Fifty percent of employers polled reported that they used financial rewards as motivation. But what about the other 50 percent?
Their motivation came in the form of recognition and special training. This, coupled with a 2005 study from the University of Michigan, suggest that money is not the most effective motivator for employees.
If you’re concerned about an unmotivated staff, you can quell your worries by coming up with a few creative ways of pushing your employees to give their best possible performance every day that they come into the workplace.
The study from the University of Michigan suggested that the best motivator for staff comes from seeing the results of their work enjoyed by others. For example, if two people work at a mechanic shop and they both work on the car but one of them handles the customer’s payment after the car is fixed, they are able to see the happiness that the repair brought to the customer. This information should be important to you whether you work at a mechanic shop or at an accounting firm.
Create ways for customers to give feedback – positive and negative – to employees. This might include sending an email with a rating card out to customers after they’ve left, asking them to rate their experience and provide any feedback. The manager can collect these cards and organize them. Give special recognition to those who received positive feedback.
Training is another great way of providing motivation to your employees. If you have a special project coming up, choose an employee and train them to take on the task. This can provide motivation and a sense of responsibility for seeing the project through. People are much more likely to feel motivated if they feel personally responsible for seeing something through to completion.
If you’re looking to come up with motivational tools for your employees, look beyond simply providing bonuses. If you get creative, you can get the same results but with less cost.
About the Author: Carolyn is a guest blogger who writes about the latest business trends and business software such as BigCommerce.