5 Low Cost Ways to Motivate Employees

Let’s face it. Motivating employees that are making pretty good salary is hard enough. Now try to do it for those who are making minimum wage in a small business and you understand the magnitude of the problem.
However, all is not lost in this battle. There are ways to motivate the employees who are working part-time, on a minimum wage as long as you know what makes them click.
Below we highlight the 5 best ideas we have collected from our own experience and those of our colleagues and business partners.

1. Give small, frequent rewards
   Experience shows that it is better to reward employees with small amounts, more frequently than give them higher reward at large intervals. The reasons are quite simple. When you make them wait for a long time before rewarding them the employees don’t know whether they are going to get any reward.
2. Tie rewards to the outcome
   In addition to giving small, frequent rewards you should set up the rewards such that they are tied to increase in their performance. An ideal setup would be something like this – Every employee gets to share 10% of the increase in sales that the business sees in a given month proportional to their hours worked. Having setup this reward you should explain to them what actions they need to take to increase the sales. The results are miraculous.
3. Show appreciation
   Sometimes you don’t need to give money to motivate people. A simple thank you verbally or in form of written note will do the trick. There is a reason why you see “Employee of the Month” along with the pictures on the bulletin boards of some businesses. Everyone likes the boost in ego when people know how good a job they have done.
4. Celebrate small victories
   Nothing beats, when it comes to motivation boost, than celebrating right after you have achieved something. Think of going to the bar for beer right after you have won the softball game. The adrenalin is still pumping and celebration reinforces to employees that their efforts are not wasted. How about bringing donuts or ice cream for everyone after a long, tiring day at work.
5. Finally, Create Fun Environment
   For those who have worked in a place where you can’t wait to get the day over and go home know what we mean. As a business owner you want to create an environment where people are having fun while still working hard. This will not only help bring out the best from employees; but customers will enjoy it too; which will lead to increased sales.

One word of caution… while you want to create a fun environment and reward the employees; make sure work comes first, when required. You should always remember that it is a workplace and not a frat house.