Employee Productivity Is Not About Money
Employee productivity is something every company wants to increase. A new article lists nine ways to increase employee productivity without using cash.
The piece comes from Inc. Magazine. Three of the items are spot on:
2. Get rid of the managers. Projects without project managers? That doesn’t seem right!
Try it.…
3. Make your ideas theirs. People hate being told what to do. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea.
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5. Make everyone a leader. Highlight your top performers’ strengths and let them … be the example for others.
All of these methods of increasing employee productivity are really variations on the theme of empowering individuals. When people have a sense of ownership, it’s no surprise they get more done. Three more suggestions take a different approach to humanize the workplace:
1. Be generous with praise. Everyone wants it and it’s one of the easiest things to give.
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4. Never criticize or correct. No one, and I mean no one, wants to hear that they did something wrong. If you’re looking for a de-motivator, this is it.
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6. Take an employee to lunch once a week. Surprise them…It’s an easy way to remind them that you notice and appreciate their work.
The remainder of the ideas, however, are mostly just ways to (indirectly) give employees more cash.
Of course, people need to be paid at work. Employee productivity is not really possible without a basic form of compensation. And of course, this salary should be competitive and based on results.
But as study after study shows, money is not the way to get people to do more. Instead, if you want to motivate employees you need to focus on the satisfaction of a job well done. Give people the room to learn and grow. Set them free to explore and contribute. Focus on opportunity, not on wages.
Our consulting practice focuses on helping organizations get better at what they do. If you want your company to be more efficient, contact us. We love to help others increase their productivity!
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April 19th, 2012 at 7:19 pm
That’s true. Money is no longer the accelerator of employee motivation. That’s why so many companies start to implement the so-called workplace exercise regimen to increase productivity and develop a more positive attitude. And it doesn’t surprise me at all because in today’s business environment employees get frustrated more often and the traditional ways of keeping them constantly engaged simply don’t work anymore.
April 20th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Thanks for the comment, Anthony!
I’m not sure I agree that money EVER was the “accelerator of employee motivation.” This isn’t a question of how people have changed, it’s a question of how business is changing to become more humane.