Motivate employees for better returns

Motivation is what keeps the staff of an organisation going, glowing and growing. When we are properly motivated, there is almost nothing we can’t do.

Motivating your employees is vital to any business. A motivated workforce means highly productive staff; which will contribute to the realisation of your business goals. Unmotivated employees will care less about your business let alone the resources they use at work.

Strategy
Before you build a motivational strategy, the first step you need to take is to understand what motivates your employees and what drives them to their peak performance. This can help you develop programmes that motivate and retain the best employees for your business.

While not every employee will be motivated by the same thing, focusing on a list of key motivating programmes can help. Your plan can include; monetary incentives, rewards and recognitions, building programmes that support work-life balance, to simply creating a fun, relaxed office environment.

Motivation is a complex and difficult task because human needs are unlimited and keep evolving.
Therefore, it is not possible to make generalisation when it comes to motivation. The satisfaction of one need gives rise to another so managers have to maintain the momentum and think of new ways to keep staff engaged and performing at their peak.

Benefits
Employee incentive programmes are one of the easiest ways to incentivise your workforce. While not every programme needs to be monetary in nature, should you have limited budgets, the end results are the same – employees become more motivated when they are recognised and rewarded for excellent performance.

When measures are taken to ensure employees are continually inspired and driven to perform at their peak, the results are both short and long-term. They could also extend to a company’s income sheet.

The writer is the manager, learning and development at dfcu bank.