How to Motivate Employees on a Budget
Liz Ryan / BusinessWeek
June 04, 2008
The last reward
The “last reward” comes last in our list because it’s the most obvious employee motivator, notwithstanding the fact that managers routinely forget to make use of it. We refer to praise and acknowledgement, the ‘attaboys’ and ‘attagirls’ that remind employees we’re paying attention. Acknowledging your team’s efforts is a specific way in an ongoing process that won’t make up for a low raise, but will show your employees you see their value, even if you can’t put a dollar amount behind it. The habit of dropping frequent, relevant acknowledgements will also increase your one-on-one communication with your employees—and that is never a bad thing.
ritapcker490
about 1 year ago
2 comments
During our survey's to identify what makes our staff tick! Money was not the top motivator it was job satisfaction! We although pay our staff better than most other employers in our area !
KiWi
about 1 year ago
372 comments
Motivating employees is not something that you can do across the board and, as the article points out, doesn't have to always be part of the budget. identifying what motivates each of us can be difficult. I suggest that we take it upon ourselves to explain (when appropriate) WHAT motivates us to our supers. Taking the guess work out of it can be helpful, but I agree with RLGILL that the more personal in nature, the better - or better the results and outcome of the motivation/rewards/recognition will be. Be creative. Soft skills are key and if you have the opportunity to tap into a person, to learn about them, you will find out what motivates them - money or not.
rlgill
about 1 year ago
44 comments
I think this is a nice article however I think motivation should be a personal thing if at all possible. We should be aiming to learn about our employees and motivate them based on things they are passionate about. I
mardelplata
about 1 year ago
2 comments
I agree with each of the motivators suggested. Our school district would be affected by budget cuts, that would bring layoffs that unfortunately couldn't be delayed unless our California Governor decided to use another measurements to balance the state budget. Information was one of the best motivators since our employees did not felt betrayed by their employees, yes by a politician. We as a workers union decided to show our support by resigning an increase in salary for this year or until the district can afford a raise in salaries and benefits, expecting to save more jobs and layoff reduction.
Great tips,
Thanks