12 Ways to Make Old and New Employees Feel Motivated

motivate employees

Do employees get better with age, or do they wear out? 

The general workplace environment comprises old and new employees, and keeping them motivated can be tricky. Unmotivated workers cost the US economy about $550 billion each year. 

As employees get older, their priorities change, and what may have worked in motivating them last year may not work so well the following year. Employers and managers are responsible for finding what works in keeping both their old and new employees motivated.

In this article, we help you uncover the best ways to make your old and new employees feel motivated. We examine the best strategies you can employ to excite your old and new employees for the best performance.

Before we get into that, let’s quickly divert to explain why you need to make both your old and new employees feel motivated. 

Why is employee motivation important to your business?

Positive employee testimonials for career pages. 

Most candidates view your career page before applying for your job openings. This is the best place to grab their interest.

A typical career page content example is employee testimonials. 

When your employees are motivated and active, they give great testimonials and are more valid as they’re delivered on-screen. 

You can easily pull the positive quotes of your employees and paste them on your career page.

An excellent career page will fetch you quality talent. You can see great career page examples.

Improved employee turnover rate.

See your employees as family.

Retaining employees is very important for every company; as your employees continue to work for your company, they gain more business experience, improve efficiency, and cut recruitment and training expenses.

Improved relationship between management and staff. 

Don’t be the cranky boss. Build great relationships with your staff.

The most motivated staff have great relationships with their leaders or managers. They are always willing to work, make improvements and 

accept modifications without debate. Happy employees’ work makes the work easier for their managers. 

Enhanced worker performance. 

You motivate your employees; they get the job done. Motivation stimulates engagement, and a highly engaged workforce increases profitability by 21%.

When you keep your workers motivated, not only do they get the job done, they do so effectively and efficiently and are more committed to their jobs. Companies with motivated workers are more productive and increase the overall output of the business. 

Exceptional quality and improved customer service 

A motivated employee is more inclined to work to provide high-standard services and put extra effort into producing quality products. Those in service-related enterprises are also more committed to providing excellent customer service and are more excited about their job.

Find their Commonalities

Every employee needs motivation. Old and new employees may have shared things that make them feel motivated. You can take out time to find those commonalities. Motivating old and new employees aren’t so different from each other. However, we individuals examine the ways of motivating old and new employees. 

Finding commonalities and similar interests is a significant part of the social bonding process, and it is always profitable for managers to form bonds between their old and new employees. 

Ways to make old employees feel motivated

Employee perks.

It is important to note what perks are not.

  • Perks don’t include health care, dental, or vision packages.
  • Employee perks don’t include factors like mission, vision, values, fair play, or a strong/ethical team.
  • Perks are not the same as company culture but are a component.

A good employee perk is providing travel management services for older employees. Small business travel management companies can help to manage all aspects of business travel for the company’s staff, from signing contracts with airlines and car rental companies to arranging other services. Save your employees the stress involved with business travels and make business travels easier.

Communicate your expectations to them.

Generally, people have misconceptions regarding older employees’ willingness to learn new things. Most old workers are quite teachable and ready to learn new skills, software, and equipment. It’s best to communicate your goals, mission, and expectations to all your employees, both old and new, and have an open mind to avoid the thought that your more senior employees are already burnt out and can’t do much for your company.

old and new

Value their experience

Older employees, in most cases, have more experience than new employees. Encourage your new workers to learn from them. Experience is valuable to every business. You should value and encourage your employer more as they stay longer on the job. You can consider making productive ones the head of their various departments.

Take the Time to Understand Their Motivations

It’s essential to find what motivates your older workers. Their motivation might differ from fresher employees, although that isn’t always the care. It is important that you do your research and discover what works. Build a relationship with them and know their personal goals, ambitions, and desires.

Be Open to Feedback

As a good manager or business owner, it’s important to accept older employees’ feedback. Ask your senior employees about your performance, what can be done better and how to make better decisions. Remember, you are dealing with experienced individuals. Listening to their opinions and feedback helps you understand how to motivate them and make them feel important and appreciated. Asking for feedback makes them see you as a leader and not some boss.

Focus on Results

Focus on results rather than their methods of doing things. Older employees usually have a different approach to things. Considering they have been working on a job for several years, they tend to create unique work techniques. Instead of forcing older employees to adopt a new method, focus on the results. The most important thing is to focus on whatever gets the job done, regardless of the techniques adopted.

old and new

Ways to make new employees feel motivated

Express trust for new employees 

It’s normal to see new employees lack confidence in performing their jobs. It can result from the new environment, new job description, or fear of poor performance. You can avoid this and boost their confidence by expressing trust in them. Show them you expect them to do great in executing tasks, just like older employees. Encouraging them to be the best of themselves is an excellent way to go.

Track their productivity 

Set targets and goals for each employee to measure how productive they are. We get motivated when we hit targets, no matter how little. You can employ these tactics for your employees.

It’s important to reward employees that steadily hit their targets. This will encourage them to achieve more and work to develop themselves and improve their efficiency.

Give specific roles to your employees. 

Employees are more productive when they have specific tasks assigned to them. It also shows their efficiency and value to the business. As your employees perform their duties, they get motivated to achieve greater heights.

You should make your new employees recognize their role in the business vision and goals and how their performance affects the company. This gives your employees a sense of responsibility.

Stay positive 

As a manager, maintain a positive atmosphere. Your employees must see you full of enthusiasm and motivation. Regardless of your feelings, always stay positive and transmit the same to your workers. 

Always see the possibility of success in every project.

Create a good work relationship with your new staff

Paying particular attention to your new employees helps them adjust to their new work environment and boosts their performance. 

Ask about their challenges and how they are coping with their work. It is also important to get feedback. Their opinions will help you know how to motivate them.

When you succeed in creating a good relationship with your new employees, you’d know their weaknesses and strengths better and how to motivate them. Plus, they will trust you more and be more excited to work for you.

Reward your new employees when they perform well 

Rewards best-performing employees to keep them motivated and encourage other employees to put in more work. Create a system that rewards jobs well done. Two-thirds of employees are motivated to stay at their job with the presence of a motivational scheme for employees.

Rewards like extra stipends, movie tickets, and paid days off. You can also ask your employees what they’d love as a good reward. This will help you provide the most motivational incentives.

Wrapping Up the ways to make your old and new employees feel motivated.

We all need inspiration and encouragement to give our best. This is necessary for optimum productivity and profit in the work environment. Companies with highly motivated employees make up to 27% higher profits— this is some high profit, and you can get in on it.

You can keep your employees motivated and active at all times. These simplified strategies can be adapted to help motivate and keep your old and new employees inspired to give in their best.

Your employees are your asset. Keep them motivated. 


Author Bio
Martins Favour is a creative content writer with over five years of experience writing SEO content for various brands. She finds a home in weaving worlds out of words. Stories are her life and LinkedIn is her favourite tool. 

small business coach

 

Ways to Reward Employees for Free

reward employees

Staff members (“employees”) deserved to be recognized for doing outstanding work, being a team player, meeting deadlines, or other positive behaviors. There are many ways to reward our employees that can boost their productivity.

Rewards are an undeniably great way to build morale and confidence, provide incentives for continued good work, and grow company loyalty. Sometimes, though, the budget is tight.

Free or Low-Cost Ways to Reward Employees

Consider these no-cost or low-cost ways to reward employees for their contributions to your success:

Recognition email.

Send out a communication to the recipient outlining the employee’s outstanding effort; cc all other staff. It doesn’t have to be flowery or long.

I wanted to express my thanks for your hard work during the XYZ project. You completed all your assigned deliverables on time. Your contributions enabled the team to hit their milestones and to finish this project as planned. Thanks for all you do.

You could also give them a shout-out at a team meeting.

Time off.

Allow an employee to take one or two paid hours off at their discretion: leave early, come in late, long lunch. Naturally, an employee should provide notice when they plan to take this time off.

A small gift.

Buy a coffee mug, mouse pad, or colorful post-its to acknowledge good work. Leave a candy bar or cupcake on their desk with a short note. If available, gift them with company merchandise like a shirt or hat.

Certificate of appreciation.

It may only take you a few minutes to type it up, but a one-page printed certificate is a simple way to acknowledge good work. Here are some categories which you may use:

  • Teamwork
  • Great Customer Service
  • Outstanding Performance
  • Superior Effort
  • Perfect Attendance
  • Work Excellence

Designated parking spot.

The recipient is allowed to use the parking spot designated for the Employee of the Month. Involves a one-time purchase of the EOTM signpost. If the budget is really tight, you can paint the parking spot or just print an EOTM sign to post at their desk.

Team contest.

Set up a friendly contest between departments or project teams to see who hits their goals first. The goals could involve the amount of sales, customers served, phone calls handled, etc. The winner gets a team lunch or other incentive.

Get Out of Jail Free card.

Gives the staff member an opportunity to get a “pass” on minor behavior like being a few minutes late or other small infractions. Could allow an employee to dress in casual apparel for a day.

Additional responsibility.

It may sound counterintuitive, but giving an employee a chance to take on a higher-functioning duty is a reward. Let them lead a meeting, act as co-leader on a new project, or mentor a new hire. May require some coaching along the way, but it’s a show of your confidence in their abilities.

Thank you note.

A handwritten card from management goes a long way in an employee feeling appreciated. It’s personal and takes some thought.

Inexpensive gift cards.

Hand out $5 or $10 gift cards to show your thanks – lower denomination cards work for stores that sell coffee, ice cream, donuts, and even gas. It really is the thought that counts.  

Work at home.

Let employee work at home on Fridays for a month. If working remotely doesn’t work for whatever reason, let them work instead in a dedicated conference room.

Lunch date.

Have a manager or even the owner take the employee out to lunch. Let them pick the restaurant.

Wall of Praise.

Hang a bulletin board in a break room or hallway to post certificates of appreciation, customer letters, thank-you notes, recognition emails, and other acknowledgments or achievements.

Monopoly money.

Create a program where good works are rewarded with $5, $10, $20, or $50 in play money. Staff can use the phony bills for company merchandise, to leave early, or take a long lunch. In any given period of time, the first to reach a certain amount are rewarded with real cash. Employees can be given play money to reward each other. 

Wearable buttons.

Have some pinback buttons (like politicians use when campaigning) made. Phrases might be:

  • You’re awesome
  • Great employee
  • I deliver the goods
  • Fantastic customer service
  • Salesman of the month
  • My boss appreciates me

Say it in person.

Walk up to the employee and tell them “thanks” to their face.

Conclusion

I remember the times when my manager gave me a gas card or a thank you in a team meeting. It’s not like getting a gold watch, but I felt appreciated and remember it to this day. 

 

small business coach