How Businesses can Increase Employee Motivation

Businesses of all sizes seek to motivate employees. This may be an uphill battle even in the best of times, and certainly has become an even greater challenge in recent years. SOLV HR, a firm offering HR consulting that Nevada companies can trust, works with businesses to seek the best solutions for motivating employees.

Start at the Beginning

Search committees often hear candidates celebrate how excited they were to compile achievements on their résumés. In many cases, however, the thrill seems to diminish as the newly hired employee transitions from onboarding to the humdrum of goals and deadlines necessary to move the business forward.

An important practice that HR offices have started to incorporate is the use of motivation-based interviewing techniques. Rather than take the accomplishments mentioned in the application and résumé at face value, interviewers should dig a little deeper, considering important questions as they evaluate each applicant, such as:

• How did the prospective employee contribute to the projects they mentioned?
• Did their answers during the interview illustrate the “self” in “self-motivated”?
• Though all new employees will require some level of orientation for company policies, did the candidate give an impression that their learning curve will be steep, and that their interest may fall if they stumble down from the curve?

Embrace Technology

A long-held belief among some supervisors is that technology may offer too many opportunities for diversion. The endless cascade of emails, social media posts, and other content on a worker’s laptop or electronic device may harm productivity, rather than boost it.

Recent work-at-home situations during the pandemic have allowed some managers to see the value of technology. More than an electronic distraction or a necessary evil, these supervisors find creative and innovative ways to motivate employees, improve morale, enhance performance, and strengthen employee retention.

Ten Ways to Motivate

Nevada State Bank offers ten valuable examples of how to motivate employees on its  “Nevada Small Business” website. These general principles may be incorporated or modified to suit nearly any business in our state:

1. Reward Innovative Activities: Consider incentives that can become a part of the corporate culture, offer tangible awards, and serve as a way to celebrate achievements through internal channels and external social media pages.
2. Promote Talent from Within the Company, When Possible: Fostering talent from within saves the need for expensive job searches, offers obvious opportunities for employees to see future growth, and allows people to transition to higher levels of responsibility as they gain skills.
3. Do More than Give Tasks: Provide the tools and resources that encourage success, as well as an appropriate level of authority, so employees can do their jobs in various settings.
4. Stay Honest: Refrain from glossing over failures or mistakes. Instead, seek honest conversations and better solutions when a plan does not work as originally expected.
5. Serve as a Trusted Resource: Offer support to employees until there is an obvious, documented reason that you should take a different path. See disagreements as a way to question long-standing assumptions, rather than as a threat to the company’s integrity.
6. Listen Actively: Try not to monopolize conversations with workers. Allow them to offer their insights, ask questions, and have a chance to share their experiences in a way that may allow the organization to move forward.
7. Support, Rather than Intimidate: You hired employees because you respected their skills, training, and potential for your firm. Making them afraid or creating an environment with uncertainty or hostility harms morale. Think of tangible ways you can help workers meet their goals, for the betterment of everyone.
8. Create Individual Goals with Care: Seek opportunities for team members to collaborate whenever possible. Understand how the talents of each individual creates a sum larger than the parts.
9. Add Some Fun: Celebrate milestones, achievements, and creative moments at your firm. Offer occasional casual workdays or other incentives. Build camaraderie.
10. Keep It Personal: See workers as the talented individuals that they are, rather than as cogs in an impersonal machine.

Whether your staff works on site or remotely, on rigid schedules or flexible sessions, motivated employees know that their supervisors support and inspire them, leading them to higher levels of work productivity and engagement.

HR Consulting that Matters

For HR Services Las Vegas and Nevada businesses can trust, consider SOLV HR. We offer human resource support and guidance to a variety of companies.