Lack of employee motivation costs companies billions every year. Low motivation equals low productivity, poor results and low income. Studies show that 48% of employees don’t really like their jobs, while 80% feel stressed and only 30% feel engaged and inspired. At the same time, 18% of US employees completely hate their jobs.

There can be various reasons at the root of the problem – some on the part of the employees but some might have to do with company culture and practices. The most frequent causes for disengagement and lack of employee motivation are micromanagement, lack of progress, job insecurity, lack of confidence in leadership, poor communication, unpleasant work environment, and boredom.

Luckily, any problem has a solution. Or more – in this case 🙂 We compiled a list with several solutions that can help bring motivation back among your workforce. Here are some strategies you can apply to improve things within your company.

Foster a culture of mutual care

People are less motivated to work in an environment where coworkers don’t care about each other or, even worse, compete against one another in a destructive manner. Sometimes even team leaders or managers are having a bullying attitude towards those working under them, creating a hostile work environment that makes some employees hate their jobs. That is something you should never accept and come up with ways to discourage it.

Employees might be reluctant to report such behaviors, especially when the bully is their superior. It is the leadership’s responsibility to put in place anonymous reporting mechanisms and investigate all claims.

Also, organizing trainings and applying team building strategies will help employees build meaningful relationships and motivate each other to succeed.

Personal life matters

Sometimes, people’s lack of motivation has less to do with the workplace and more with their personal life. People going through divorces, sickness, or loss of loved ones might have a hard time recovering and regaining motivation.

As a leader, what you can do to improve their situation is offering an empathetic ear. Of course, if your company has the means, you can go even further and offer workplace counseling or pay for therapy sessions. Your efforts will show people that you care and motivate them to push themselves back on track in return.

Encourage healthy life choices

Even though your company is not NASA and your employees are not astronauts under constant surveillance, what they eat and how much they exercise can still be of your concern. Lifestyle choices tremendously affect work productivity and employee motivation at work.

People who sleep less than 7 hours come to the office tired and find it harder to focus throughout the day. Skipping breakfast or eating mostly junk food leads to illnesses that will end up costing your company.

Some big companies offer grocery stipends for healthy food, while others offer free buffet for employees during workdays. Some go as far as having an office gym or dedicated places for physical activities. Healthy employees are happier and healthier. They have an improved power of concentration, get sick less often and rarely take a leave of absence. Not to mention that all these incentives do wonders for employee retention.

Offer relaxation and entertainment

Breaks offer our brains a chance to relax and rewire between tasks. During breaks we release some of the stress accumulated while working and make room for what comes next. Nowadays many companies provide outlets for releasing stress by offering relaxation rooms where people can take a short nap during lunch break. Others go even further and provide game rooms where employees can switch focus on pleasant activities for a short while.

A recreation room can work wonders on employee motivation and keep them happy. Besides, it’s a fun way for teammates to compete against each other in a friendly manner.

Reward your employees with vacations

While some companies reduce workdays to 6 hours or work weeks to 4 days, more and more companies pay for employee vacations.

Vacations reduce stress and minimize burnout so even if you can’t afford exotic vacation destinations, a few days of paid vacation or some domestic vacation vouchers might just as well do the trick.

Discourage the use of social media

Most people use social media each time they touch their phone. Even if you just want to look at what time it is, you will still unlock your phone and check your Facebook or Insta notifications. But in spite of being highly addictive, social media often makes people unhappy. 

Encourage people to log off their social media accounts while at the office and use internal chat if they feel the need to socialize. Hubgets is a great alternative to social media, offering the possibility to create casual and entertaining topics besides the serious work-related ones.

No one left behind

In the end, the most important thing you can do is pay close attention to the individual needs of your employees. If you can’t personally take upon such a responsibility, put in place mechanisms that will do that on behalf of the company.

Remember that everyone has their own struggles and every person can be motivated one way or another. Just keep the right tools at hand and use them as needed.