For business leaders and entrepreneurs, their biggest fear is ‘unmotivated employees’.  And then it doesn’t matter if you have hired selectively or your employees have stellar results on their resume. It can be scary to see your star performers fizzing out and not giving their best at work. Gallup discovered "an actively disengaged employee costs their organisation $3,400 for every $10,000 of salary, or 34%” with an average of 17.2% of company's workers being actively disengaged." While the reason for a lack of motivation can be many ranging from stress at work, boredom, doing the same task every day, poor leadership etc., there are always ways to turn that around and bring back the cheer and motivation back to work.

Here are 9 ways to motivate employees to yield a high performance work culture:

1. Encourage employees to be financially prudent with the help of professionals

For employees, managing finance can be stressful. Companies can help ease that tension by providing them with financial counseling. You can hire professionals for the same. This will give employees an access to trusted information and advice on financial issues. A study conducted by PwC  reveals that finances are the biggest distraction for an employee. As an owner of the company you need give your employees the necessary environment where they can feel secure and confident about their financial situation.

2. Ignite confidence with the help of career coaches  

Career coaching is a great benefit that you can provide to your employees. They need to feel the commitment and motivation towards the work they are doing, which often times is not the case. It is highly normal for employees to experience career challenges which may in return affect the success of your company. A career coach can help steer the wheel in the right direction by assessing performance improvement, career path or career transition, maintaining the work-life balance etc.

3. Encourage cross departmental training

One of the major reasons of employee demotivation is disengagement. When daily tasks become monotonous, self-motivation goes for a toss. Cross departmental training is a great way to revive the interest and engagement in employees. You can try rotating your employees to a new position for a day or two every month. This way not only do they get to learn new skills but they also get the chance to interact with employees from other departments and exchange their thoughts and ideas. Learning new things can prevent employees from getting complacent in their role and work.

Also read: Do team building events really work for small businesses?

4. Recognize talent in your team

“Recognition is the greatest motivator” – Gerard C Eakadale

Everyone strives for recognition for the work they do. It also helps create an emotional bond between the employee and the employer and thus, indirectly helps with employee engagement. A good recognition gives an employee the reassurance that they are doing the right job and encourages them to keep doing it. And the best part about giving recognition is, it doesn’t take much time or efforts.

You can either conduct a quarterly awards ceremony where you recognise the hard work of the top performing players in your organisation or may even casually leave a note or send out a recognition mail to them.

Gallup discovered "an actively disengaged employee costs their organisation $3,400 for every $10,000 of salary, or 34%” with an average of 17.2% of company's workers being actively disengaged. 

5. Try turning work into game

Bored of doing the same work everyday? Try a different approach to get things done faster and better! Wonder how? Turn the most important tasks into games!

You can divide your employees into teams and set a certain target and timeline for them. Incorporate the idea of competition at workplace and see the magic. You can also announce awards for the best performer. It’s a fun way to motivate employees and recharge their productivity.

6. Organise a hackathon

Hackathon is an interesting event where people from various technical backgrounds come together to build projects.  It usually extends over a day or two. You can even invite team members from other offices to participate in the hackathon organised by you. A great technique to instill an inter-cultural environment and motivate employees.

Also read: 3 hacks to skyrocket your productivity

7. Hold stand-ups

Just how a morning cup of coffee/tea does the trick to wake you up from sleep, a daily 5-10 minutes stand-up first thing in office can help shale off the demotivation and sluggishness. Discuss the previous day results and the present day targets, understand if anyone is facing a problem, brainstorm quick ideas to get the work done efficiently and set the ball rolling.

8. Initiate a mentorship programme

Regardless if the employee is a new joinee or an old one, everyone can do with a mentor to share their challenges and aspirations with. A mentor can train, guide and advise them on day-to-day work and this way not only is the employee constantly motivated to learn and develop new skills but the entire company is motivated.

9. Encourage healthy eating

A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. And good healthy food keeps the engine of the body going. You can arrange for weekly breakfasts or lunch or even have healthy snacks and food items in office for employees to eat. With so many options these days, you can easily pick an assortment of snacks and beverages and keep them stocked in the office pantry.

There you go! With these motivational tricks up your sleeves, never miss a chance to make your employees feel special and motivated.

Also read: Personality at play: Does your personality impact your performance at work?

Image  courtesy: freepik.com

To explore business opportunities, link with me by clicking on the 'Connect' button on my eBiz Card. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, official policy or position of GlobalLinker.