There is no doubt that money counts a lot especially to meet our basic needs and keeps us going in our daily lives. But money is not enough alone to motivate our employees for always delivering quality performance and go to the extra mile for our business. Some leaders are of the view that satisfying employees means a nonstop drain on their company funds. But in the 21st century it does not work anymore. Being innovative and flexible is the key approach to rise with cost-effective ways to inspire our employees. Indeed, it’s likely to drive company employees from normal to extraordinary performance with intrinsic benefits for motivation. Let’s take a closer look at how to motivate employees without money.
Basic Components for Employees Motivation
First of all Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose are the three basic components for employee motivation.
Autonomy
When talking about ‘Autonomy’ it means giving people control over their own work. So in simple terms it refers to employee empowerment where employees get the chance to make their own decisions.
Mastery
Mastery means that every person needs to improve at their work responsibilities. Therefore, employees must be given proper opportunities to demonstrate how they’ve improved and evolved at their job. In order to accomplish this offer them productive feedback, give performance metrics, and form development plans at individual level.
Purpose
As far as ‘Purpose’ is concerned, it means engaging employees in such a way that they feel a part of something worthwhile where they are contributing for a bigger cause. Give them an idea about how their endeavours have benefited the organisation.
Ways to Motivate Employees Without Money
Furthermore, it is in human nature to get appreciated like in the form of recognition and small incentives. These things can take place in a lot of forms such as clapping for someone in a company meeting for their special efforts. An organisation can arrange some competitions or games and maintain their performance track on a whiteboard that is visible for all employees.
They can be offered with tangible rewards for example, lunch vouchers, spa services, family dinners, trophies, and shields. They must be provided with specific and genuine admiration. For this purpose it is of vital importance to measure achievements by evaluating specific components. It can comprise won contracts, sales volume, closed deals, total retained customers, and profitability increase.
The employees can also be motivated by keeping them together in the form of a community. In this way they can feel a sense of connectivity with mutual interests including professional as well as business concerns. No doubt forums on social media can be used; nevertheless they cannot substitute face to face communication at personal level. So the team members must be encouraged having their lunch together. It can also be helpful in improving their relationships outside the office premises. An organisation can arrange different events such as company picnics where employees can bring their families.
The company management must also endeavour to know their employees as people. It is very important to connect with them at personal level like what are their areas of interest? Do they have any family? Do they own a pet? Are they into book reading? Are they fond of traveling? Just by knowing their hobbies and personal preferences we can do a lot to make the best out of them. When employees feel that we don’t treat them as just a person working at our office with conventional mind-set then they also try their level best to not disappoint their bosses.
Additionally, the employees can also be engaged in the incentive process by asking them through their own feedback. They can share their viewpoints about what will really motivate them through different means such as suggestion boxes, employee surveys, brainstorming sessions or employee reviews through questionnaires. After collecting the data we can create action plans to make that possible by giving them a clear-cut picture of their targets and their desired rewards against them. This will not only improve their performance but also convey the organisational values directly to them especially with their input.
Organisational environment counts a lot for employee motivation. Recent research studies suggest that it affects their work attitude a lot so we can motivate them by involving them in designing or renovating their workspace. We can ask their input for colour combinations, furniture style, and lunch spaces. As it is quite obvious that sometimes there is a lot of pressure during jobs, so we can create a stress-free zone where employees can take a mini-break to relax. In a nutshell, a lot can be done to motivate employees without money. The basic thing is to put ourselves in their shoes for a while and connect with them at personal level.
If you are looking for some support with an improvement project, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation.
