Published: April 27, 2008 12:08 am            

How to motivate your employees and increase productivity

If you’re a business owner focused on day-to-day operations, motivating your employees may be fairly low on your priority scale. But a motivated staff is a productive staff, and without incentives, your best people could leave for more satisfying endeavors.

Motivation starts with compensation. Few people work for salary and benefits alone, but even fewer will work for a company that pays significantly less than average. Firms that attract superior employees tend to offer higher pay and benefits, and that’s only the beginning.

Employees — especially good employees — want respect. Harsh supervision, micromanagement, favoritism, and nepotism all create discontent and turnover. To retain your best people:

• Establish reasonable, objective work standards, and base rewards and promotions on those standards.

• Communicate your standards clearly and provide whatever training is needed. Then give your employees the leeway to do their jobs. Focus on results, and let your staff determine the process.

• Avoid showing favoritism, particularly if your employees include family or friends. Granting special treatment to friends or relatives is guaranteed to lower everyone else’s morale.

In addition to respect, employees want their efforts to be recognized. Encourage your people to offer input about relevant work issues. If their suggestions result in significant improvements, reward them with bonuses or similar incentives. The same should be done for exceptional work efforts. Frequent small rewards like free lunches, gift certificates, or balloon bouquets can boost morale without significantly increasing costs.

Note: Bonuses and other incentives only enhance productivity if they’re based on objective, measurable, and attainable criteria. If they’re perceived as products of management whim, they actually may decrease productivity.

If you can offer fair compensation, respect, and recognition to your staff, you’ll go a long way toward improving productivity. You’ll also attract the best people, and more importantly, you’ll keep them.



David Compton is a Certified Public Accountant with offices in Meridian and Birmingham, Ala.

        

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