7 Ways to Motivate Employee Performance

Why is motivation important in the workplace?

Motivated employees are vital to any organisation. They provide a fresh perspective and new ideas to keep your organisation performing at its best. Most employers know that good employees are hard to find, and keeping them motivated can be even more difficult. Here are some key, yet simple, ways to keep your employees motivated.

Boosting and maintaining employee motivation is especially hard in today’s pandemic era, when many organisations are operating within a hybrid context. Connecting dispersed teams and employees has proven challenging, but the fundamentals of engaging and motivating workers still stand.

How to keep employees motivated

1. Be a trustworthy leader

Employees have to trust that you have good intentions, not only for the business but for them as well. Provide a good example and treat your employees with respect and professionalism. Stand up for them. When an employee knows that you support them, they are more likely to try to exceed your expectations.

The trust between employers and employees has been tested during COVID-19. It’s important that employers remember that if they look after their employees when times are tough, their employees will stick by them through the good times, too.

2. Offer career advancement opportunities

Most employees want to grow and advance in their career. With this in mind, an easy way to motivate your employees is to provide a clear career path. Help open doors to opportunity and advancement. Offer training or a way for employees to learn new skills and stay relevant in their field. Anything that allows them to grow will help maintain motivation. A great way to start is to implement a LMS like ELMO Learning Management Software and offer courses, available through ELMO Course Library.

3. Outline clear and attainable goals

Set clear goals and communicate them to your employees. Unless they know what they are working toward, it is difficult for an employee to invest in their work. A good way to communicate those goals is through the use of SMART KPIs (key performance indicators).  KPIs are not only great motivators to drive employees to task completion, they are also measurable. If you are using an automated system to capture performance review data, you can easily track and analyse progress.

4. Have an open-door policy

Adopt an open-door policy. This will show employees that you are available to hear their ideas and suggestions. Return the favour by sharing with them (what you can) about the company’s goals and direction. They will feel valued. When employees feel like they are in the know, they are much more likely to go the extra mile to contribute.

Surveying employees empowers them and increases motivation and engagement. Try survey technology like ELMO Survey.

5. Listen to employees

When an employee comes to you with a problem or even a solution, make sure you take the time to really listen to them. Often the best ideas come from the people within your company. They are the ones on the front lines making your business run. You should take any ideas or suggestions they have seriously. Not only will you get some great ideas, but by simply listening to your employees they will feel motivated to work harder.

Conducting regular surveys / pulse checks is a great way to gauge employee sentiment, especially as surveys can be completed anonymously, which may prompt honest feedback.

6. Provide a work-life balance

More and more employees are looking for a balance between work and outside life. If you can, give employees flexibility on when and how they work. This benefit can have a dramatic influence on their level of motivation. Understand that life situations happen. Show your employees that you can work with them when life does happen and they will work harder for you.

7. Give employees one-on-one attention

Take the time to focus on each person. This approach demonstrates that you are invested in them and their work. Use the one on one time to acknowledge their achievements. Invest the time in getting to know each person and what their personal motivators are. They will feel valued and appreciated and want to do their best in their role.

By implementing these key strategies into your company culture, you can create a workplace where employees feel valued and motivated to accomplish the business’s goals.

ELMO Software  is a cloud-based solution that helps thousands of organisations across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to effectively manage their people, process and pay. ELMO solutions span the entire employee lifecycle from ‘hire to retire’. They can be used together or stand-alone, and are configurable according to an organisation’s unique processes and workflows. Automate and streamline your operations to reduce costs, increase efficiency and bolster productivity. For further information, contact us.