Employee motivation should be your priority for your organization to be successful. It’s what drives your employees to give their best at their job. Without it, you can experience reduced productivity and increased turnover which will, in turn, contribute to missing set goals.
In this article, we will try to explain the importance of employee motivation, how to improve and maintain it.
What Exactly Is Employee Motivation?
Motivation can be defined as stimulating, inspiring, and inducing the employees to perform to their best capacity.
It is the level of commitment, energy, and innovation your workers present during their working day. As a psychological state of mind, it’s not something that can be forcefully imposed.
Instead, leadership must find the incentives or techniques to motivate the people in the organization. Something that is easier said than done, as not all tasks are interesting or exciting for those that need to complete them.
Why Is Employee Motivation so important?
Employees with a low level of motivation work at a slower pace, and spend more time idling on their phones or surfing the internet than on their assigned tasks. More importantly, even when they are doing what they are supposed to, they rarely meet expectations or work at their full potential.
You can see how this can be a problem. First, you are wasting resources as tasks and deadlines fall behind schedule. Additionally, this could have a negative effect on other employees, dragging down the overall morale of your workforce.
On the other hand, motivated employees are enthusiastic, driven, and take pride in their work. Tasks are accomplished quickly, as they thrive on progress for themselves, but also for the company.
No matter if your company is doing well, the benefits of motivating employees in an organization remain undisputable. Once motivation drops, revenue and growth decreasing could soon follow.
Benefits Of High Employee Motivation
Let’s go through the main benefits of having a motivated workforce at your disposal:
Better Productivity
One of the key benefits of the importance of employee motivation lies in increased productivity. Employees that feel motivated work faster and more efficiently, wasting a minimum amount of time and resources to achieve their goals. Statistics show that offices with more engaged employees were 43% more productive compared to the others.
The motivation narrows the gap between the ability to work and willingness to work, as the desire to do better always improves efficiency.
Increased Innovation
Not only will your workers be more productive, but higher levels of motivation will, in turn, increase their problem-solving abilities.
When motivated, employees become much more focused on the work they are providing, coming out with innovative methods to boost output.
Less Employee Turnover
As we’ve discussed previously, a high employee turnover rate is detrimental to your business. It’s expensive and time-consuming. A 5% increase in employee retention can generate a 25% to 85% increase in profitability.
However, motivated employees are happier with their working lives and have a goal that they are working towards. Therefore, they are less likely to seek out for a new job whenever something negative happens at the workplace.
Increased Reputation For Successful Recruitment
A key aspect of your recruitment process lies in the image your current or former employees spread on social media, which has become inevitable in the job searching process.
And herein lies the importance of employee motivation – motivated employees are likely to talk about the work they genuinely enjoy, leaving a positive digital footprint of your company. You are more likely to attract quality staff if your good reputation precedes you.
How do you motivate your employees?
Knowing how to motivate your workforce will help ensure they’re enthusiastically bringing their best efforts each day. This will help the company meet its goals, whatever they might be.
But let’s talk about motivation in practical terms. What does it actually look like? There are many ways modern leaders can motivate their employees to deliver their best every day – here are just a few of them.
Show You Are Committed To Employee Happiness
Ensuring your employees have a welcoming atmosphere in which to perform their duties, flexible scheduling, opportunities to unwind, and reasonable employee benefits packages that meet their daily needs will make them happy.
More than 4 out of 10 (42%) employees consider rewards and recognition program opportunities when seeking employment.
It is important that you constantly stay on top of these things and be transparent that you are trying to improve their wellbeing at all times.
Be Transparent About Your Vision
A clear destination will help your workforce to get motivated through their journey, so make sure you share it with them. Only 40% of employees are well informed of their company’s goals, strategy, and tactics.
Your employees will equally appreciate it if you explain why certain decisions are made within the work process. When everyone knows how their individual actions can personally add to the overall goal of the company, it brings much-needed motivation to even the most simple task.
Recognize Great Work
Everyone wants to feel their work is meaningful and appreciated by their colleagues and management. Well-deserved recognition increases self-esteem, boosting morale, and leaving your workers with a desire to better themselves.
Studies show that 39% of employees feel under-appreciated at work, with 77% reporting that they would work harder if they felt better recognized.
Create A Career Path
Quality workers don’t like remaining static for too long. Laying out the path before will give your employees something to strive for.
You can have growth plans that are discussed with your workers, which will help to create the drive to reach the next stage. This way, they will feel that they have a long and productive journey ahead within the company.
Wrapping Up
As with so many things in life and business, providing ample motivation for your team is a matter of communication.
How you communicate your own passion for your line of work and the degree to which you empower your team to constantly learn new things will set an example they will aspire to follow.
Show your workers that you care, listen, and act upon what really matters to them to ultimately grow and learn together.