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How To Keep Your Employees Motivated And Productive

by Tanya July 06, 2022

Look after your employees and they’ll look after your company,

You don’t want people working for you who are just there for the money, do you?

As a business owner, you want your team to love what they do, feel comfortable and happy at work.

Experimental research conducted over the past three decades suggests that employee happiness can lead to an increase in productivity.

So, how can you put your workforce at ease enough to help boost motivation and productivity? The following tips should help.

1. Pay fairly

Inflation has grown out of control lately and business owners need to keep up by delivering the pay that employees require to manage higher living costs overall. 

To ensure that you are providing a fair level of pay, you should check what other employers are offering on the market. You can’t fall short of the averages that are in place. If you do, then employees will likely leave your business at the first chance that they get.

2. Set a good precedent with an open door policy

It is almost impossible to avoid employee grievances in any workplace. Still, the last thing you want to do is create a culture of intolerance for such grievances, no matter the problems. If your workers see that you have an open-door policy that allows everyone to voice their complaints, they will feel more comfortable making their issues known, even if they’re satisfactorily addressed.

It is no longer enough to state that you have an open-door policy— your actions as a business owner or employer must back those claims. And backing those claims can also include measures that encourage workers to open up. For example, you can find ways to reward employees for criticism to open channels for communication. 

3. Provide adequate training

Great employees are not just subject matter experts, they also possess above-average psychological skills, like awareness, focus, connection, and the right mindset.

If you want to cultivate leadership and team collaboration within your company check out companies like Positive Group – they are dedicated to improving the health, well-being, and performance of individuals and organisations through applied psychology and neuroscience.

Provide employees with the knowledge they need to succeed in their roles. By investing in employee training, you can improve performance while also reducing costs for your business.

4. Create a clear career pathway

Millennials know this and have accepted their career paths won’t be as secure and straightforward as their parents’.

If you can provide a role with new jobs & assignments every 1-2 years, then you will be far more likely to attract the best of the best, who want to grow and progress.

Millennials hate stagnation. When that happens, they get bored and move on.

Make it super clear from the beginning what are promotions based on. And beyond the promotions – do you offer regular training programs to help your workers hone their skills and build their capacity?

5. Review how time is being spent 

There are only so many hours in the day, so your employees must be using this time effectively.

You should regularly analyse what activities your employees are working on. This can ensure everyone stays on track with the tasks they are supposed to be doing.

By doing this, you’ll probably find that you can automate or outsource tasks, or implement new technology to help improve or streamline tasks or provide employees with training.

To improve productivity, you can use specialist software. There are many benefits of using workforce scheduling software that will help you improve internal processes by simplifying information and providing you with more control.

NB! Don’t use the software to micromanage employees, because this can hinder productivity.

Instead, a good balance should be sought, that works for management and the employee. This could look like a meeting once a week, or a bi-weekly report. The manager should be available for updates and support where needed. 

6. Prioritise work-life balance 

Every employer wants to get the best from their workforce, and prioritising their work-life balance is one of the most effective ways to do so.

In other words, employers should strive to create a work structure that does not interfere with the personal lives of their workers.

For example, employers can consider redefining the boundaries between work and home hours while encouraging employees to take regular breaks.

Also, prioritising mental and physical health can help boost energy and concentration, decreasing stress. 

Some studies show that flexible workers are more productive and take fewer leave periods from work. Experts have suggested that a third of employees from small businesses believe that flexible work schedules increase comfort and happiness in the workplace.

Work flexibility has become even more important in the modern business world due to the current pandemic and its associated remote working strategies. As mentioned earlier, prioritising a healthy work-life balance is crucial.

And work flexibility makes it easier to meet the growing demands to promote healthy work and personal life.  

7. Offer professional emotional support 

You have a responsibility to ensure that your employees’ mental health is not negatively impacted by the job.

This can happen due to high levels of stress or hostile work environments that could include either bullying or harassment.

If you are worried about this, then you should think about using an HR service. They can complete regular checks for your company and guarantee that you’re not falling short in terms of the support you provide to employees.

8. Avoid overloading employees

Make sure employees are not overloaded with work. Everyone’s threshold will be different, depending on how they work and what their responsibilities are.

Make sure that the workload is fair and distributed evenly.

You should also ensure that the deadlines assigned to activities and projects are realistic and achievable.

While some people might work quickly, this does not mean their workload should increase beyond a reasonable amount.

If employees are overloaded with work, they are going to feel stressed, work longer hours to get it complete, and be unhappy.

This dissatisfaction and stress will lead to slower working times, and less motivation.

9. Provide basic welfare

This may seem basic and obvious, but not many people know that the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance for employers on welfare provisions making it mandatory for employers to provide appropriate welfare facilities to their employees while they are at work as per the requirements of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. 

The health and safety requirements will depend on the specific business type, the most typical requirements include:

  • Enough toilets and sinks for the people expected to use them (they should not have to queue for a long time to use the toilet);
  • Separate facilities for men and women where possible, otherwise lockable doors for unisex welfare facilities;
  • Clean toilets in terms of waterproof walls and floors (tiles do well) to make them easy to clean
  • Toilet paper, and for women, a means of disposing sanitary dressings
  • Toilets that are well lit and ventilated
  • Hot and cold running water
  • Enough soap
  • Consideration for people with disabilities

If you run a construction company or a business where team members are operating remotely or outside, you arrange something like a welfare unit hire to be in place on the job site. 

10. Provide proper security

Security can mean different things at different companies.

Computer and IT-based businesses need to protect employees’ data. If you don’t handle this the right way, then you’re going to leave them vulnerable to issues like identity theft and fraud.

That’s why you need to make sure you are protecting any data you keep on your team. Don’t fall into the trap of doing too little in terms of security because you’ll only get one chance to get this right.

Hacks are occurring in businesses every day. 

If you are in a warehouse business or store lots of goods may secure your business by partnering with steel door manufacturers to increase workplace safety for your workers.

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Tanya

The first Millennial blogger in the UK. Twitter @_luckyattitude

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