Motivating Employees without Money

An objective of every employer in every industry is to increase employee productivity and output without shelling out more money. This is accomplished by keeping morale and a sense of efficacy high and clear of any negativity.

How to keep employees motivated, however, can be somewhat of a challenge. Faced with such a task in the movie Office Space, managers could only think of stock options to satiate the need for an improvement in morale. While a viable option, not all businesses have stock to provide to employees.

Another common method is to up a benefits package or wages, or to pay a bonus to those employees who finish extra units. This has limited advantages, though, and commission-based pay is rarely a good way for a business to be structured. It may lead to the most sales at times, but few employees will be happy with their pay structure. Another problem with this is that not all businesses can afford to pay their employees extra money (either up-front or through benefits).

Because of all this, this article is about how to motivate employees without paying them.

What’s in it for me?

The first principle many marketers learn is to always answer one question with everything you do: “What’s in it for me?” The first thing you must do to keep employees productive is to satisfy this same question.

Answer me this: What do your employees get out of you shipping a few extra units, or selling another hundred dollars of merchandise? Will you actually be returning anything to them, or are you just in this for yourself?

The key to satisfying this is to be selfless, even if it is just for a moment.

Talk with them

After deciding what is in it for your employees, have a heart-to-heart. Share your concerns, your worries about what may happen if they perform poorly. Tell them you really need more productivity, because business is at stake. When you do this, you are no longer a pointy-haired boss, but rather have become a human being. Additionally, nobody wants to lose a job. If you think your business may be at risk of closing, tell your employees. They will appreciate the time they have to look for another job (should the need arise) and in turn will work harder to keep things afloat.

What are your ways for keeping employees motivated without money?

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