Motivating Employees to be More Productive

Motivating employees is as much an art as a science. But with weeks getting longer and more people than ever bringing their work home with them, how do we make sure that our employees are staying motivated to be on their A-game?

Here are a few time-tested ways to motivate your employees in order to improve their productivity.

1. Tie Compensation to Performance. 

Employees’ paychecks are the most basic reason they show up to work everyday. However, when employers expect to receive the same sized cheque every payday, they can sometimes become complacent.

Consider maximizing the return on your salary expense by trying some portion of your employees’ total compensation to their performance. Performance based compensation is common for salespeople, who often earn a commission based on their sales. The performance of other types of employees may be harder to measure. However, you might consider coming up with some Key Performance Indicators, and tying your employees’ bonuses to their performance relative to the indicators.

2. Foster a Sense of Community. 

Fostering a sense of community among your employees can enhance the output of your workforce as a whole. Individual employees will be motivated because they will not want to let the team down by performing poorly.

Additionally, when a group of employees feel they are “in it together,” they will be more likely to support each other and collaborate. Employers can foster a sense of community by organizing team-building activities such as outings and team meals, and encouraging employees to discuss what’s really important to them, which will lead to deeper bonds among employees.

3. Set an Example. 

As the leader of your enterprise, you must set an example as a hard-working high-performer. Employees will be unlikely to follow someone whose work-ethic is questionable. However, when employees see you as a manager devoting yourself to the organization, they will feel inspired to do the same.

4. Emphasize the Societal Benefits of Your Product/Service. 

All businesses contribute to the world by producing something of value. Reinforce the value of what your company does. If employees believe that the work they’re doing is actually valuable, and provides a solution to a problem, they will be intrinsically motivated to perform at their best.

5. Empower Your Employees to Take Ownership of Their Work. 

Empowering your employees to take ownership of their work means making them responsible for the success or failure of their work, and not micromanaging them along the way. However, at the same time, management must be there to support them if they request help. Having your employees take ownership of the work they do will motivate them to perform at their best.