It's all about keeping them happy and ticking
Fat pay-checks may not be good enough to motivate your employees. You need to walk the extra mile in making them happy and ticking - here's how. But first....
Go figure, what motivates your employees
Don't forget - motivated employees make it very obvious that they love their job. They don’t stop talking or raving about their company and their job. They will keep on working towards improving their performance. They become walking-talking advertisements for their company.
They have done it and so can you!
There are many companies that have made it to the list of Most-Admired-Companies. A few that come to mind include Apple, Google, Starbucks, Disney, Coca Cola, Southwest Airlines, Wynn Resorts and Zappos. All of these have one thing in common - their motivated staff.
Let us consider a few examples worthy of mention:
In January 2013, Southwest Airlines declared its vision to its employees - “To become the world’s most loved, most flown, and most profitable airline”
….and to achieve this vision, this was their purpose:
“We exist to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel”
Storytelling was the tactic they used to remind their employees of the purpose of the company and re-inforce the same in their daily interactions with their internal customers.
Gary Kelly, the CEO of the company, made it a point to shout out a public praise every week, to encourage and appreciate the employees who have given their best to offer excellent customer service
Their monthly magazine Southwest Spirit featured a story about one of their best employees
Positive behaviors of employees were highlighted through many awards and recognition programs
Internal corporate videos with lots of stories and real-life examples helped employees in visualizing each step of their purpose and experience them too.
Google is one of those companies that consider their employees as their biggest assets. This is quite evident in their philosophy which is…
_“_To create the happiest, most productive workplace in the world”
Apart from offering the standard benefits like flexi-spending accounts, 401K Plans, Insurance, no-cost health and dental benefits, tuition reimbursements and vacation packages and tuition reimbursements, Google has gone ahead to make it more than attractive for its employees to work in the organization. Some of these exclusive perks and benefits include:
Reimbursement of legal expenses of employees (up to $5000)
Maternity Benefits of 18 Weeks off with 100% pay. $500 extra for both the mother and the father for take-out meals during the initial period of 3 months when they have to stay with the baby at home.
Adoption Assistance in terms of financial support for employees who wish to adopt children
On-site facilities like gym, car-wash, bike repair, oil-change, dry-cleaning, hair stylist and massage therapy, which you can find at the HQ of the company in Mountain view
Facility to wash clothes, On-site doctor and a free fitness center with trainer
Free Lunch & dinner with an assortment of healthy and delicious meals prepared by qualified and experienced gourmet chefs.
Google also focuses on improving communication with its employees by providing them diverse channels to air their thoughts and ideas, hosting employee forums on a weekly basis and conducting surveys to directly address their issues.
How do you get there?
Here are a few things you can consider:
Better Communication: As far as possible communicate with your staff in person. This will help them understand that you care.
Be a Role Model: Reveal your goals to them and share your excitement about how you want to achieve them.
Empower: Seek their opinions and suggestions. Implement those are practical for improving your customer service.
Create plenty of growth opportunities: A dead-end-job is the last thing your employees need. Embrace technology, experiment and see how you can use different software solutions and apps to improve your productivity and create better collaboration among employees.
Shell out incentives by the truckload: We not talking about expensive gift cards, paid days off, movie tickets etc., although those also count. A few words of praise can also deliver the same goods.
Find out what other employers do to keep their staff happy. Be on the Lookout for tools that can help motivate your employees and improve their productivity. Keep checks to monitor productivity and see how the employees are progressing towards their goals. These little things can help you take the best out of happy employees who don’t mind working harder - and with your help, smarter.
