Feeling appreciated out of recognition from others is a top driver for employee retention and engagement. Motivating your team through recognition of hard work or small inexpensive incentives can come back tenfold in the level of effort they put into their work and caring for your clients. Below is a list of six inexpensive and some free ways to boost motivation in your team and create the kind of work place where people want to work hard and stay for a long time.
- Sending a companywide email highlighting a job well done by a team member or department sets an example of the good work the team is capable of and communicates how much it’s appreciated.
- Offer an extra-long lunch or early finish time as a one off. All staff love extra time off without it having to come out of their accrued leave.
- Buy pizza or Friday drinks, a simple way to get the team to pull together in a relaxed setting and enjoy a treat in turn for a job well done in a busy period.
- Give additional responsibility, learning to recognise when your staff want more responsibility and giving them those opportunities to show you trust them to be given more.
- Buy the team coffee on the morning of a particularly busy day like end of month, this will ensure the team tackle the day in high spirits knowing you recognise the task they have ahead of them.
- Have a casual dress day, set the rules for it to be smart and appropriate to still greet clients, this injects a bit of fun into the office.