Do you notice lately that employee motivation at your workplace has been too low?Â
Well, while it can be detrimental to your company, the good thing is that we bring you 10 such signs that indicate you should invest in employee motivation, so that you can work on them just in time:
1. Lack of trust
One of the biggest signs you should invest in employee motivation is the lack of trust between managers and staff.
Managers who don’t trust employees tend to micromanage every single action. Employees rarely need such a high degree of oversight and can feel overwhelmed by the constant questioning of everything they do.
On the other hand, if employees lack trust in their bosses, this leads to reduced productivity and lower morale. Your employees would be unable to perform their job well if they don’t trust the leadership.
As for why there is a lack of trust between the two parties in the first place, then it may be due to the unsatisfactory performance of the employees.
Nevertheless, by resolving the trust issues at your workplace, you will find your employees working with greater motivation than before.
2. Lack of recognition
Investing in employee motivation also becomes crucial when there is a lack of recognition.
The lack of recognition can come in various shapes and forms. For example, being underpaid, not receiving feedback, promises which were not kept, suggestions and complaints being ignored, etc.
This lack of recognition can make a working environment toxic and lead to high employee turnover.
And it goes without saying how crucial it is to recognize your employees if you want them to have motivation for their work.
Read: How To Master Employee Motivation In 6 Simple Steps
3. Lack of respect
When employees often feel like they are not receiving the respect they deserve, they are likely to feel demotivated and even employees can quit.
To be precise, respect refers to the treatment employees receive from their managers and co-workers.
When your employees consider an element of respect missing for themselves, motivating them might help resolve their concerns.
4. Lack of opportunities for growth
Most often than not, employees feel demotivated when they perceive their job to be dead-end.
This tends to worsen when there are no opportunities for growth offered to them.
Offering career growth and development training will help demonstrate that you care about employees’ success, which will incite motivation in them.
So investing in employee motivation by providing growth opportunities to your employees can help you to have the desired results.
5. Lack of challenges
Feeling underutilized or not challenged can be a huge downer.
Companies should offer their staff’s support while simultaneously challenging them to do even better. Otherwise, you risk demotivating and boring your best employees to a point where they don’t even care about their daily tasks.
So, you should provide (meaningfully) challenging tasks to your employees so as to motivate them.
6. Lack of open communication
Open communication is the basis of any good employee-employer relationship.
However, a lack of motivation almost results in workplace conflicts and strained relationships. In simpler words, lack of communication is a recipe for disaster for any organization.
And importantly, it takes away every bit of motivation from your employees.
Making sure that there exists sufficient communication can lead you to develop a motivating workplace and subsequently a motivated workforce.
7. Bad management
Frustration with a direct supervisor is the quickest way that demotivates any employee!
The employee frustration could be over some disagreement or a general misalignment of values. However, it is a lot more than a random workplace conflict or disagreement.
When employees are mismanaged for whatever reason, it tends to take away their motivation, which can be costly for any company.
On the other hand, when employees are smartly handled by the management, that is, their needs and appropriate demands are met, it drives motivation in them. And this benefits the company!
Therefore, it is vital for managers to smartly manage all employees so as to keep them working hard with motivation.
8. Burnout
Having an unreasonably high workload can lead to burnout and make your employees deeply demotivated.
It is always a better idea to invest in employee motivation by making things to a level that does not make employees frustrated.
So, make sure to catch those cases early and let your employees ease it so they can be more productive.
9. Work-life balance
Company culture and work-life balance are becoming more and more important, especially among millennials.
People want to spend more time with their families and appreciate not being asked to do overtime all the time.
When employees are encouraged to balance their professional and private lives, it motivates them to do their best in their tasks.
Motivate your employees by showing them that you value their work-life balance!
10. No rewards
Finally, when a company has no rewards system implemented, it can feel like it doesn’t really care about its employees.
Investing in having a rewards system is the best way to show appreciation to your employees.
It is because by linking the rewards to customer feedback, you can show your employees how their actions directly impact the end customer. Thus, you encourage them and give them purpose and meaning to their work.
Read: 5 Books About Employee Motivation You Should Read
Last few words
It goes without saying that employee motivation is important for any organization. However, it is a combination of various organizational aspects.
So, whenever you find the aforementioned 10-pointers, you should invest in employee motivation immediately since its absence may result in lower productivity and unsatisfying results.
Furthermore, instead of working on every aspect that indicates employee demotivation, you can use Bravo instead. It brings desired levels of employee engagement by motivating employees through its efficient rewards and recognition system.
You can learn the usefulness that Bravo provides in regard to employee motivation by booking a free demo.
