expectations of a greater flexiblitiy of schedule and a better work/life balance, a great motivational tool can be time off. It is fiscally cheaper for the company to offer employees partial day absences in place of bonuses or raises and I know personally that I am willing to strive harder to reach a particular goal when long weekends are the prize.
ReplyDeleteEven though I've never experienced it, I do like Joe's idea of time-off as a reward. What I have experienced is the additional motivation of working with a partner or a small team on numerous projects. In most of these cases, I had a lot of respect and even friendship for my team members, and absolutely wanted to work my best for them as well as for my company and for the client. Unfortunately, I also had a few instances where my partners/teammates were not skilled enough to do their portion of the assignments and I had to jump in and "kill myself" to do their work as well as my own. Obviously this was not motivating. In the one instance, my boss should have known my partner was incapable of handling her role (so I blame him) but in another, it was a new hire, and he just talked a good game, but could not produce results. My point is that the "boss" should be careful when assigning team members, and team members should provide immediate feedback to all parties when it seems there could be a problem with the assignments.
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