A lot of effort goes into finding and recruiting the right employees for the job. Therefore keeping them motivated and retaining them at the end of the contractual period becomes an even more significant feat to achieve.
Your employees will only produce quality work when they are treated well by the company. If the only incentive they receive is paid holidays, it will not keep them motivated to give you their best efforts. Being a start-up, the company might also face a few rough patches. Keeping the employees motivated to work and excited about the vision of the company at this time becomes even more vital.
Here are 7 ways you can make sure that employees remain motivated even through rough times that the company is facing:
- Make the Vision and Mission of the company very clear:From the moment an employee enters the system till the time he or she leaves, they should know what the company wants to achieve. If the employee feels strongly towards the vision of the company and is convinced to make a difference in that particular area, they will give in 100% of their efforts.
- Hold multiple trainings: Explaining the exact mechanisms of the job eliminates job ambiguity. Telling employees how the company goes about doing a certain tasks decreases chances of simple errors and gives employees a sense of confidence before starting out with official work. Multiple trainings over the year makes sure that:
- All employee grievances are solved
- The mission and vision of the company are reiterated
- Employees understand the impact they are creating
- Important procedures are revisited
- Give immediate feedback: Being proactive in providing feedback gives employees a chance to improve immediately. Additionally, employees are always looking for feedback in order to improve. Positive feedback motivates them to work harder and continue the good work while negative feedback helps them to correct their mistakes and learn from them.
- Make each employee feel that he or she is valued: Appreciating employees for their efforts inspires them to achieve higher goals. Make them feel important on their birthdays and write small thank you notes occasionally. Inspire them to continue practises which have worked well for them. Giving them reasons for why the company values them makes employees feel like they are making a difference. Appraisals and promotions added to the mix ensures success.
- Add a personal touch:Keeping up with the personal lives of employees is very beneficial. It makes them realize their importance. A one on one meeting with each employee at least once a week to catch up on how the projects are going. Get involved in the creation process and give inputs to employees every step of the way. This makes sure that they are comfortable with you. Make sure that you smile and are kind towards all employees. Appreciate their ideas, use them and push employees to experiment with new ones. If it is a success, it is an achievement for the entire company. If it is not one, it is a point of learning for the entire organization.
- Make work fun:Work can become fun when employees are surprised with outings, food competitions and many more things that help with team integration. Happy hours, football competitions, game nights are all great ways to end monotony and establish friendship amongst employees.
- Challenge them:Hand over new projects and challenges to keep work exciting. Employees are always looking for opportunities to contribute their ideas and create impact. By providing them with such opportunities on a regular basis will keep them on their toes and avoid monotony and boredom.
You are a constant point of reference for your employees. Along with applying the above methods, work with an ethic you would like your employees to maintain. If you would like them to work hard and be passionate about their work, show them how passionate you are about your work. Communicate your expectations and make sure that the goals you set for yourself and your employees are achievable. Unachievable goals tend to bring spirits down when it does not meet deadlines.
Retaining employees may be a hard challenge. But making them aware of their significance and keeping them excited about the work that they are doing are some of the best methods to keep employees motivated to provide maximum efforts.
An inspiring work environment will always help in keeping your employees motivated. Find your inspiration by choosing a shared office space in Koramangla, Bengaluru or business centre in Qutab, New Delhi.
