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23 Surefire Ways to Motivate Employees as a Manager
Staying motivated in the workplace is a constant effort. Putting motivational ideas and initiatives into action prevents everything from falling into chaos.
In this article, I’m going to discuss some of the most creative ways you can motivate your team.
Let’s admit it, you can’t always perform at maximum capacity. When we spend weeks on end working in the same office with the same people, our motivation tends to wane.
Shockingly, only 15% of employees worldwide feel motivated at work. Looks like we need to brush up on how to motivate employees as a manager.
23 Surefire Ways How to Motivate Employees as a Manager
There are several reasons why employees start to slow down, which can lead to them resigning, or worse, quiet quitting. That’s why it’s always important to have a strategy ready to bring the energy back into the office.
Apparently, 81% of employees feel unmotivated enough to consider resigning for a better opportunity. Not only that, the employer loses over $5000 replacing every valuable team member lost. It’s straight-up, not worth it to let employees walk away, so I’d highly recommend keeping them motivated.
If those numbers don’t scare you into studying this article religiously, I don’t know what will.
So what can you do to motivate your employees as a manager?
Let’s dive in and find out.
How to Motivate Employees to be More Productive
1. Team bonding activities
How well does your team know one another? Do they ever communicate with each other for things other than work projects?
In some offices the distance between the employees is tangible. A team-building activity, whether virtual for remote teams or in person, is a fun way to bond. After all, the people in your office are the ones you’ll spend most of your life with. On top of team bonding activities boosting productivity, you may as well get to know these guys better.
2. Recognize Your Employees
Recognizing your employees can make them more passionate about their work. An easy and meaningful way to recognize employees is to gift them custom challenge coins, and unlike some token gifts, challenge coins can not only be preserved forever but are also a symbol of honor. Challenge coins on one side can feature your company logo or slogan while the other can include a short thank you message. For an extra personal touch, each finished custom challenge coin can include laser-engraved employee names or serial numbers, becoming a unique reward for employees.
3. Give e-Gift cards as a bonus
Everyone loves getting free stuff. I don’t have a statistic to quote on that fact, but you can take my word for it. The simple joy of receiving something from someone else for no reason is a timeless motivation tactic. It’s an effective way to make your employee, your most valuable asset, feel appreciated and happy.
In today’s culture of online shopping, learning, socializing, and even working, e-Gift cards for employees make a lovely, useful gift for any occasion. You can easily find lists online of the best e-Gift cards to give this year.
Staying motivated in the workplace is a constant effort. Putting motivational ideas and initiatives into action prevents everything from falling into chaos.
4. Corporate happy hour
If you want to make your employees happy, what better way than with happy hour? Yes, it’s everyone’s favorite time of the day. Finally, the work is done and everyone can sit down for a cute, tipsy bonding experience.
This is also a great opportunity to dedicate the hour to a special occasion. You can decorate the occasion for someone’s birthday, a holiday, or an employee’s promotion. Drinking has been the working man’s winding down tradition for generations.
5. Gamify work
We all strive to work hard and play hard, but what if the two can coexist? Gamifying, for those that never heard of it, is the act of making work more like a game. Managers can execute this by turning a task into a friendly competition with prizes.
Pit the team against each other and see how much harder they work when glory and prizes are on the line.
6. Treat employees with respect
This one may seem obvious, but scientific studies prove that showing your team the respect they deserve affects performance. You may understand that the employees are the most valuable asset a company has, but the goal here is to ensure that they know.
A great way to do this is by offering incentives, recognizing accomplishments, and giving praise often.
This method alone can motivate 66% of employees to not resign according to a study by Harvard Business Review.
7. Team creative thinking time for fresh ideas
A key factor in personal motivation is the outcome of one’s effort. Bringing the team together to brainstorm ideas shows that the company values their opinions. This motivates the team because they feel like they are contributing to the bigger picture.
You can produce some innovative ideas when the whole team puts their heads together. As Hellen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
8. Promote work-life balance
Setting boundaries can be hard for employees that want to leave a good impression on their superiors. It’s hard to tell, sometimes, when to sacrifice important personal time for work tasks and when to set boundaries.
Reminding employees about the importance of work-life balance boosts morale and productivity. It shows that you value their time for the sake of their well-being in addition to the time they are paid to work. This will improve their time management skills. After all, a happy employee is a good one.
9. Company retreats
Company retreats are a great way to make work-life more exciting. It’s refreshing to Fly out with your team to a beautiful foreign location where you get to know each other outside of the four walls of the office.
It’s a great opportunity to bring international or remote workers together. You’ll get to have fun while bringing the team closer together. People will come back from the retreat tanned, de-stressed, and ready to work with a new passion.
10. Reward for extra effort not being the loudest in the room
Sometimes the quietest one in the room is making the most impact. Don’t let those particular people fall through the cracks. To motivate the team, make sure it’s not only the publicity-hungry, attention seekers that get recognition. Pay attention to everyone and reward those putting in the work, even if they don’t post on LinkedIn after every completed task.
11. Subsidized Meal plans
Have you ever heard of “hanger”? Not the metal wire tool used for hanging up shirts. I’m talking about the dreadful emotional response that comes from being hungry.
No, an office filled with hangry employees is not a healthy work environment. A meal plan can guarantee that the team is well-fed without hurting their wallets. You’d be surprised how much a few extra dollars for food every day can boost motivation in the workplace.
12. Transportation bonus
Remote offices, go ahead and skip this one. Listen, there’s no way around it, employees have transportation expenses to arrive at work every morning. Only about 4% of the American population have the luxury of walking to and from work. With the price of gas shooting to the moon, paying for employee transportation will make showing up in the morning much more appealing.
13. Utility facilities like gym
Covering expenses that everyone needs to take care of is a huge stress reliever. Think about it, if all of your lifestyle expenses were paid for without needing to dip into your salary, wouldn’t that be nice? There are a lot of expenses you can relieve your employees of. Having facilities like a gym, sauna, or ice bath available at the workplace dramatically increase employee satisfaction.
Alternatively, try providing a gym membership or even paying utility costs for their homes. This one’s sure to boost employee motivation and work culture.
14. Give positive feedback
A pat on the bag goes a long way. Show your employees the direct impact of their work to give them a sense of value in the workplace.
15. Recreational activities like ping pong and casino
16. Birthday parties & gifts
Here’s an easy way to make every employee feel appreciated and noticed once a year. Do something special for everyone’s birthday.
Make sure to keep track of when everyone’s birthdays are. When someone’s special day comes around, treat everyone to a break room Birthday party in their honor. A gift card or small personal gift will send them the message.
17. Bring your pet to work day
Pets can be a distraction sometimes, but once in a while is totally fine. In fact, studies show that having a cheerful dog or pet at the office every now and then boosts morale. It reduces stress which limits the possibility of burnout and loneliness.
An office dog is man’s best friend and an effective motivator.
18. Stock the office with snacks and good coffee
People, similar to cars, planes, and boats, need fuel to work. Snacking at work, ensures healthy levels of blood sugar to fuel productivity. Especially high-fiber and high-protein snacks which steadily maintain high blood sugar throughout the day.
19. Company SWAG to represent the brand
When employees are proud of where they work, motivation is at its all-time high. What better way to show your corporate pride than with company-branded SWAG? You can use hats, backpacks, water bottles, mugs, fidget spinners, staplers, or whatever you want. Hype up the team’s company pride with some branded SWAG.
20. Fidget cubes and spinners help with focus
This one is a double whammy because you can get the team fidget toys and slap a company logo on them at the same time. These little plastic devices serve no purpose other than to help you focus. Instead of distracting yourself, with a fidget device, you can transfer your nervous energy into your fingers. This leaves your cognitive energy alone to focus on work.
21. Welcome packages
A welcome package for new employees makes them feel welcome and accepted. It creates an environment of a new beginning, which is always motivational. A welcome package can include useful items for their desk like a keyboard and mouse, calender, backpack, and anything else. It’s mostly the thought that counts.
22. Holiday gifts
Companies love holidays just as much, if not more than the rest of us. When cheer is in the air and people are celebrating with friends and loved ones, companies begin promotions. It’s the perfect time of year to spread joy and gift-giving.
Something with your company branding makes a great gift. Personalized e-Gift cards are a great example of something your employee will love that is branded.
23. Standing desks
Tired of sitting at a desk all day staring at a computer? It’s bad for your back, your eyes, and your motivation. To reverse these effects try using a standing desk for a few hours. Not only does it help your posture and back pain, but it also burns calories while you work.
This will make employees happier, healthier, and more motivated.
Bonus. Napping pods
Getting enough sleep is a challenge for almost everyone. According to the National Institutes of Health, around 70 million Americans have chronic sleep disorders. Napping pods, or sleep pods, are handy pods that create a dark, quiet environment for you to sleep in. Employees can enter these pods, set a timer to wake them up, and take a power nap for their desired amount of time.
NASA pilots use this technique too. After a 20-minute nap, they can be up to 34% more alert with a 16% faster reaction time.
Takeaways
It doesn’t have to be a mystery or the biggest challenge of your life. Making the team motivated and happy to put their best work forward is very doable. Do you think one of these ways to motivate employees and increase productivity will work for you?
I’d love to hear what you do to motivate your team and the results it brings.
Leave a comment with your experience with motivational tactics for employees. What did you try? How were the results? What would you do differently next time?
Keeping the team motivated isn’t hard but it takes actionable effort. With a strong, motivated team, anything is possible. As Robert Schuller once said, “Tough times don’t last. Tough teams do.”
We hope you enjoyed this Adcore article, you can find other related topics in the Career section of our blog. In fact, we think that this article will be a great next read:
My Biggest Challenges as a Marketer-Resolved
If you’re interested in learning more about Adcore and what we have to offer, consider reaching out to our incredible Elite team for a range of marketing services and checking out all of our Adcore Marketing Cloud Apps.
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