If You Were the Boss, How Would You Motivate Your Employees to Stick Around?

How do you motivate your workforce? 

It's a common question that impacts many industries and companies.

Top management often spends time coming up with the perfect plan to engage and motivate their team.

What if we told you there was an easier way?

ASK YOUR EMPLOYEES WHAT MOTIVATES THEM!

Instead of putting all of the managers in a room and having one isolated level develop a strategy, set some time for one-on-one meetings with your employees. Provide a welcome and opening environment, then watch the ideas, creativity and productive suggestions flow through.

We asked various levels of employees at companies within different industries this one question...

“If you were the boss, how would you motivate your employees to stick around?”

1.“If I were a manager, I would keep my employees motivated and engaged by incentivizing them throughout the year. Keeping an open line of communication with my staff so that I could remain in the loop on what was going on within the company and keep my fingers on the pulse. Many companies employ effective strategies, where the longer you work there, the more vacation time you accrue each year and the more “perks” you get.”

2.“First and foremost employees need to feel appreciated. Whether it be personally and/or professionally through compensation of affirmation. They need to feel like their position and the work they do matters. If you have that then other concerns can be dealt with such as office culture, etc. Unfortunately, if your employees feel like you don’t care or they aren’t a priority then I’m not sure any amount of change will fix that first impression.”

3.“I would demonstrate that I value them by – 1. Giving them words of affirmation and letting them know they’re doing a good job 2. Occasionally providing free lunch or some other type of employee recognition program to show appreciation 3. Giving them more responsibility to show I trust them with more work.”

4.“I would offer an array of different things like goal-based incentives, extra perks to the job and constantly surprise my employees with different things each month to show I appreciated them.”

5.“To keep my employees around I would set compensation up correctly, set paths where people can grow, continually get input for my employees and then act on this input, reward those who are doing well, be flexible and understand things happen and provide competitive benefits.”

6.“Cultivate a long-term culture of communication and collaboration - even though you're in charge, you should be actively working with your employees and working for them. Sometimes, all it takes is just listening. Listen to what they tell you, take them seriously, and keep an open mind. Don't ignore frustrations, address them and work together to find an actionable solution. If you have valuable employees that you would hate to lose, treat them like the treasure they are. If you don't, it won't take long for another company to recognize their value.”

What do you think?  After talking with your employees, you should have a better idea on what they are looking for and will truly be motivated by. You can take these true and candid responses to develop an effective strategy for your company moving forward.

Move Past Strategy. Implement an E2 Employee Engagement Program.

Let us help you develop a strategy and reward structure that will motivate and engage each individual member of your team, whether through an On-The-Spot Recognition Program, Strategic Recognition Program, or Service Anniversary Program. With the “Power of Choice,” employees can redeem for virtually anything online with their reward points. We make it easy for you and rewarding for them, proving direct-to-retail is the way to go.