Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Partner PostsGet More from Your Employees

Get More from Your Employees

If you want your company to be successful, then what you don’t want is a bunch of employees who are just working to pay the bills, and don’t particularly care about the job. You want employees who are engaged and motivated, workers who are committed to your company and to helping you succeed. But how do you get them? And is it possible to turn disengaged, unmotivated, and even disgruntled employees into happy, engaged, motivated workers?

Yes, and it doesn’t even need to cost you a lot of money. The best way to get more from your employees – to boost their engagement and morale, and keep them around longer – is to give them a little recognition now and then. A well-constructed employee recognition programme can boost morale, improve retention, and keep your employees engaged with their jobs.

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

The Cost of Disengagement

According to a poll by Gallup, businesses around the world lose $7 trillion a year because of unmotivated employees. How can disengagement cost that much money? Well, it’s easy to understand when you think of all the things unmotivated, disengaged employees don’t do. They don’t go the extra mile to please clients or satisfy customers. They try to get out of staying late and when they do stay late, they aren’t very productive. For that matter, they’re not as productive as they could be during their regular working hours, either. They’re just phoning it in, trying to skate by on the minimum amount of effort. They don’t care about the company or how their lack of motivation might affect the business and their colleagues.

Disengaged employees are also not planning to stay at your company. They dislike their jobs and they may dislike the company as a whole. You can bet they’re sending out applications and going to interviews. Employees who suddenly have a lot of call-outs, take days off without giving a reason why, or are late arriving in the morning or after a meal break are employees who are likely interviewing for other jobs.

Boost Employee Engagement on a Budget

Traditionally, companies have used financial incentives to motivate employees. To be sure, there are some people who feel more motivated and engaged when they’re paid more – and it’s not easy to feel happy about your job if you’re not making enough money to meet your needs and satisfy some of your wants. But if you’re paying your employees enough that they can live comfortably, then you may be better off turning to the kinds of symbolic rewards that can make people feel motivated without the need for a bonus or a pay rise.

Symbolic rewards can drastically increase your employees’ inner sense of motivation, encourage them to perform better, boost their morale, and make them want to stay with the company longer. Symbolic rewards include non-tangible, non-monetary rewards, like thank-yous, public recognition, recognition certificates, and congratulatory cards. You can use symbolic awards to put together an employee recognition programme that will boost productivity without incurring too many additional costs.

For example, a personalized letter of thanks from a manager can make an employee feel appreciated and valued, and that in turn can give them the intrinsic motivation to work harder and care more deeply about their work. The trick to making symbolic rewards effective is that they should feel personal. Sending out a blanket email or a form letter with no touches of personalization will not make employees feel special. But adding a personal comment or two to a form letter and signing it in ink before mailing it to the employee’s home mailing address can make that employee feel touched that the manager took the time and effort to single them out for praise, and that can make that employee feel inclined to want to repay that effort by working harder at their job.

It’s also important to establish a culture of recognition in your workplace. Peers and direct supervisors tend to see more of their colleagues’ contributions than owners and managers, because they’re working together closely every day. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition by incorporating a peer-to-peer recognition platform into your employee recognition programme, and by encouraging team building and bonding opportunities outside of the workplace.

If you want to get more out of your employees, you have to give more – more recognition, that is. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much a few simple words of praise, a small personalized gift, or a congratulatory card can improve an employee’s outlook, morale, and performance.

Related Stories