It is often considered that a happy employee is someone who has a good salary. However, what really makes a satisfied employee is the appreciation and empathy he receives from the organization.
Understanding your employees’ source of motivation will help you know how you can encourage them further. While money is a strong factor, there are many other ways of motivation, such as giving constructive feedback or having a good work environment.
Read on to discover 5 ways to motivate your employees, retain them and continue expanding your business.
Happy employee: how to keep your employees motivated and producing more
Happy employees perform better and you don’t have to think much to understand why.
When we feel that we are recognized for our commitment and we have a healthy work environment, we are certainly more motivated. In turn, we will be more productive and work better.
But how can you make your employees feel happy and motivated at work? We’re here to help.
1. Provide a positive work environment
Your employees want to work in a positive work environment, where they feel comfortable expressing their opinions, sharing tips, collaborating with a team and better dealing with unhappy customers.
To foster a healthy work environment, you should encourage communication between your employees. Having a strong workplace culture also helps to spread positivity.
Make your employees feel special by having informal meetings just to be together enjoying a good meal or playing as a team. This will help them to interact socially and create an inclusive and comfortable environment for everyone.
2. Show empathy
Empathy is perhaps one of the most underrated qualities of an employee or a manager. However, an empathetic work environment is prone to good collaboration.
Showing empathy also helps you to become a more effective and admired leader, and employees will more likely be loyal to an understanding leader who’s interested in what’s happening with them. For example, learning how to use new software can be difficult. Instead of being frustrated and getting angry with your employee, you should find ways to help them.
3. Give financial incentives
Although the money is not enough to make an employee happy, monetary incentives are a great way to motivate them. They will work harder and the resulting monetary reward will make them feel valued and recognized.
However, it is important that monetary incentives are clearly and objectively defined, attributed and measured, in order to avoid weird situations and friction between employees. Transparency and honesty are key.
For example, you can pay commissions and offer specific bonuses for the sale of a less common service or product. This helps your team stay motivated and work harder to achieve the company’s goals.
You can also offer discounts to your employees.
4. Encourage work-life balance
The benefits of encouraging a good balance between personal and professional life are innumerable.
Your employees will feel less anxious, while their overall health and sense of well-being will be better. Consequently, their productivity will increase and, the better they feel, the more loyal they will become to your company.
The best ways to encourage a good balance between personal and professional life is through setting an example, allowing schedule flexibility, or providing paid maternal and paternal leave.
Another way to stimulate a good work-life balance is by organizing family events where employees can (and are encouraged to) bring their family members.
5. Appreciate, value and recognize
The simple act of valuing and recognizing your employee when he or she has done a good job or is clearly committed to achieving a goal, can have an amazing effect on his or her performance. The recognition – especially in public – of a job well done is even better.
You can also offer annual or even monthly recognition prizes. This will make employees feel like they belong, that they are part of the family, and that they are growing alongside the company. Besides that, it can start a healthy competition between co-workers.
If you follow these simple tips to keep your employees happy, you’ll surely be able to increase employees’ retention and create highly productive teams.
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