Unique ways to motivate employees
Finding fun and interesting ways to motivate your employees can be daunting, but it is important to introduce innovative and engaging ways to nurture your workplace environment.
Encouraging motivation through creative approaches will boost company morale, and will keep your employees engaged with their work and happy to be a part of your company.
Your employees are going to be spending a large portion of their time at your office surrounded by their coworkers. Essentially the office will be their home away from home.
“Companies like Google have invested more in employee support and employee satisfaction has risen as a result. For Google, it rose by 37%, they know what they are talking about. Under scientifically controlled conditions, making workers happier really pays off, ” said Professor Andrew Oswald from the University of Warwick who led the research on how employee happiness relates to employee productivity.
But how do you create unique ways to increase the motivation factor amongst your employees? Don’t be discouraged! Below are five innovative ways to motivate your employees and enjoy a happy workplace.
1. Plan a field trip
What were some of the best days in school? Field Trip Days! Field trips don’t have to stop once we all enter the workplace. It’s a great way for all of the employees to get away from the office for a day and enjoy an excursion or activity together. Team outings build team cohesion- when an individual feels like they are part of a team, they are more likely to feel motivated to work harder.
The best part is that there is a plethora of team activities. From volunteer work to mini-golf or a day at the beach, the possibilities are numerous. Check out the post at AllBusiness for more creative field trip ideas.
2. Implement a four-day workweek
The shorter workweek is being experimented with in some countries and showing positive results in the productivity of the employees. In the Netherlands, the four day workweek is very common and practically a standard. Other countries such as Denmark, Norway, and Ireland have also implemented the shorter work week with positive results. Read the full list at CNN Money. Here in the USA, 37Signals Co-founder Jason Fried, is influenced by the changing seasons and adjusts the workweek accordingly. He wrote a fantastic piece for the New York Times on why change in the workplace is important, and how introducing a 32-hour work week at his company was beneficial.
In his article “Be More Productive. Take Time Off” Fried offers this advice: “The benefits of a six-month schedule with three-day weekends are obvious. But there’s one surprising effect of the changed schedule: better work gets done in four days than in five. When there’s less time to work, you waste less time. When you have a compressed workweek, you tend to focus on what’s important.”
3. Utilize your wall space
Chances are your employees will spend a lot of time at their desk in the office faced with looking at the walls or cubicle partitions surrounding them which makes this an excellent place to grab their attention and motivate them. Try to steer away from the cliche (and sometimes cheesy) motivational posters filled with sky divers holding hands or icebergs with HIDDEN DEPTHS written underneath. These may cause your employees to roll their eyes. Instead use this space to add life and culture to your office.
A creative way that offices are using this blank space is to have glass partitions between desks which employees can write on as a way to share creative ideas. Or you can have everyone involved in an artistic mural that will be painted on the office wall that is personal and portrays your company's mission and core values.
4. Deck out the game room
A fun and exciting game room is a great place for an employee to go and unwind during the workday and recuperate. Offering your employees such amenities such as pool tables, video games, ping pong tables, foosball, or arcade games brings employees together and allows them to relax. Having fun at work will raise commitment values, boost happiness and will allow co-workers to build bonds with each other.
Jay Graves, CTO of Double Encore, explains to Forbes, “I like these types of things because they bring people together who might not normally interact on a day-to-day basis. Foosball, darts, and video games are games that people play in pairs, teams, or groups. Spending time together, both while working and ‘off the clock, ’ are key to (creating) a company’s culture – especially one that depends largely on collaborative efforts.”
