30 Jul 2018

Five simple ways to motivate your employees

Employee motivation is so important. It leads to happier, more focused and productive workers – which is what every company needs. To give a boost to employee motivation, you’ll need to look at two key areas: how you can combat challenges to engagement, and how you can use employee benefits to make a real difference in the workplace.

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The challenges employers face with motivating and engaging staff

According to Gallup’s State of the Workplace report (2017), only 11 per cent of British workers reported that they are engaged in the workplace – showing that there is a real problem with employee engagement in the UK. If employees are less engaged, they’re less likely to feel motivated and this has a direct impact on productivity and the quality of work. This helps explain why the UK features near the bottom of productivity league tables.

The problem is that many employees don’t feel they are being recognised for their work and that their individual contributions are underappreciated. As a result, employers don’t get the best out of their staff. This can also have a negative impact on morale and company culture across the whole business.

Kickstart with benefits

Employee motivation can of course be improved. With the growth of digitisation it’s never been easier to engage with staff to demonstrate the rewards they get through work and to help them to feel valued, involved and supported. There are many employee benefits that can be introduced to improve engagement and cost no more a month than what employers spend on providing tea and coffee.

Here are five simple ways to motivate your employees:

1. Incentivise – introduce benefits that help salaries go further such as retail discounts and access to cheap borrowing. Performance-based rewards are also a proven motivator.

2. Communication – introduce a benefits platform to help ensure that everyone understands what is trying to be achieved and how they fit into it all. Make sure that your employees know what the bigger picture is – what your company’s main goals and objectives are.

3. Be positive and encouraging – recognition is hugely important to keep staff motivated. Benefit platforms can include recognition tools to acknowledge individuals who have done well. Having a positive culture at your workplace encourages staff to stay and is also important in encouraging new talent to join.

4. Focus on the individual – trust your employees, speak to them, and ensure they don’t feel ignored, and simply one of the many. Make sure their opinions and feedback is heard. Having an open-door policy is one way to help achieve this.

5. Reward – introduce paid-for employee benefits to reward great work and to ensure your employees know they are appreciated and are a valued member of the team. Benefits such as group life insurance provide financial protection and security, cash plans provide physical health and wellbeing. But there are so many benefits to choose from to suit your company. Introducing employee benefits can be a great way to retain employees and to recruit talent in a competitive job market.

It can be very easy and simple to motivate your employees with the right tools and incentives. Keep it simple, start today, and keep in mind that it doesn’t have to cost the earth to completely change the way your employees feel.

This article was provided by Busy Bees Benefits.