Keeping your employees motivated is essential to maximize productivity and overall workplace satisfaction. Creating a workplace culture and environment that is desirable provides employees the motivation necessary to put their best efforts forth, resulting in growth and expansion. When you know how to motivate your employees, keep them happy and willing to contribute as much as possible while they are on the job.

Offer Workplace Incentives

Offer workplace incentives that include promotions, bonuses, recognition programs and even additional vacation time. Incentives are a great way to keep employees focused, working hard and excited about their positions. Base incentives on sales, completed projects, or new ideas that you plan to implement into your current business model. Avoid excluding any of your employees regardless of their current position by utilizing multiple incentive programs for each independent department.

Provide Recognition for Hardworking Employees

Praising and providing recognition to hardworking employees is a way to build a workplace that is welcoming and comfortable. When employees feel appreciated and proud of their work accomplishments, they are more likely to contribute additional ideas while completing their work without constant reminders. Employees who feel they make real contributions to their job are ultimately more satisfied, incentivizing them to stick around while helping the company continue to grow. A recognition program can make all the difference here. Using custom engraved Award Plaques can motivate and inspire your team to reach new heights. 

Add Support Services

Provide support services to all of your employees, regardless of their positions and current seniority. Support services may include therapy, counseling, HR departments, and even team meetings and sessions. Helping your employees feel supported and guided in all facets in life is extremely beneficial when you prefer retaining them as long as possible.

Flex Time Options

Strict schedules without flexibility quickly cause employees to feel stressed and in some cases, burnt out. Offer flex time options to employees who are always on time or complete work without issue. Allow your employees to rework their schedules to create a healthy work and life balance. When employees feel trapped in their current work situation and schedule, they are less likely to put their best work forward and often find themselves out of energy to get the job done. Flex time provides employees with a sense of freedom and independence, making them happier to work for you and contribute to the team.

Working Remotely

One of the biggest workplace trends on the rise includes working from home or remotely. When employees have the opportunity to work from home, they feel trusted, appreciated, and independent. Consider offering your employees to work from home on set days based on their schedules. In some cases, employees are able to work from home at all times, cutting workplace office costs while still maximizing productivity. Remote employees take their positions seriously and work hard to ensure they are capable of maintaining their sense of freedom.

Understanding the importance of motivation in the workplace is imperative when you want to manage or operate a business that is positive and successful. With the right motivation techniques, keep those who work for you optimistic and satisfied with their career and future goals.

Keeping staff motivated in an organization for them to remain productive can prove a daunting task for management. People are after all uniquely made and tend to react differently to different incentives within the organization’s framework. The best bet for business leaders is to establish a culture that is all-encompassing and one that shapes employee productivity through motivation and providing an enabling working environment. The following article looks at the role company culture plays in keeping employees motivated in their work.

What is Company Culture?

This refers to the set of rules, standards, processes, shared beliefs, and common practices in a company. It functions to align all company activities with its mission statement.

Before we establish the link between company culture and employee motivation, we need to understand why people go to work in the first place. Generally, there are six primary factors that would prompt an individual to work.

Positive Motives

• Play- when you realize self-fulfillment in engaging in the work itself

• Purpose- when the outcome of the work seems to be in line with your identity as a person

• Potential- when the outcome of work helps your identity by enhancing your potential

Negative Motives

• Emotional pressure- working because you are afraid some external force poses a threat to your identity

• Economic pressure- when some external forces compel you to work in order to achieve a certain reward

• Inertia- when you are confused by the lack of motivation in your work and personal identity

Employee Motivation and Company Culture

Employee performance can be compared to student performance. Consider students with a love for gaining knowledge; they rarely miss out on classes and tend to engage teachers more with questions in the hope of expanding their scope of knowledge and ideas. In similar fashion, employees who love their jobs have lower cases of absenteeism, invest a lot more effort in their responsibilities and will go out of their way to team up with colleagues for the sake of achieving company goals.

When an employee feels that their direct boss and management in general have a vested interest in their personal welfare and not just the net business revenue, a sense of loyalty develops. They feel more embraced as a crucial piece in the company’s success and begin to buy into the mission and vision of the company. In this case, they will be propelled by a wave of positive energy to set and achieve higher goals, while embracing any challenges that come their way.

Company culture addresses all the six different factors that affect employee’s motivation to work. A culture that is committed to inspiring purpose, play and potential while suppressing economic pressure, emotional pressure and inertia is a winning formula that will result in higher employee performance and better customer service. This is true across all sectors of the job industry.

Conclusion

Having a great company culture will definitely enhance your competitive advantage as a business. It is the single best way of ensuring that all employees are equipped with the necessary tools for success and providing them with the optimal environment to work in and achieve the best they can be.

It is not obvious for workmates to relate well in a workplace. For people to embrace teamwork in any workplace, individuals have to incorporate essential skills that enhance cooperation. Without these skills, individuals may find it difficult to work as a team with other employees in the company.

The following are some of the essential teamwork skills in any company.

1. Active Listening

Active Listening involves a keen focus on both verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication of another person. To listen actively, you need to hold yourself from responding until when the other person is through with speaking. The best way to achieve active listening is by echoing the other person’s speech in your quiet internal voice. This skill also involves asking for clarification of the things that you don’t understand correctly.

2. Logical Argument

It is not easy to have a logical argument especially when arguing about a critical issue. A valid argument requires the involved parties to embrace consistent support for an idea or point that they present. You need to table your axioms and assumptions logically while presenting the reasons that make you support a particular direction of the argument.

3. Respect

You need to acknowledge that all your teammates are human and have to portray their human nature even in the workplace. When you respect your teammates, you do not have to chest-thump and show a rigid perspective of viewing things. Respect allows you to support your teammates even when they behave in a manner that aligns with their fundamental human nobility.

4. Questioning

It is imperative to frame and express questions when engaging your teammates. The style in which you ask a question portrays how you value your interaction with other employees at the workplace. It is easy to ask a question, but it’s a bit hard to ask a good question. It is wise to choose the tone and words that you use when asking questions to avoid offending the recipient. It is unhealthy to ask questions rudely or in a manner that puts the recipient in a defensive position.

5. Participating in teamwork tasks

An active member of a team must be actively involved in the functions that the other teammates undertake. Active participation is the aspect of feeling part and parcel of the team. When you are an active participant, you don’t find discussions boring or abstain from executing a decision that was collectively reached by the entire team. Stressful crisis can easily draw you out of the team. It is good to avoid thinking about family, school or other things when you are undertaking a team task.

6. Helping

Helping is the aspect of offering assistance to another person and make a follow-up to ensure that the person is at well. It is an essential skill to offer assistance to a member of your team when you notice that they have a problem. Helping can be in the form of actions or even verbal.

The skills discussed in this article are all essential for a healthy team working. A combination of these skills can make you a good team member.

Employee Loyalty is based on the ideology of obtaining employees who are committed to the prosperity of their organization. Employees also believe that no other organization could benefit them more than the one they are a part of. So how do you encourage employee loyalty? How can you restructure your organization to start tapping into the emotions of your employees?

Establishing an Employee Loyalty Program is a key component to implement in today's workforce. It can a make a vast impact on retention, engagement and even recruitment. Organizations should start by ensuring multiple criteria are met. One would be ensuring that your organization has suitable job conditions for your employees. Whether it be from office cleanliness to a positive work/life balance, ensuring the comfortability of your employees when spending 8 hours a day at the office is key.

Recognition and rewards are additional items to consider when designing your Employee Loyalty Problem that will help build the loyalty of your employees. This may be an obvious addition to your program but there is a right way and wrong way of doing this. For example, rather than giving an employee a promotion you can gather the organization together during a meeting and publicly recognize them with an award in front of colleagues. Either way the promotion will be received but what is different is the lasting impact to your employer, as well as other employees watching.

When focusing on the retention of your employees, an important question must be asked. Is your organization providing opportunities for growth and development? Promoting from within encourages employees to work harder, as well as gives them a sense of opportunity within the organization. When employees notice that they can be promoted at any time within the organization, it creates a fire within them to give the organization their 100%

The program should also focus on ensuring fair treatment for all employers. It should encompass everything within the loyalty program. Ensure there is no favoritism in the workplace to avoid resentment from others. To ensure that the employee feels valued, listening to all your employees is key for them to feel like their feedback is important. Train your leadership to treat all employers like an equal.

The overall goal of the Employee Loyalty Program is to minimize or eliminate employee turnover. Employee turnover is notably costly and can affect your bottom line. So identify the reasoning behind the departure of the employees and utilize the information as a foundation to your program. Build the program from the foundation and up with your employees in mind and prepare for happier and more efficient employees.

If you are like many business professionals, you are interested in hearing honest feedback from your employees. You know that their true thoughts and feelings about their work, fellow workers, and the company as a whole can have a big impact on productivity.

No doubt you would like to improve the type of feedback you receive from your employees. With everything else on your plate, though, you may wonder where to start.

Not to worry—here are 4 easy things you can do to get the ball rolling today.

4 Ways to Improve Employee Feedback

1.  Establish an open door policy. It is crucial to convey to your employees that they are always welcome to provide feedback. Let them know that even if you seem busy, they should feel free to inquire at any time whether they could have a few minutes to speak with you. Make it clear that this is especially true if they have feedback of an urgent nature or that you may not want to hear, as the feedback that is hardest to deliver is often the most needed.

1.  Listen with your heart. Try to look beyond the actual words. Discern the feelings behind what an employee is telling you. Use open-ended questions, such as: "What happened next? How did that make you feel at the time? How do you feel about it now, after the fact?" When you listen with empathy, your employees will feel safe and will be more likely to provide additional honest feedback in the future.

1.  Follow up on feedback received. While it is crucial to genuinely listen, it is just as important to take action on anything that needs to be addressed. Let your employees know that their concerns matter to you. Assure them that you will look into any issues they report and will take appropriate action. Then keep your word and follow through. Doing so speaks volumes, sending the message that you truly want to receive their feedback.

1.  Take the initiative to solicit feedback. Do not wait for problems to find you. Actively seek feedback by asking for it. If you have already taken the steps listed above, your employees will likely know that you are sincere when you ask for further feedback. You might even consider scheduling a time each week or month to meet with them, letting them know that this time is dedicated to hearing from them.

Final Thoughts

These are just a few of the many things you can do to improve employee feedback. There are many other steps you can take, as well. The important thing is to start right away and adapt as you go along. Rest assured that if you do, your employees will thank you—often times, quite literally.

A little recognition can go a long way toward making your employees happy. By showing your people that they are appreciated, you can improve morale and productivity, and you can also reduce employee turnover. What's more, it does not have to cost you a fortune. Here are 4 tips for recognizing your employees:

1. Gift Cards

Everybody loves gift cards, and they are the perfect thank you for a job well done. They do not cost a lot and they show employees they are appreciated in a very tangible way. They are especially useful during the holiday season, as people can re-gift them or use them to buy gifts for others. There are also a wide variety of different cards you can hand out, so you can choose something a little different each time.

2. Award Plaques

Nothing says you are appreciated more than an award plaque. Whether you present them on a monthly basis or as special recognition, awards are something your employees can hang in their office spaces or in common areas, and they can look upon them with pride. They also do not cost much. 

3. Public Praise

People love seeing their names in lights, especially as a reward for their efforts. The easiest way to do this is to give them a shout out on the homepage of your company's website. This costs you nothing but a little time, and it is something that employees (as well as their family and friends) can happily point at. They might even share a link to it on social media, which could generate some exposure for your business. You might also want to post praise in public areas of your business.

4. Company Breakfasts

Food is always a good way to show appreciation. So, consider providing breakfast for those employees who have put in an extra-special effort, or for those who have done an incredible job the entire month. You can even let them choose their breakfast by handing out menus, or you can make it yourself. Not only will providing breakfast not cost you a lot of money, but you can be certain that your employees will show up early for it.

In conclusion, it does not take a lot of time or money to show your employees that they are appreciated. All it really takes is a little thought, and this can reap big benefits for your business.

High employee morale is an important component of a satisfied employee. Because morale affects so many aspects of a company, it should be constantly monitored by management. It's no secret that employers are on the receiving end of the benefits that result from people being happy at work. Companies also need to remember that low employee morale can have a negative effect on their bottom line.

High morale is important because of its role in keeping absenteeism low. Employees are much more likely to call into work, even when they aren't sick, when they want to avoid the office. Employers can't expect to get the most out of their employees if they aren't even there. In some workplaces, such as restaurants, other employees need to be called in when people are absent. This can lead to a scheduling nightmare as well as poor customer service if the establishment is understaffed.

On a similar note, unhappy employees are more likely to quit. This costs the company money in terms of constant hiring and training of new workers. If a company has good workers, it is much easier to make adjustments to keep those employees happy than to replace them. People who love their work are less likely to separate from employment.

A company that is known to have low morale may find themselves unable to meet staffing needs. Job searchers are less likely to apply for a job at an employer they've heard bad things about. If employees are unhappy, they commiserate with each other. This can make discontent spread around the workplace. Employees may also discuss their dissatisfaction with family and friends, which can lead to fewer applicants in the long run.

Productivity is positively affected by morale. Happy employees are productive and work hard to make their employers money. If employees have positive feelings toward their company, they will want their employer to succeed. If they feel the company's success will result in positive results for them, they will work hard. One great tool adopted by some of the world's largest companies are corporate awards and trophies designed to recognize and motivate staff members. Crystal awards are very popular and frequently used to honor top achievement.

A safer work environment is another benefit of high employee morale. Employers who are happy and engaged are much more attentive in their work. Boredom and depression rarely have a positive impact on safety on the job. When workers are distracted or can't focus because they wish they were somewhere else, accidents can happen.

Satisfied employees pay more attention to detail. If staff members actually enjoy their work and are interested in it, they will be more attentive. Fewer mistakes are made by employees, which translates into higher profits for the company.

Low employee morale often leads to employees working slower because they don't have the desire to hustle. In business, time is money. If workers are being lazy or just working slower than needed, this will cost the company. Employers should try to increase employee morale if this is the case. If employees can be convinced that they don't want to let down their team, they will be more motivated to do their fair share.

Employee recognition is vital to giving employees incentive to perform their job efficiently. An employer can give their employees added conveniences that are not expensive at all. Applying just a few of these ideas will greatly increase productivity in the work place.

1. Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Every time an employee helps another employee out, add their name on a piece of paper to a bucket list. The one with the most recognition slips is most likely to win a free meal, or whatever prize, at the end of the week.

2. Social Media

If an employer has a social media website, such as on Facebook, they can give their employee free publicity online. Highlight what they've accomplished so that everyone will know. If the employee consents, they can have their picture put up as well.

3. Birthday Celebration

Any employee would highly appreciate a day off on their birthday, so surprise them with a day off on their birthday, plus maybe a birthday cake the next day. Alternatively, they could know in advance, so they can make birthday plans.

4. Surprise Treats

A surprise treat can be something like a candy bar or some other great snack. When they accomplish an exceptionally productive day, reward them with a surprise snack. To be safe, give these surprise treats to the individual privately.

5. Employee Recognition Day

Better yet, the employer can treat it as a group effort, rewarding employees with an employee recognition day, where they spend the day eating, gaining awards and doing team activities. This event could be spent at places other than the work facility, such as a simple park.

6. Wall of Fame

A great, original way to reward employees and increase incentive is to put their name and picture up on an employee of the month wall, or something to the like. This will encourage employees to compete with each other in a positive way.

7. Trophy Award

There are many cool employee trophy awards that one can buy at EDCO Awards & Specialties. The awards come in many different designs, colors and levels of recognition. If one wants, they can add a bonus check as well, even if it's just 50 dollars.

8. Daily Refreshments

Just daily refreshments alone, such as donuts in the morning and cool drinks in the hot afternoon, will go a very long way in boosting employee productivity in many ways. Breaks have been shown in numerous studies to boost productivity as well.

9. VIP Parking Spot

The employee of the month can get rewarded with VIP parking to their job for the time they're employee of the month. Employees will strive for that VIP parking.

10. Annual Vacation Time Award

This is a great method for employers to increase long-term productivity of their employees. Simply award the winner, however the system may work, with a whole week of work-off vacation time once a year.

Businesses and companies too often forget about the importance of employee recognition and the effects it can have on employees and job performance. Many businesses think they're saving time and money by skipping out on employee recognition programs, but in the long run, they're actually losing out on time, money, work quality, and employee retention. It's important to take the time to appreciate an employee's hard work in order to better improve the company and business as a whole. Here are five reasons why employee recognition is so important.

Improved Productivity

Implementing employee recognition and reward programs can let them know that the company values their work. Exemplary employees can rest easy knowing their extra effort will not go unappreciated. Through a recognition program, employees will understand what standards they are required to work under and what is considered above average work. Knowing these two keys will improve their productivity and work quality since they will strive to achieve recognition through the program. Companies with no recognition programs will always receive the same lackluster work from their employees since they know that hard work is not being rewarded.

Establishes Teamwork

With an employee recognition program, a sense of teamwork among workers is greatly enhanced. Producing excellent and recognition-worthy work to improve the company and business gives them a sense of unity and need for teamwork. Employees who strive to have their work recognized through the program will also be more willing to help out their co-workers when they need assistance. If there is no recognition program in place, employees will be less willing to help each other out and will adopt an "every man for himself policy" when it comes to workload. Their extra efforts aren't being recognized, so they see no point in assisting their fellow co-workers.

Comfort Within Work Environment

There are a number of ways to show employee recognition and it doesn't have to be necessarily through a program or rewards. It can be through free amenities and services offered in the workplace. If employees have access to these facilities, they will be more comfortable in their work setting. This will help in creating happier employees, which in turn will produce better work. Even through the simple employee recognition program, employees will still find comfort and happiness in the work environment knowing their hard work going appreciated.

Friendly Competition

Implementing a way to recognize your employees can help establish a sense of friendly competition among them. In the bigger picture, this friendly competition serves as a way to see who can produce the best quality work efficiently and consistently. This will perpetuate the quality of work, constantly improving it and the skills of your employees. Be sure to implement the recognition program correctly and let your employees know the standards on which they will be judged upon. Picking an employee at random to be recognized will make them grow bitter towards each other since a lackluster and lazy employee could be recognized over one that goes the extra mile.

High-Quality Employees

It's no secret that the best businesses and companies boast the best and happiest workforce. They also have multiple forms of employee recognition implemented. Employees want to work hard for great companies with excellent employee recognition programs and services. They will compete against other potential employees and produce the highest quality work in order to secure their spot in a great company. Recognition programs will also help your business retain hard working employees since they understand their work is being valued. Workers often leave companies because they feel as if they company doesn't care about them, which makes them feel the same way about the business. They want to move onto better companies.

Many employees are disengaged at the workplace. With family obligations and monthly expenses, most people are driven to work out of necessity. Very few people are as loyal to the company as they are to the benefits, compensation, and core values of the business. This is problematic for companies who have a need to keep their turnover costs low. Increasing employee engagement is essential, and one effective way to do that is through employee recognition awards.

Facts about employee motivation

Approximately 80 percent of employees tied the presence of a rewards program to feeling valued by their employers. Another 70 percent of employees admit that they would work a little bit harder if there were some sort of incentive program in place. In a 2014 survey, 50 percent of employees report feeling valued by their employer.

Importance of understanding the employee

Many employers mess up in offering rewards that aren’t aligned with what employees would find desirable. Personalized rewards will be better received by employees than those provided without giving much thought. Gifts that are a surprise and well outside of the normal incentives expected are wonderful ways to influence behavior. Consider the culture of your staff in addition to the budget.

Benefits of an incentive program

Communicating corporate values is something that is done during the onboarding process. It must be reinforced in order to encourage team members to adopt the culture. Incentives are a good way to tie culture to specific actions that can be taken by employees. You can encourage assimilation with targeted rewards.

When you lose an employee, it costs money to recruit and train a new employee. That’s very expensive for some companies. Research shows that companies with recognition programs experience a 31 percent lower voluntary turnover rate than companies who don’t have a recognition program in place. Companies save money by retaining top talent.

Productivity is tied to employee effort in some cases. Incenting employees to give their best effort through recognition program will improve efficiency and your company’s bottom line. It is much easier to encourage employees to achieve when you have desirable rewards being offered.

Replacing key employees is expensive. Recruitment is costly. Time spent vetting candidates and hiring them requires a significant investment in time and resources. Making a company desirable to employees requires the use of tools like incentive programs. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to remain onboard.