How to Motivate Your Employees the Right Way

Business owners have been trying to motivate their employees ever since the first business was created. For ages, employers have simply offered two methods of motivation. The first method is in the form of incentives by paying wages and other benefits. The other method is by threatening punishment in the form of suspension, firing, or other means. These two methods tend to not be satisfying to either the employer or the employees. The employees typically feel that they are not paid enough for their efforts and the employers feel that they are overpaying and only trying to keep the workers on the job.

The problem with this system is how both sides perceive the situation. There are reasons why people show up for work. People do not work for money; they work in order to earn money. As it is, money cannot create work or force anyone to work for it. Employers need to understand the reasons why workers need to earn money. The result would be more productive employees and a business that is more profitable. Oftentimes an employer cannot pay their employees their true value to the company and remain in business, but there are other important considerations.

For most of American history people either worked and did what their boss said, or they were fired and either found another job or went bankrupt. But, in recent years, the concept of job satisfaction has weaved its way into the workforce. Today, employees now have such luxuries as choices, rights, others fighting on their behalf, and even mobility. In order for employers to keep good employees, they have to integrate a new strategy that involves two ideas. The first is hygiene and the second is motivation.

In this context, hygiene simply means avoiding dissatisfaction in the workplace. This can be accomplished in several ways. The first way is by developing policies that are applied fairly and equally to all employees and that are easy to understand. The second way is to ensure that management applies supervision in a fair and balanced manner. Providing competitive salaries and wages is another way to integrate hygiene into the workplace. And lastly, another way to accomplish this is to provide a comfortable workplace that allows employees their own personal space.

The second idea mentioned for keeping good employees is motivation. There are also several ways to keep employees motivated. The first way is by examining the work itself and to concentrate on the things that are necessary and eliminate those things that are unnecessary. The second way is to base achievements on the worker's abilities and offer goals that are reachable. The next way seems like common sense but is rarely practiced and that is recognizing and praising an employee when they have done a good job. Also, employees can become very motivated when they are given responsibility even if it is only the freedom and power to perform their assigned duties. Lastly, employees should be rewarded with advancement for their loyalty to the company and their overall performance.

Hygiene, or avoiding dissatisfaction in the workplace, should be the first area of concentration, and then consider ways to keep employees motivated. The reason is that when employees are dissatisfied, any motivational steps taken will simply be useless, as they cannot overcome the dissatisfaction. Once employees are no longer dissatisfied, the steps to provide motivation become powerful tools that result in productive employees that are loyal to the company. While these ideas may seem simple, they have proven to be highly effective and usually result in saving money for those companies that implement them.