An Easy 5 Step Guide For HR’s to Motivate Employees

Business success depends on various factors, and one of the most important factors is the involvement of the employees and their motivation. Employee motivation in organization and productivity are directly proportional. 

Anyone who is employed spends half of their lifetime at the workplace. Motivated employees stay happy, and are eventually 76% higher in productivity, says research by Harvard University. Motivation in the workplace can be many things, and risk-takers are motivated employees. Motivation and job satisfaction arise even from the simplest of all things. 

Motivation in HRM also plays a vital role in inspiring employees. Few techniques to motivate employees are appreciation, rewarding, inclusion in decision making, etc. HR managers should use such creative ways to motivate employees in their routine.

Universities are conducting studies regularly to prove how happy employees contribute more to the organization. Organizations have daily routines like meditation, flash mobs, and dancing for a minute to keep the energy levels of their employees high. Many employee motivation techniques can be used in implementing the happiness goals.

It is the HR managers who play an important role in motivating employees. Let’s take a moment and analyze how HR managers can motivate employees.

1. Emphasize on the work-life balance through Morale and Motivation
2. Communication means a lot! 
3. Be Inclusive
4. Create a Reward System for Employees and Motivation
5. Guide them to Grow 

Role of HR managers in motivating employees:

1. Emphasize on the work-life balance through morale and motivation

Staff motivation is not just in the workplace; it extends to motivate them to maintain a good work-life balance. Encourage your employees to take a break and spend some days with their family. This is one of the methods of motivating employees in an organization by offering them vacation as rewards for employees to motivate those who perform well. 

Employers and HR managers should also be supportive when employees are struggling personally. It is a proven study that employees who fail in their personal life, also show poor performance at work. 

If you notice any such occurrence, it’s always advised to encourage them to have a good work-life balance and increase motivation at work. 

In Japan, it is the role of the employer and the HR manager to take care of their employees’ healthy lifestyle as employee motivation strategies. So they included elements that promote good and healthy work-life balance. One of the steps was the three-day weekend. The report says productivity increased exponentially by introducing three day weekend. When employees have a long weekend, they tend to finish the work assigned quickly and with precision to avoid working over the weekend. 

2. Communication means a lot! 

Keep a clear channel of communication and be open to converting your message to your employees. HR managers often miss the importance of this point, especially when it comes to a specified message. In fact, communication can be one of the most creative ways to motivate employees! For instance, if one of your employees does extraordinarily well in the current quarter, you send them their appreciation in a way that is motivating and creates a healthy competition among your employees by inspiring employees. 

When you frame a protocol or a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), use a transparent message that conveys your expectations. Also, be open to listening to a new idea from any of your employees irrespective of their position. Create channels for communication and forums where they can express their views.

Employees are an important part of the company who contributes to its success significantly. It is the role of the HRM to motivate the employees. There are various methods to motivate employees through simple communication exercises. 

An all-time winner is the appreciation message that is passed on when someone shows progress. No matter how small each contribution is, it is the work of the HR manager to find and appreciate them, so they keep contributing to the success of the organization. This increases their motivation in an organization and gives them satisfaction in the work they do.

3. Be inclusive

Being inclusive is an expansive version of creating an easier and flexible communication channel. Every person is unique and has a unique perception of each problem. By including your employees in the decision-making process, you create a repository for ideas. 

This doesn’t stop with just brainstorming about the problems at hand. The employees also feel motivated when they contribute. Furthermore, it connects the employer and employees by building trust between the two parties. 

Besides trust-building and motivation, being inclusive improves the team spirit among your employees and you get to see cumulative efforts and results from them. This creates an efficient path in achieving your business’ visions and mission and also affects employee morale and motivation positively.

4. Create a reward system for employees and motivation

Carrot and stick is an ancient motivation technique that says, by rewarding your employees for every achievement, they stay motivated. This is so true and works even today. Employees always choose incentives over compliments when given an option.

Recently, LinkedIn created a poll on what motivates one to show up at the office daily. 40% of people voted for rewards and recognition of monetary kind as one of the types of employee motivation, and 29% voted for job satisfaction. In contrast, the rest of the votes were split among a few other options. 

An employer who takes care of employees is the ideal workplace dream of every employee. Show your employees how much they mean to them by expressing gratitude and love wherever and wherever possible. Also, the HR managers must encourage the other managers, and the team leads to doing the same. In that way, we can motivate and help them stay focused on their job. 

5. Guide them to grow 

When employees find an opportunity to grow, they stay and contribute. An employee feels useless in an environment if he does not find an equal opportunity to grow. It is the job of an HR manager to find employees who might be less motivated and create opportunities for them to boost morale and grow in the organization. 

Guiding and motivating employees is not a walk in the park. The HR team needs to undergo various experiments by implementing new techniques to motivate employees and find the best suited. Not all employees will be adaptable to the same kind of motivation technique. Choose the right plan to motivate the right group. 

Conclusion

Of all the ways to motivate employees and increase productivity, the role of an HR manager is vital, and HR motivation contributes significantly to the productivity of any individual. Employees are assets that need to be taken care of, and the HR managers are caregivers who maintain the productivity of the asset. Every employee is irreplaceable, as everyone is unique with a different lesson to learn from. 

To help you in motivating your employees on the right path, Jigsaw Academy’s 3-month-long People Analytics & Digital HR program, in collaboration with IIM-Indore, can be very effective! Go, give it a look!