“How do I motivate my employees?” This is a question that gets asked frequently of the Workplace Learning and Development team. And the answer depends on a number of factors.
Motivating employees take effort and planning on your part as a manager, especially in our unionized enviroment. One area to think about is employee engagement. When you meet with your employees ( and you are regularly, right?) have you noticed if they are engaged in the work that they do? The chart below illustrates three types of employees. What’s the engagement level on your team?
So just exactly what motivates employees? On way to look at this is extrinsic (external) and intrinsic (internal) rewards. In a unionized environment, extrinsic rewards are challenging to come by, but intrinsic rewards are driven by the employee themselves. Here’s an article that dives a bit deeper into this.
Maintaining Employee Motivation in the Public Sector
Different generations of employees are motivated by different things. For instance, Baby Boomers, born 1946 and 1964 prefer monetary rewards but also value nonmonetary rewards such as flexible retirement planning and peer recognition while the Generation Y, born between 1980 and 1995, are motivated by skills training, mentoring, feedback and the workplace culture. More information can be found in this Society for Human Resource Management article.
Regardless of which generation your employee is in, there are some concrete actions that all multiple experts agree on that you can take to motivate your employees.
- Communicate clearly, responsibility, and frequently information that is needed for your employees to complete their jobs successfully.
- Provide development opportunities.
- Recognize and acknowledge good performance frequently.
- Lead by example.
- Create a welcoming environment.
- Addressing employee concerns and issues before they lead to team dysfunction
More information on these actions can be found in these articles.
How to Motivate People Without Saying a Word
The Best Ways to Foster Employee Motivation
Motivating and Engaging Employees
10 Tips to Motivate Employees without Money
If you are still having performance challenges after trying various motivation methods, it might be time to seek assistance from your Human Resources Department or Labor Management Unit to determine if disciplinary action is appropriate.
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Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development. Find out more about UMASS’s Workplace Learning and Development.