Three tips to build staff motivation

Companies that want to get the best out of their staff need to think about how to build and maintain motivation and momentum.

Here are three examples of how to do this:

What’s the cure for (unofficial) ‘duvet day’ disease?

One in every seven days off is now thought to be staff throwing a sickie or having a duvet day, costing the UK nearly£17bn in 2009. Unsurprisingly, Mondays and Fridays are the most favoured days.  Company policies to deal with this range from docking pay to ‘cold calling’ workers at home who are persistent day-off offenders.

There is another way – use an incentive-based approach.  One large corporation enters workers with a zero absence record into a prize draw.  Bribery?  Possibly.  But it’s clearly a more positive tactic from the employees’ point of view.  Other companies are linking attendance to bonuses or profit share payments, while employee-of-the-month schemes often factor good attendance into the award criteria.

Managing your boss!

As I go about my daily work as a coach and mentor, I frequently get asked the question “how do I manage my boss?” 

Friction between a boss and subordinate can be very damaging.  Both parties tend to procrastinate in their dealings with each other, fearing a possible flare-up or difficult discussion and as a consequence, the business ultimately suffers.

What to look for in a business coach

Choosing the right business coach requires a fair bit of research and consideration.  But getting the right one can make a world of difference in terms of providing focus, motivation, clear goals and a renewed enthusiasm to face the challenges of the marketplace.

So what should you look for?

The three things I’ve learnt from the recession

I have been through three recessions in my recruitment career and each time I learn a little more about how to survive and even thrive!  Like most things in recruitment, it’s not rocket science, more an unequivocal and unswerving belief that just as it started, it will end.  The trick of course is to be able to see the end goal and focus on it. 

These are the top three lessons I have learned from working in a recession:

Working with Generation Y

 

 In today’s employment market, there are three distinct generations:

1.   Baby Boomers (born 1946-1960) who live to work
2.   Generation X (born 1961-1979) who work to live
3.   Generation Y (born 1980-mid 90’s) who live then work

 

There’s been a lot of talk about Generation Y being known for their sense of entitlement, their outspokenness, their inability to accept criticism and their technological abilities. Whatever your opinion is Generation Y is the new unpredictable talent pool.