16 Effective Ways to Motivate Employees
From providing an experiential reward that leaves a lasting impression to celebrating employees for their hard work, here are 16 tips for effective ways to motivate employees.
- Reward Them With Extra Vacation Days
- Offer Employees Flexibility and Autonomy
- Incorporate Pleasant Experiences in Team Relationships
- Share Possibilities for Advancement and Development
- Create Performance-Based Incentives
- Have a Pleasant Working Atmosphere
- Assist With New Technologies and Developments
- Promote a Sense of Camaraderie
- Break Down the Walls Between Leadership and Staff
- Align Employee Goals With Organizational Objectives
- Instill a Growth Plan that Matches the Company's Progress
- Offer the Chance to Work Flexible Hours
- Focus on Smaller, Frequent Goals
- Show Empathy and Understanding
- Collect and Encourage Feedback
- Show Recognition for Good Work
Reward Them With Extra Vacation Days
A key to motivating employees is providing extra vacation days as a reward for a job well done. This recognition may help employees realize that their work does not go unnoticed and will probably invigorate them to strive for greatness on future projects. This provides an experiential reward that leaves a lasting impression much longer than other common forms of workplace rewards, such as gift cards, cash bonuses, or verbal appreciation.
Kate Duske, Editor-In-Chief, Escape Room Data
Offer Employees Flexibility and Autonomy
To motivate employees in 2023, I recommend offering them flexible work arrangements to boost their autonomy. With remote and hybrid work models becoming more popular, employees are increasingly valuing control over their schedules and work environment.
Flexible hours, remote work, and a four-day workweek are good options. For example, Buffer and Basecamp's successful four-day workweek trial led to happier employees and increased productivity.
However, setting clear expectations and goals while giving employees greater autonomy is critical. For instance, providing regular feedback and communication ensures employees stay on track and maintain productive work habits.
Overall, prioritizing autonomy and flexibility shows trust and respect, promoting a positive work culture. Just ensure your company establishes clear expectations and KPIs to ensure success.
Samuel Johns, CPRW and Career Counselor, Resume Genius
Incorporate Pleasant Experiences in Team Relationships
Having tough conversations result in some positive organizational improvements, so negative emotions have a role in the workplace. However, if many employees are exhibiting negative emotions consistently, this could affect morale and the outcome of their work. To establish a net positive workplace, it's crucial to figure out how to incorporate pleasant experiences into your team's relationships.
Why? Because having contented staff gives you an edge over the competition. According to studies, businesses with contented workers outperform their rivals by 20% and increase sales by 37%. It turns out that your company's performance depends more on your happiness and optimism.
Matthew Appleton, E-commerce Manager, Appleton Sweets
Share Possibilities for Advancement and Development
Prospects for growth and development might highly motivate employees. Training programs, mentoring, work shadowing, and even tuition reimbursement for continuing education might all fall into this category. I believe the key is to ensure that these changes apply to employees' interests and career aspirations, that they are clear, and that they are available to all employees.
Tim Parker, Director, Syntax Integration
Create Performance-Based Incentives
Performance-based incentives motivate employees to strive for excellence and increase their productivity by rewarding them with a tangible reward (cash, gift prizes, additional time off) for meeting certain goals. This type of incentive offers employees a direct link between their performance and reward, allowing them to see the tangible results of their hard work. This can serve as a powerful motivator and will probably result in increased performance from employees.
Gabriel Bogner, Co-founder, Mate Fertility
Have a Pleasant Working Atmosphere
A favorable work environment can significantly influence employee motivation. A clean, well-lit, and comfortable workplace can help employees feel calmer and more productive. Fostering a culture of respect, trust, and collaboration can boost employee morale and motivation. I believe it is critical to ensure that workplace rules and practices reflect these principles and that all employees are treated fairly and respectfully.
Ethan Bull, Owner, ProAssisting
Assist With New Technologies and Developments
Companies often revamp their existing technologies and processes and introduce recent developments to cut costs and improve their financial performance. When you do the same to make the work lives of your employees more manageable, you will motivate them to a great extent. Introduce new tools and platforms that improve employee efficiency.
Check on ways in which you can improve existing processes to reduce employee workload. And ensure that every employee has a say in the developments you propose. With this approach, you help your team do their job effectively and make them feel important enough to be a part of the decision-making process.
Ariav Cohen, VP of Marketing and Sales, Proprep
Promote a Sense of Camaraderie
Encouragement of team-building activities can help promote a sense of camaraderie and enhance employee motivation. Team-building activities can include trips, volunteer work, and group projects. I think the aim is to ensure that these events are inclusive of all employees and linked to the company's values and aims.
Jeff Romero, Founder, Octiv Digital
Break Down the Walls Between Leadership and Staff
Frequently, in most offices, there is a well-outlined and highlighted line separating the team and the CEO. These practices, however, are incredibly demotivating and create walls that later become impenetrable. It is possible to normalize making mistakes by sharing professional and personal struggles and successes. To motivate the team, break the old-fashioned approach.
Marco Genaro Palma, Co-founder, TechNews180
Align Employee Goals With Organizational Objectives
Employees can better grasp how their work affects the performance of the organization if their goals and corporate objectives align. Employees can benefit from this understanding because it gives them a sense of purpose and accomplishment in their work.
Managers can align employee goals with corporate objectives by articulating the company's vision, mission, and values and assisting employees in understanding how their work contributes to these goals.
Cindi Keller, Communications Coordinator, The Criminal Defense Firm
Instill a Growth Plan that Matches the Company's Progress
When your employees are the primary contributors to your company's growth, it only makes sense to align their development at the workplace with your company's progress. And this is perhaps the most effective way to motivate your employees, too.
When you know the wins you earn for your organization contribute to your own growth and remuneration, you will have every reason to do your best every day! This approach offers employees a significant reason to show up to work and give their hundred percent each day through efficient and innovative work habits.
This way of work will also have diligent and dedicated talents in your industry vying for a spot on your team.
Tony Angeleri, Vice President, Lone Wolf Paintball
Offer the Chance to Work Flexible Hours
It can sometimes be effective to offer flexible work hours to employees in order to motivate them more. Many people crave unique work hours right now while working remotely, and will do what they can to get them.
If you show employees that flexible work hours are available for those who can be responsible, professional, and effective in their work, then it could motivate them to work even harder. Also, with the fear of losing their flexible schedule, they'll continue to do what they have to in order to make it happen.
Also, a general shake-up of routine can sometimes energize and motivate employees to work effectively.
Yeonsil K., Founder and CEO, Home Spritz
Focus On Smaller, Frequent Goals
Sometimes those big-picture goals are not as helpful in motivating employees. Although you might all have the same vision, big, long-term goals are not workable without smaller, more attainable goals first.
It can help to motivate your team by coming up with smaller goals as a team and working to accomplish them each week. This helps your team in finding motivation because you are all collectively working towards a goal that you all know is achievable in a short amount of time.
It also helps to delegate and ensure everyone has a designated role and responsibilities to encourage things like autonomy and trust, which is also an important factor for motivation.
Daniel Climans, Senior Manager, Digital Marketing and Partnerships, StickerYou
Show Empathy and Understanding
Being sympathetic and understanding of employees can help motivate them and make it a rewarding experience for all. Actively listen to their problems, offer support to them when they are going through challenging times, and show a genuine interest in how well they are doing overall to show employees empathy and understanding.
Its leaders can also foster a culture of compassion and support in an organization through the provision of employee help programs, the promotion of mental health awareness, and the rapid and efficient resolution of any difficulties or conflicts that may arise in the workplace.
Employees will be more likely to contribute to the success of a business if they believe their boss cares about them as individuals besides their roles within the company.
Tiffany Payne, Head of Content, PharmacyOnline.co.uk
Collect and Encourage Feedback
One tip I can share on how to motivate employees is to collect and encourage feedback in the workplace.
Employees want to be heard, which encourages them to work harder and lets them feel like their voice is valued. Sometimes, your employees have a different perspective on how to do things, which may be more efficient. When you don’t listen to them, you can struggle to make your company perform better and also make them feel like there is no purpose in stating their opinion.
Listening to your employees is a great way to ensure that they feel valued. A way that you can incorporate a better feedback strategy is by doing employee pulse surveys to understand how your employees are doing and how they feel about their workplace. It is important to share the results with your managers and leaders as well, to make sure things are on the right track.
Brandon Aversano, Founder and CEO, The Alloy Market
Showing Recognition for Good Work
Recognize the achievements of your employees. It is important for people to feel recognized for doing great work that they have invested a lot of time in. For this reason, it is important to celebrate them for their excellent work. If employees feel recognized and rewarded, they are more likely to continue working hard.
Organizations with thoughtful reward and recognition programs have strong engagement, productivity, and lower turnover. Whether it's sharing kind words through email, in person, or in a meeting, it is essential to show your gratitude.
It's important to have employees who stay at your company for a long time, as they share a ton of knowledge and make running your business more relaxing and engaging. Showing recognition to your employees is also integral during difficult times as well, to keep your company afloat.
Matt Bieber, CEO, Queries AI
Learn more about how Maricopa Corporate College can support HR professionals in administering career training and professional development programs.
Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.