3 ways to motivate your workforce

Be it personal problems, a career slump, or just having a bad day, there are a lot of factors that can impact negatively on an employee’s motivation, and the implications on business can be surprisingly far-reaching.

Disinterested, disengaged employees are estimated to cost the UK economy around £340 billion every year – so making sure your workforce stays motivated is key.

Here are our three top tips for keeping your workforce happy, engaged and productive.

1) Communicate

In order to keep staff engaged, it’s vital to actually understand them – and what motivates them – first.

A well workplace is usually one where employees feel they can express their opinions and that their voices will be heard, and they are likely to feel more engaged if kept a part of the broader company conversation.

Asking your employees what they want to achieve and helping them to achieve it, as well as sharing company plans and values can be key to getting them excited about and engaged with work again.

Employee engagement platforms can help open up communication not only between staff and leadership, but between different teams as well, helping employees feel more connected to the company. Enabling a two-way conversation can have a dramatic impact on improving the employee experience, and is fundamental in maintaining motivation.

2) Support

If employees are really struggling with motivation, it’s important to address the key causes and be supportive in the process of resolving them.

Ideally, a wellness programme will offer a comprehensive range of preventative measures, giving advice on tackling tough personal and professional problems, helping identify risk and providing health coaching and tracking.

Sometimes, though, more intensive measures are needed, and being sensitive to employees’ needs – be they time off, flexible hours, or clinical help – will help them to feel valued. Providing a broad Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) with a personalised approach to counselling and care will help get employees back on the right track faster.

3) Reward

According to Gallup, a lack of recognition is the number one reason that employees leave their jobs. Implementing a comprehensive reward and recognitions strategy is common sense – if your employees’ hard work is going unnoticed, they’ll be far less motivated to continue going the extra mile.

Recognition can come from anyone in the workforce, not just the leadership, and social recognition that allows colleagues to congratulate each other can be not only reassuring, but empowering.

Gone are the days of paper-based, annual reviews – rewarding excellence on the spot and offering perks tailored to your workforce instead is far more effective, and far more meaningful to the people receiving them. Restaurant and retail discounts can make a real difference to employees in a way that matters to them, ensuring they stay motivated and engaged both at work and at home.

This article was provided by LifeWorks.