4 Ways to Motivate Employees: Why Money Isn’t the Best Incentive

Consumed with efforts aimed at keeping their companies afloat, it can be easy for supervisors and managers to get caught up in systems, strategies and the tasks at hand, and ignore their employees.

Yet many employees are stressed and overwhelmed—and motivating and engaging your employees may be one of the most strategic roles you play.

• Frequent thanks and praise can achieve the same impact as a 1% pay increase
• A recent study found that participants who received praise showed a significantly higher rate of improvement on subsequent attempts to perform a target task relative to participants who received no praise.¹

The rewards are enormous but the process of motivating employees doesn't have to be time consuming or costly. Here are four affordable techniques you can try:

1. Offer regular recognition and low-cost rewards.

"Mark Twain said, 'I can live for two months on a good compliment,'" says Deb Wood, senior EAP consultant for VITAL WorkLife. "The best compliments are sincere, work-related (praising good ideas, communication skills, or a job well done rather than appearance) and made in front of other employees."

Wood suggests:

• Offering regular, timely verbal positive reinforcement
• Passing along positive feedback from others
• Providing recognition in an e-mail and then copying a member of administration
• Making time at team meetings for people to share success stories with one another
• Recognizing and celebrating your own accomplishments

"If you want to add a reward along with the compliment, consider giving low-cost items such as printed certificates, handwritten thank you notes, or gift cards for coffee or frozen yogurt," says Wood. "Many employees appreciate getting an afternoon off with pay."

2. Provide new challenges and opportunities for involvement

Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." One hundred years later, most top performers would agree.

Encourage employees to go outside the comfort zone and assume new role and duties:

• Assign greater decision-making responsibilities, and responsibility for the work at hand
• Offer new leadership or mentoring opportunities
• Encourage employees to participate in problem-solving or product development teams
• Offer a big picture view of company challenges and initiative and keep your employees informed
• Whenever possible and reasonable, implement employee-suggested changes and give credit where credit is due

3. Be respectful

Nothing is more disengaging than disrespectful behavior—which includes being ignored. "When you're walking guests through your department, do you take time to introduce them to your employees?" asks Wood. "It might take a few minutes longer, but showing pride in your staff is an effective means of boosting employee morale and engagement." Wood also recommends:

• Taking time to listen to employee concerns, especially related to survivor syndrome when there have been layoffs or reductions in force
• Taking an interest in employees' lives outside of work
• Thinking twice before interrupting employees in their work
• Keeping appropriate professional boundaries
• Avoiding anger and other exaggerated emotions when providing feedback

4. Encourage professional development and support work/life balance

These two goals may seem at odds, but stressing the importance of having a life outside work—and having goals beyond their current positions—is a good way to keep employees motivated and engaged.

Managers can encourage professional development by helping employees to set goal and create a plan for attaining those goals—which may include everything from online learning opportunities and in-service trainings to developmental opportunities on department projects.

"Encourage your reports to call us at VITAL WorkLife for guidance around professional development," says Wood. "We're here, night and day, to help employees get the information, coaching and resources they need to take their careers to the next level. Our assistance is free to you, your reports and your family as part of your VITAL WorkLife EAP."

For more information or assistance with a professional development or employee engagement issue, call 1.800.383.1908 and ask to speak to an EAP counselor today.

Contact us to access your resources and get the support you need.

Sources:
¹Sugawara SK, Tanaka S, Okazaki S, Watanabe K, Sadato N (2012) Social Rewards Enhance Offline Improvements in Motor Skill. PLoS ONE 7(11): e48174. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0048174