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Low-Cost Ways to Motivate
Employees
Aside from cutting expenses,
delaying payment of bills, ramping up collections
and altering their business models, employers
can try low-cost ways to motivate their
employees to increase revenue and profitability,
according to Suzanne Bates, author of Motivate
Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision
and Inspire People to Act! Money is
only one of many factors that motivate employees.
When people enjoy their jobs, like their
co-workers and believe their pay is basically
fair, they don't focus so much on their
compensation. Among the low-cost —
and no-cost — ways to keep people
motivated in challenging times, according
to Motivate Like a CEO, are:
• Send out
e-mails thanking employees each week. Take
a few minutes each Friday to e-mail your
team, highlighting something each person
has achieved that week. If you have a small
company, you can actually mention everybody.
This is an empowering exercise, not only
because you make other people feel good,
but it also forces you to look at what's
going right.
• Have a
"connection day" where
you connect with customers. Set aside one
day per quarter to get in touch with your
clients and prospects and find out how they
are doing. Ask them questions about their
projects; thank them for the opportunity
to work with them. When appropriate, offer
in some small way to provide assistance
or advice at no charge. Write handwritten
notes, and send e-mails with attachments
to articles they may want to read.
• Use down
time to send employees to seminars
where they can learn something new. "There
are many low-cost or no-cost professional
development opportunities. Many area business
meetings are low-cost and provide high value,
as do some marketing events for companies.
By giving employees an afternoon off each
month, they'll get a break while improving
their skills and knowledge.
• Hold morning
"stand-up meetings. Each morning,
before heading into offices or cubicles,
stand in a circle and share what's happening
in a 15-minute session. Even when facing
challenges or disappointments, people are
there to boost each other and offer help.
It's an empowering way to start the day.
• Bring people
together to share business success stories.
Storytelling is very important
in boosting employee morale. The pre-meeting
assignment is to come in with a story about
a successful project or customer interaction,
and explore what you learned and how it
can be applied to your present situation.
Write down these stories and use them again
in the company newsletter, employee presentations,
and weekly e-mails.
• Use the
company newsletter to highlight successes.
Make the newsletter something people
enjoy reading. Ask employees to contribute
stories. Be creative in looking for fun
ways to reward and recognize good work.
• Create small employee awards
and hand them out often. Buy a
few trophies and give them out monthly.
These are always best when they encourage
employees to do the things that are going
to make a difference in your business.
• Walk around often, and tell
people they're doing a great job. In
times like these, we tend to hunker down
in our offices and stare at balance sheets.
Our energy is low and our anxiety is high.
Make it a point to stop people in the halls,
go into their offices and thank them or
congratulate them every day. Tell them how
much their work means to you, and how vital
they are to the future of the company.
Hope some of these help
your company or you as an employee can introduce
some ideas to your current organisation
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