Techniques to Improve Motivation of Employees

Introduction
Employee motivation is a factor emanating from commitment and creativity to allow workers to pursue work-related goals. One of the continuing challenges at workplaces, especially for managers and supervisors, is employee motivation. It mostly happens in work environments with no emphasis on employee satisfaction as part of a company’s strategy. Managers and supervisors should recognize their powers to draw forth the best that employees can offer. All employees should feel recognized, motivated, rewarded and supported for them to work efficiently. As a manager or supervisor, no work environment always supports individual efforts geared towards motivating employees to work hard. Even the most supportive work environment is capable of posing challenges when it comes to improving the motivation of employees. However, employers can still create appropriate environment for enhancing employee motivation.
Techniques to Improve Motivation of Employees
Communication
Employers need to communicate with employees effectively and responsibly. All employees want first-hand information necessary to do their jobs and make good decisions related to their work. Employers should stop by workplaces to determine any existing changes associated with increased employee communication. The latter helps employees develop clear understanding of what the changes mean for their work, and decisions related to their job and time. There is also a need to organize one-on-one meetings with all employees on a weekly basis as they report to their supervisors. Let them prepare with questions and ideas for betterment of their work. Encourage them to always request for support and information to enhance work efficiency. Meet employees and update them on the company’s goals, providing them with information that can positively affect their work. Change training opportunities, due dates, updates, product improvements and customer feedback. Communication should be done on a daily basis with each and every employee in your company. Greet employees in the morning as that can allow them to easily and freely engage with the employer (Weitz et al., 1986).
Encourage communication with executive and senior managers. Employees find communicating and interacting with executive and senior managers motivational. The role of executive managers is to attract employees and get them to work effortlessly. Implementation of an open door policy for communication should be encouraged amongst staff to share ideas, discuss concerns, share information and talk to each other freely. Let executive managers understand employees’ problems and how they can be solved, listening carefully to what they say. Congratulate staffs on life issues such as inquiring about trips, new babies, and asking about their personal life to ensure they can work diligently without distractions. Caring enough about employees’ personal activities and events motivates them. Communicate with employees frequently, openly and honestly as a better way of improving their motivation. Periodically hold meetings and communicate with them. Wander around the workplace and engage with workers to show interest in what they do.
Creation of Opportunities for Employee Skills Development
Employers should provide opportunities for their employees to develop their abilities and skills. Employees usually want to continually develop their skills and knowledge. Opportunities should be provided to employees to cross-train in other relevant responsibilities and roles. Backup responsibilities for projects and tasks should be assigned to workers. Let employees attend all important meetings, including those that their supervisors attend. All employees must have goals that they want to pursue as part of a performance development plan. Allow employees to get involved in meetings, activities and other interesting events. Employees can learn a lot and gain experiences from attending executive meetings with their employer. Reassign the responsibilities employees don’t find appealing and those that seem like routines. New employees, interns and those working on contracts can either find their work rewarding or challenging (Mani, 2002).
Opportunities for Take-on and Self-Managed Responsibilities
Based on the nature of work, employees can gain motivation. They require independence in decision making as they work on accomplishing their jobs. Employees should spend more time with their employer as this kind of attention can be rewarding to them. In higher level meetings, allow employees to be heard, providing increased accessibility to desirable and important projects and meetings. Provide more opportunities for workers to make decisions and self-manage. Facilitate effective ongoing communication and delegate decision making, demanding for feedback from workers. Assign responsibilities to employees to grow their knowledge and skills. Provide more information, including all employees on mailing lists in company briefings. Let different employees head teams and projects, and assign reporting staffs under their direct supervision. Also offer opportunities, with impacts on a company’s goals and priorities, to various workers.
Address Complaints and Concerns of Employees
Address employee concerns and complaints before the workplace becomes dysfunctional. Employers must listen to employees’ complaints, keeping them informed on how the concerns are handled to produce a motivating working environment. Even if the concern is not resolved to an employee’s satisfaction, the fact that it was addressed and feedback provided can make employees feel appreciated. Keep communication doors open to allow employees to easily approach the management with legitimate questions and concerns. Addressing employees’ concerns and providing feedback on the status of their expressed complaints is important in improving their motivation. Nothing demoralizes an employee more than the feeling that their legitimate complaints are ignored (Couger et al., 1993).
Providing Awards and Recognition to Employees
One of the things high on employee needs list is recognition of their performance as a technique to improving their motivation. Most supervisors equate recognition and awards with monetary gifts. Besides employees appreciating monetary gifts, they also love written and verbal praises, including a ‘thank you’ message from the supervisors. Write a ‘thank you’ note to employees, specifically indicating their contribution in details to reinforce communication and the behaviors employers would want to continue seeing in the workers. A small token of appreciation to employees in the form of cards and candies can make their day in the workplace. Don’t forget to praise and recognize employees’ contribution in the workplace verbally (Mani, 2002).
Conclusion
Fostering supervisor-employee relationships can improve employee motivation. Employees enjoy working with their superiors in an environment that is involved and responsive. Managers and supervisors responsible for overseeing employees’ work have interest in employee motivation. Paying attention to the above mentioned techniques to improving employee motivation can help win excited, contributing and motivated employees. Before cancelling regular meetings, stop by employees’ work areas to apologize and give them reasons for the cancellation. Missing regular meetings sends a message of disrespect to employees.
As an employer, engage in daily talks with employees having lower job ranks. It can build up the relationship between the employer and the employees, improving on their performance. Always encourage employees that share ideas for workplace improvement. Don’t forget that non-verbal communication conveys honesty in response to employees’ concerns and ideas. Another important factor to improving motivation of employees is a supervisor’s relationship with reporting staffs. Prioritize employee concerns to improve their motivation, providing a work environment with increased productivity. Pay close attention to employees’ concerns, ask them questions on the areas that require clarification. Avoid negative reactions such as insulting, partial attention and eye rolling because they can easily demoralize workers, affecting work productivity.


References
Couger, J. D., Higgins, L. F., & McIntyre, S. C. (1993). (Un) structured creativity in information systems organizations. Mis Quarterly, 375-397.
Mani, B. G. (2002). Performance appraisal systems, productivity, and motivation: A case study. Public Personnel Management, 31(2), 141-159.
Weitz, B. A., Sujan, H., & Sujan, M. (1986). Knowledge, motivation, and adaptive behavior: A framework for improving selling effectiveness. The Journal of marketing, 174-191.