Work question - How do your managers/bosses get you motivated?

..if monetary incentives can't be used?

I am applying for a manager position at my current job and we are in a hiring/salary freeze, so no one is getting raises this year.

If I get the job I wonder how I can motivate my staff when there is no financial gain associated with their performance.

My ideas so far are:

-flexible schedules

- giving staff the opportunity to work on projects they want to work on

Any ideas ladies? What motivates you to do a good job at work?

We are going thru this same issue. Salary increases are at a all time low this year for my company and we are afraid of how that may affect our staff.

One thing that we looking into is seeing if we can the costs of outside training approved.

Also, allowing members of our department to take larger roless in department projects thus brodan their skill set and keeping them interested.

Hearing/listening to what they have to say about their position and seeing where their interests lie and trying to partially accomodate that without of course compromising their current workload and still making sure their hired job function is performed. Respect is somethign that motivates me (but not everyone!)

We have 2 people up for review withing the next week and they will be the forst to really learn of this company policy and we are a little nervous how they may react.

PS - In my company, we have no flexibility in scheduling or hours or vacation time.

I would like 10-12 hr work days and less days of work..

4 day work weeks are amazing..
Have them all summer thanks to my vacation!!!!!!!


What REALLY motivates people is $$$$$$$$$$$

Niecey - great ideas about training and broadening their skill set. I work at a university, so I can easiuly arrange the training aspect. I would also allow them a voice on what projects to work on.

Theresa - so true about $. But I would be open to half-day Fridays all year if longer says preceeded it.

Thanks you guys!

I'm on the other end of this spectrum. An employee who hasn't gotten a raise in 3.5 years...actually had to take a 10% pay cut 7 months ago and no bonuses. The work piles on and it's very hard to keep motivated. There is no change in site...actually I think another round of layoffs are coming. What motivates me is the fact that I'm lucky to have a job!

But to be helpful (sorry for venting!) I would think that flexible hours - the opportunity to work from home (if applicable) - half day or early days on a friday - free lunches once and a while - or bring in snacks (i.e. cake, cookies) - play a board game during lunch hour...might keep them interested and less stressed. I'm sure not all these apply to your situation ... Good luck!

One more - which is so important - is recognition. It's important to give praise and show that you recognize when an employee goes above and beyond their duties or just does great work!

I think any sort of non $$ comp is great but the most overlooked motivator is appreciation/praise/positive feedback from management.

You can not imagine how much more productivity can come out of a group that feels appreciated and valued by management as opposed to a group that doesnt know that people appreciate/value them.

Recognition, flexibility in work hours those are my most important items next to salary. A better employee friendly environment. Is also key. Training courses is a plus but if you add more work to the load already there, that isn't good. Lunches or dinners thanking the employees is good too.
Regardless of what my company does, people are still unhappy. They have done a few shady things right before there was a big layoff that people, including myself, are extremely unhappy with. I can say I am here for the $$ only. 75% of the work force here is too. That is very sad.

You can also ask the employees what they would like that makes them happy.

This is pretty cheesy, but we appreciated it in my past job...
we did a monthly luncheon with the whole dept. we did it in the conference room. We got an extra long free lunch and we appreciated it. Then our boss did monthly recognitions.
It doesn't have to be elaborate... we just got a hero or pizza or something like that and some bags of chips and soda. We looked forward to it every month.

Time flexibility is the biggest as well as some type of group activities - lunch or movie night or something

Great minds Stef

They don't I do it for my clients.