Top tips to enhance motivation and productivity in the workplace
We cannot underestimate the importance of motivation and productivity in the workplace. An effective motivation strategy helps improve productivity and positively impacts the overall success of any organization. On the other side, employees' burnout leads to high employee turnover rates and growing expenses on hiring process and onboarding.
However, before we start sharing useful tips which will help improve motivation and productivity in the workplace let's clarify what the employee motivation is.
What is employee motivation in the workplace?
Employee motivation is a kind of encouragement for workers to perform better. There are two types of motivation: extrinsic and self-motivation (intrinsic). Self-motivation is whereby employees are passionate about their job and are driven to perform different tasks. On the other side, in case of extrinsic motivation, employees are only driven by external elements such as bonuses, promotions or getting praised for their results.
Thus, taking this into account we can make a conclusion that self-motivation is more sustainable in the long run.
Main strategies for enhancing motivation in the workplace
There is a variety of strategies to motivate employees and increase their productivity. Let's see what kind of strategies are the best both for in-office and distributed teams.
Set measurable goals
Long running projects can demotivate when no visible progress is seen. However, if you divide them into smaller sprints, it will be easier to track progress. As a result, this will improve motivation as clear and achievable goals help employees to see their accomplishments.
At the same time, allowing some flexibility will significantly raise employee performance and help them achieve work-life balance. While working during convenient shifts, they will be better motivated and concentrated on completing their projects.
Encourage teamwork
For many employees a strong sense of community is one of the main reasons to stay loyal to the organization. An ability to work together, support one another, celebrate achievements and just have a supportive team around motivates employees to show better results.
Effective communication is one of the most important parts of successful teamwork. When employees have the right tools to communicate, exchange ideas, assign tasks and track them, it creates a positive environment for efficient and productive collaboration in the workplace.
Create positive working environment
Positive working environment is integral part of any employee motivation strategy. It directly affects productivity and boosts motivation. As a result, this considerably minimizes turnover and helps organize productive teamwork when employees effectively communicate and collaborate.
It is a well-known fact that positiveness and happiness can have an immediate effect on work experience, relationships, productivity, engagement and motivation.
Provide feedback, educational and self-development opportunities
Feedback both positive and negative can be a great instrument in fostering self-efficiency. While positive feedback is a 100% motivator, negative feedback may likely have the reverse effect. Thus, it is important to make it constructive and give a chance to employees to improve their results and get positive feedback.
Self-development and career opportunities can significantly affect how motivated employees feel about their jobs. Opportunities for career advancement greatly motivate and increase productivity. At the same time, effective learning strategies and chances to get new skills benefit both employee and organization success.
Recognize great results
Great results should not remain unnoticed. If this happens, it demotivates not only the person who achieved them, but also the whole team. A meticulously planned bonus and reward strategy will bring its results and will make a direct impact on self-motivation among employees.
Apart from financial rewards, recognition can also include paid time off, thank-you notices or verbal acknowledgement. It will be a good idea to recognize any well-done job, not only the one when employees go above and beyond.
Allow work flexibility
For many employees it is important to work whenever it is convenient for them. Thus, flexible shifts can be a good motivation when people can concentrate on the work they do after solving their personal issues. As long as your employees do their job on time and effectively, you can let them have their own plan and schedule instead of forcing them to work under the tight schedule you set.
Remote working is another popular trend today. Many employees prefer working from home instead of wasting their time getting to the office. However, this type of work presents challenges in keeping your team motivated. On the other side, if you develop an effective strategy for managing your remote and distributed teams, you will see a significant growth of productivity.
Listen to your employees
Listening does not mean collecting complaints. Your employees may have various helpful suggestions or business development ideas which they will be glad to share. Thus, collecting feedback is not always enough. It may be a great idea to schedule brainstorms and give an opportunity for anyone to talk to a manager not only about current tasks but also about the things they would like to improve.
What can we learn from popular companies?
Here are some examples of how large organizations motivate their employees and take care of their well-being.
Coca-Cola
The highest priority for Coca-Cola is the well-being of their employees as the company's success depends directly on motivated and committed employees. To raise motivation and productivity in the workplace Coca-Cola offers such benefits as:
- Tuition reimbursement. A renewable graduation finance fund;
- Discounts for the purchase of cars and dry-cleaning service on the company's premises.
Netflix
The secret of high productivity and employee retention at Netflix is in innovative HR practices. Their approach can be a great example for organizations aiming to improve their employee satisfaction rate. So, what does the human resources department at Netflix do to achieve this goal?
- Netflix keeps their employees happy and productive by fostering a culture of freedom and responsibility;
- Transparency and communication are one of the highest priorities as it helps to keep employees more connected to company's missions and goals;
- Employee development and career growth programs help employees to advance in their careers;
- The ability to listen to employees helps Netflix to gather valuable feedback and create a more motivated and productive workforce.
Google's approach to employee motivation is very unusual and unique. Besides various material benefits they raise self-motivation by offering employees to spend 20% of their time on the projects they are interested in. Google has made this way some of its most popular products, like Gmail, Google Maps, and Google News. Besides self-motivation Google also offers free meals, gym on site and wellness programs.
A wide range of reward programs encourage employees to try new things, take risks and bring innovations. Google offers a workspace which attracts talented people who are not afraid of taking experiments and making inventions.
Conclusion
Enhancing motivation and productivity in the workplace requires not only well-thought-out motivation strategy, but also effective communication among team members and managers. Start by understanding what drives your employees to preform better and use your findings to create the strategy which will result in long-term motivation and productivity enhancement.