Keeping Employees Engaged and Motivated: 4 Tips on Employee Incentives

In the corporate world, motivation and reward isn’t the same as collecting a paycheck. There’s a lot more needed to get your employees to do their best and keep your company moving in a positive direction.

Employees are motivated by many different job benefits outside of their paycheck; paid time off, flexible work schedules, or customizing responsibilities to fit their talents and skills, are a few perks that can keep your employees happy.

Every person has a different motivation for working. The reasons are as individual as the person. But, we all work to obtain something that we need. What we obtain impacts our motivation and the quality of our lives – which in turn, affects our productivity and satisfaction levels at work.

Effectively motivating and rewarding your employees is tricky. After all, it needs to be a win-win scenario that will make the employee happy and benefit the company’s goals and productivity.

Here’s some food for thought when brainstorming motivations and rewards for your employees.

The “carrot and the stick” approach doesn’t always work

One size does not fit all. If possible, customize your rewards based on the employee’s personality and for generational differences.

Company culture starts from deep roots within a company

Every member of the C-suite team and key management personnel must all be committed to the vision of hiring, nurturing, and retaining all employees to keep the vision alive.

Management and maintenance motivation concepts can truly be opposite

Any engagement concept must have buy-in from both sides of the operational coin. What appeals to the management side, may not be so effective for maintenance. What’s the key? Ask them!

Consider the perceived value of incentives

You don’t have to offer something with a specific dollar amount tied to it, like a gift card. In many cases, the most appreciated rewards are things like paid time off or owner recognition for the employee’s efforts.

Employee engagement starts with believing that the culture of the company is as important as the products or services sold. Emotional connections are critical to get your employees to use self-initiative to put the company’s goals first. The first step in building employee retention and engagement is for YOU, the leaders, to become engaged in the process too!