As we know, the workplace has undergone a significant transformation. After over a year and a half of remote work, we are starting to learn more about what will come next for the workforce. While some companies plan to remain remote for the time being, other companies have decided to go back full time, and some have even decided to permanently switch their workforce to entirely WFH.
While we remain in the world of hybrid work maintaining motivation can be a struggle for many. In fact, a Microsoft survey recently found that the majority of employees feel burned out after a year of remote work. For this reason, we have accumulated the following list of what your company can do to continue motivating employees, excluding monetary options.
Culture
In recent years, we have seen culture become a huge factor in employee satisfaction. Potential employees are now taking the time to learn about the company’s mission and commitment to building an environment where everyone feels comfortable. These companies are also the ones that are acquiring the top talent.
Driving Diversity, Equality and Inclusion within your culture will provide your employees a feeling of belongingness. When employees feel comfortable in your work environment, they are more likely to feel excited about completing their work, helping them maintain motivation. Make a commitment to really start incorporating DE&I into your culture, and employees will be grateful.
Recognition
Build an environment of recognition. If someone is doing a great job on their project, let them know! Studies have shown that recognising and empowering employees can increase motivation and improve performance across the entire organisation. There are many ways you can practice recognition at your company, from encouraging managers to write one of their team members a personalised note expressing how well they are doing, to building a recognition program. During these stressful times, a little appreciation can go a long way in building motivation.
Development
Continuing to encourage development and providing the tools to do so has many benefits and one of the largest ones is building high levels of motivation. Through driving the importance of employee development, you are showing your workforce that they matter to your company. Think about it. There is nothing more motivating than people encouraging you to become the best version of yourself possible. Your employees will want to get better for your business.
Prioritising development will create loyal and motivated employees, ready to upscale for both parties’ benefit. Whether it is through webinars or providing classes and training courses, spend the time and resources to invest in your employees to reach new levels of motivation within your workplace. It will pay off!
Career Growth
LinkedIn recently conducted a survey of more than 10,000 users asking for the top reasons why people left their old job. The number one reason that was selected was ‘I was concerned about the lack of opportunities for advancement’. When employees aren’t going to progress in their career at your company, they will not have the motivation to continue.
When a clear next step in their career is not provided, people won’t be as motivated to work as hard because they know that no matter how hard they work, their career will not progress. To maintain motivation in your workplace, it is a necessity to continuously provide those next steps.
Forgiveness
Everyone makes mistakes. As we learn the best way to do things, mistakes are bound to happen. However, to maintain motivated employees, encourage your managers to never over criticise. Tell your managers to teach their team members how to do something differently next time so they can learn. Teach your team that mistakes are going to happen. Provide your employees with the space to learn from them.
If all your managers do is point fingers, your team members will not want to be a part of that team for long. Instead, create an environment where mistakes are allowed. This will inspire your teams and it will make them want to work harder which will lead to higher productivity and levels.
A team of motivated employees is crucial to the success of any organisation. If money is tight, remember there is more than just financial benefits to help kickstart your workforce. Our expert teams are readily available to help you build a team of motivated professionals. Please contact us today to find the best talent in the market to grow your business.
Sources:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-22/bosses-are-clueless-that-workers-are-miserable-and-looking-to-leave
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3356581
https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-strategy/real-reason-people-switch-jobs