What most organizations do not understand is that their most valuable asset is not their customers, or physical assets but their employees. Once an organization understands this premise, it will have made its first step to creating a rock star team that will take it to a whole new level. So what drives employee motivation? What makes an employee desire to do his/her job effectively? To answer these questions I will present you with employee motivation ideas that will help you create a rock star team for your organization.

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Every employer needs to have appropriate answers to the above questions if they are to retain and create a productive and effective workforce. Unfortunately, most of the employers do not have the right answers to these questions or have misinformed solutions. It all trickles down to appropriate employee motivation ideas.

Gone are days when employee motivation was driven by fear, intimidation and the most favorite of all “throwing money at the problem.” This model is based on slave labor mentality, where the employees are at the mercy of the employer’s whims.

Moreover, when it comes to employee motivation, financial rewards may not be as effective as most organizations think. On that note, here are employee motivation ideas that will help you create a rock star team for your organization.

Provide Exceptional yet Affordable Perks and Benefits

Here’s an important lesson, it is not always about the money but more on creating good experiences in the work environment. This entails motivation ideas, that factor in the employee well being both at work and away from work.

These perks and benefits can come in form of no-cost medical benefits, insurance, compensatory offs, tuition reimbursements, vacation packages, transport, accommodation facilities among others.

The perks and benefits have the effect of showing the employees that they are valued and cared for. This in turn triggers loyalty and motivates them to be more productive.

Recognize worthy employees

A study conducted by Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick on employee motivation ideas over a period of 10 years on over 200,000 employees, established that employees recognition is a powerful motivator.

The study showed that the most effective employers provided their employees with regular and effective recognition. Surprising enough, recognition in the form of constructive praise realized more significant business results than the monetary rewards.

The contrast is true when employee positive efforts are ignored or downplayed. It breeds job dissatisfaction resulting dismal work output and less likelihood of retaining quality workforce.

Show employees that their work is important

A recent survey conducted by BNET on what motivates employees at work established that the feeling that one is doing something meaningful is more important than recognition or money incentives.

29% of the respondents said that being involved in something meaningful was most motivating, while 25% were motivated by money and 17% were motivated by recognition.

Thus, the best way to go about this is to align, the organization’s mission, vision, and goals with what the employees are doing on the ground on a daily basis. Moreover, the organization should involve the employees in creating organization goals and should also publicly report on the achievement of their goals.

Manage, but don’t micromanage

As much as management is important, micromanaging employees is counterproductive. It is disempowering and limits creativity. Management entails checking in on your employees. Micromanagement entails checking up on your employees; this is intrusive and intimidating.

Employees need a bit of flexibility on when and how they work, or how a task is completed. Managers should not dictate every detail of how a task should be completed.

Remember, the workforce will not gain new skills if you dictate every specific detail of every project they are working on. Some level of autonomy is important. Autonomy promotes creativity and innovation hence more productivity and innovative products.

Give Employees Voice and Value

Democracy makes the employees feel part of the organization. This can be achieved by getting input from employees in matters ranging from the daily running of the organization to seeking their input in specific key plans and major organization decisions.

You want to invite your employees to help set goals so that they really buy into them. Seek employee input on key decisions and plans on a continuous basis. The company can achieve this through the following ways:

• Host employee forums on a regular basis to address their pressing concerns.
• Provide them with multiple channels to express and communicate their ideas.
• Carry out a big survey to seek their feedback on various organization issues and get employee volunteer teams to resolve them.
• Employees are allowed to review the management team where the best managers are rewarded while the poor performers are provided with rigorous support and coaching.

Of course, the management will make the final decisions on these issues. Though the management will not necessarily act on all the issue raised, the act of soliciting their feedback will make them feel valued.

Unconventional workplace Designs

Instead of having the traditional boring office layouts, organizations need to tailor their office design to serve various purposes. These creative layouts can stimulate creativity, idea generation, and liveliness among other details.

Organizations can allow the employees to design their own work areas as long as they stay within their professional limits.

Employee Motivation Ideas: Transparency

Having established that the employees are the greatest asset for any organization earlier on employee motivation ideas, it is important to show–faith and trust in them. A show of faith will turn them into exactly the kind of people the organization wants them to be.

Transparency is one way of showing trust by sharing important organization details and soliciting their input on major organizational decisions. This will nurture employee responsibility and loyalty.

Tailor the motivation approach

Finally, Just as every individual is different, so are the things that motivate one in the job environment. While some employees may want coaching and handholding, others may want recognition or money incentives.