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Managing People

Employment Essentials

Quick guide to managing staff  (pdf - 1,665Kb)
Quick guide to managing performance   (pdf - 1,906Kb)

Motivating your employees

Why is it important to have motivated employees? What steps can you take to keep your employees motivated? How can your bottom line be improved by having motivated employees? We will try to help you to understand how motivating your employees can improve your bottom line.

Try this quick quiz...

Rank the following most common motivators (from 1- the highest to 11 – the lowest motivator) about how effective they would be for your employees:

Motivator	Ranking
Working Conditions
Interesting Work
Appreciation
Training
Money
Communication
Loyalty (from the employer)
Promotion
Flexible Working Arrangements
Job Security
Respect

If you ranked money as the primary motivator for your employees, you would be wrong. Employees must be paid at least the relevant award wage for the work they do, but many other factors motivate employees to be productive and stay with an employer.

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What are the primary motivators for employees?

Recent studies in what motivates employees suggest that "open communication" was ranked highest by respondents who were asked to list the items they considered very important in choosing their current jobs. Salary was ranked 16^th.

Another study of 1,500 employees found that instant recognition from managers was the most powerful motivator of the potential incentives evaluated. Second was a letter written by their employer/supervisor which praised a good job.

Motivating employees does not always have to involve financial rewards – an employer who recognises the good work done by his or her employees will have a motivated, productive workforce.

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Why are expectations changing?

Gone are the days of a job for life. Ongoing employment is becoming increasingly dependent on an employee being able to add value to a business through on-the-job performance. As a result, employees are adopting the attitude that "if the employer is willing to dump me at his or her convenience, why shouldn't I do the same?"

This movement away from tenure and loyalty is prompting employees to re-evaluate their expectations and priorities at work. Employees are focusing on skill development and taking control of their careers. They are less concerned about where they work and more focused on the quality of the work and the challenges and rewards associated with their efforts.

Employees now expect to be rewarded for successfully applying their skills and making a positive contribution to the performance and profitability of the business. Employers who fail to recognise this changing nature of the workforce run the risk of alienating or losing their workforce – with a damaging impact on profitability.

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How do I motivate my employees?

Your greatest challenge is to work with your employees to weave their individual needs and interests, such as career aspirations and individual learning goals, with your business's needs of high performance and results.

Flexible working hours, time off for personal or family responsibilities, and greater decision-making responsibilities may hold more appeal than cash incentives. For example, young workers may value flexibility and personal independence over monetary bonuses.

While such "non-material" incentives may cost less than a raise, they will probably require a greater investment in terms of time and energy from you. However, the benefits are substantial. Employees will value the fact that their employer recognises their needs and satisfactorily rewards their efforts. In turn, you can significantly increase profitability by retaining experienced, motivated and productive staff.

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What sort of methods should I consider?

Retention, rewards and recognition have been identified as the three "R's" of successful staff management. By implementing initiatives based on these key concepts, employers can enhance business performance and enjoy the benefits to be gained from a motivated and productive workforce.

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How to motivate your staff through consultation

Get together with your employees to identify appropriate methods. This might be a regular part of your staff meetings for a few weeks or part of your business planning activities with staff. You may want to discuss the following topics:

• Training and development
• Social interaction
• Work environment
• Remuneration and benefits
• Communication

Some initiatives other small businesses have introduced include:

• Appraisal feedback through individual training development programs
• Tuition assistance policy, which provides a grant plus text book allowance to employees undertaking work-related studies
• Personality profiles to identify specific training needs
• Evening social functions, particularly dinners to celebrate achieving and exceeding targets
• Closing the office for recreation days to allow the company to say "thank you" with trips to theme parks or staff sports days
• A vision day, where staff from different departments are put into teams to gain a better understanding of the work done in other areas.

See what your employees can come up with!

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Applying the three "R's" in your workplace

By adopting strategies to retain, reward and recognise your employees, you can make a positive contribution to overall business performance. These methods may include:

Opportunity for advancement

Replacing the promotion ladder with new roles, stimulating work and other opportunities for individual growth.

Challenging and interesting work

Providing growth opportunities by presenting employees with challenging assignments and providing the necessary tools to successfully complete the assignments.

Job security

This no longer means a job for life. Employees will stay with a business despite below-market pay (but not below legal entitlements) if their business maintains a safe, stable work environment and provides additional benefits such as a four-day week or reserved parking.

Showing respect

Respecting your employee's efforts and show them how they add value to the business. Cross-training staff and encouraging them to work more closely with customers can help employees to feel more valued.

Employee recognition

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that employees want to be acknowledged for the job that they do. Motivate staff by taking the time to personally thank an employee for doing something well. Specifically say how and why an employee'' efforts was of value.

Employee recognition is a powerful tool for shaping and reinforcing desired performance – with the advantage of helping both you and your employees feel better in the process!

Managing People Checklist  (pdf)

Other titles in the Employment Essentials series

• Ending Employment
• Managing Performance
• Recruitment
• Workplace Policies and Procedures