Employees who feel valued will put more effort into carrying out their allotted tasks to a high standard. More importantly, however, is that their attitudes will boost overall morale in the workplace more effectively than any short-term financial reward. The responsibility for increasing employees’ feelings of job-based self-worth lies with management, who must make a daily effort to motivate their staff.

Step 1

Keep your office door open — both literally and metaphorically. An employee who feels that his superior is always available to listen to his suggestions and concerns is inevitably more productive. Barriers reduce the flow of communication and allow pockets of resentment and frustration to grow unheeded.

Step 2

Schedule regular one-to-one time with individual employees. Take the opportunity to discuss how their career might progress and make them aware of any potential opportunities for advancement. If none exist, provide them with the chance to get involved with other projects and tasks. Suggest educational courses that might be relevant to progression. The goal is to make employees feel like their job is not a dead end, even if it is.

Step 3

Find out where each employee’s strengths lie and make the most of them. For example, highly organized staff should take part in planning, while innate leaders and motivators should be groomed for leadership. Those employees who have their personal skills recognized feel uniquely important to the operation of the business.

Step 4

Praise performance, but not the performer.. By praising the behavior itself, the employee feels like they have done well, and the rest of the staff are shown an example. By praising the employee, the rest of the staff are excluded. Praise for a job well done should be done immediately and kept pure — don’t be tempted to sandwich criticism in with the praise.

Step 5

Involve employees in decision-making and planning. While most of the important decisions will, by necessity, be made by senior management, there’s no reason that employees cannot be consulted for their opinions first. This is especially important for decisions that directly relate to employees’ jobs; there’s nothing more disempowering than decisions that affect your life being made seemingly anonymously.