How to Motivate Your Staff

recruitmint • February 28, 2019

In any business, there will be days where employees and even managers can feel unmotivated. This could be due to a number of reasons, with most being external issues outside of your control. Understanding how to motivate your staff is key to retaining the top talent you have hired and moving the business forward as a whole.

If you want to motivate your staff and produce positive employee engagement, then you need to understand your employees individually and use that to make them feel passionate about their role in the business, working for the business and helping both themselves and the business grow.

We understand the repercussions of losing good members of staff and we don’t want you to lose them because they’re unmotivated. Follow our 15 steps to motivate your staff, keep together the team you have worked so hard to build and develop your business:

1) Learn what drives each employee

Everyone is different when it comes to motivation, some will respond to financial reward, others prefer personal praise and other staff want progression opportunities. In order to motivate everyone, you need to understand what drives them.

There are several ways to find out this information, we would suggest doing it in a one-to-one scenario as they’re more likely to open up about what they do and don’t like working on, what they want to achieve and what their goals are. Listen to what they say and use the information to develop an incentive scheme bespoke to them.

2) Lead with vision

It’s vital that your employees are confident that their efforts are driving towards an overall goal. They need to understand what the end destination is. If you fail to provide a vision for your employees, you will struggle to motivate your staff long term. Company morale will fluctuate between short-term boosts and crashes.

To overcome this, ensure your employees are fully aware of what the business goals are, and provide updates to show how the business is progressing, this is a reflection of their work.

3) Provide a pleasant working environment

Employees are influenced by their surroundings, no one wants to stand around in a dark, boring space for hours on end. By having a well-lit, functional and fun workspace your employees are more likely to enjoy coming to work and working for you.

This encompasses everything from working equipment, keeping the environment clean and tidy, to just making the environment fun, whether that is getting motivational quotes on the wall, funky coloured chairs, anything that will make your employees feel happy and motivated. Research business intelligence for more information about how companies can help you with this.

4) Open-door policy

It’s important to make your employees feel valued. By having an open-door policy, it will help motivate your staff by making feel like their voice matters and their opinions will always be valued.

5) Offer rewards

Employees will want to stay working for you and your business if they have a reason to. One of the best ways to motivate your staff is by providing an incentive programme. This could be a quarterly bonus, free gym access, profit-sharing, anything that will make your employees feel they will be rewarded for doing a good job.

6) Giving them room to grow

Giving your employees room to grow and develop within the company is a great method to motivate your staff. When you give your best performing employees opportunities to grow and develop, it changes their thinking from “this is just a side job” to “this could be a fully-fledged career.”

7) Positive feedback

Positive feedback is a great way to keep your staff motivated, whether that is coming from you, their manager, or from other departments or external customers. It is important to share that with the individual.

8) Be transparent

Being transparent is a great way to build trust with your employees, and they’re much more likely to want to work for a manager they trust. Being transparent also helps them see how they’re performing and helping the business, this will help motivate your staff by helping them feel invested. So, make a point to share company data with them on a regular basis. Monthly reports, number of new clients or even a tracker for how the business is performing against their targets.

9) Flexible working

Flexible working has become much more prevalent over the last few years, with technology changing the way we can work. With cloud-based systems and most things being accessible on mobile, workers now have the ability to essentially work from anywhere, especially at home.

So, if you expect your employees to check their emails or complete parts of a project outside of office hours, it’s only fair that you allow some flexibility when it comes to the scheduling of their hours. Not having to deal with their commute in rush hour and having the flexibility to complete work at home, can help motivate your staff and improve their work/life balance.

10) Recognise their achievements

If an employee has been putting in a lot of time working on a project, or they went out of their way to help a colleague or other department, do not hesitate to praise them for all their hard work. If your employees feel that their efforts are appreciated, they will feel compelled to continue working hard for you.

11) Set SMART goals

By employing SMART goals for your employees, they will be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-related. This will help keep your staff motivated as their goals will certainly be within their reach. If the goals you set them are too aspirational, this could really affect morale as your employees won’t be able to envisage completing them and certainly not overachieving.

12) Give your employees purpose

Employees need to feel important and that what they are doing really matters for the company they’re working for. Make sure your senior managers and CEO take a personal interest in what staff do right down to the cleaner.

13) Give them autonomy

Human beings value autonomy. We all want to feel in control of our time and effort. Giving your employees autonomy also demonstrates that you trust them implicitly, which will go a long way towards forming the bond between employer and employee that you see at highly engaged businesses.

The key is giving your team a true sense of ownership over their work – not just over their most important projects, but on things like working hours and time off. The ability to exert control over their time can be as motivating as the satisfaction that comes with seeing a project through to completion.

14) Encourage friendly competition

Competition can be a great motivator but if you let it get out of hand, conflict can occur between employees.

The goal is not to get your top performers to perform better, it is also to train them to pull up everyone around them and build an efficient, KPI smashing team.

One way to inject some competition into the workplace is through gamification – i.e., introducing elements of gameplay to your team’s most important tasks. This can help to create fun and excitement around the office and motivate your staff to do more and really push themselves.

15) Be open to new ideas

You should never shun away from your employees’ ideas and suggestions, they are working in your business day after day, they will see opportunities for improvement that you and other senior members of staff may not. So be sure to listen to all ideas no matter how silly.

How Recruit Mint can help you create a motivated workforce

During our robust 17-step process we meet every candidate face-to-face. We understand that they’re much more than a CV and covering letter. By meeting them face-to-face we get to understand them, their work history, their goals, their ambitions and what motivates them in the workplace.

It is through this process that we can find you the perfect candidate who can do the job, wants to do the job, wants to work for your company and will fit into your work culture. If you want to find staff who are motivated and want to work for you, then get in touch on 01733 802300 or submit your job today.

The Silent Dealbreaker: Why Candidates Reject Job Offers at the Last Minute

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
Picture this: after weeks of interviews, countless email exchanges, and meticulous CV screening, you've finally found the perfect candidate. The offer letter is sent, champagne is on ice—then silence. A few days later, the dreaded email arrives: "Thank you for the opportunity, but I've decided to pursue another option." Last-minute candidate rejections aren't just frustrating—they're expensive, time-consuming, and increasingly common in today's competitive job market. According to recent research by Robert Half UK, 42% of UK professionals have accepted a job offer but continued to interview for other roles. More alarmingly, 28% admitted to accepting an offer only to back out before starting. But why is this happening, and what can recruitment professionals and hiring managers do to prevent these eleventh-hour disappointments?

How Data-Driven Decision Making Can Transform Workforce Productivity

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
In today's competitive business landscape, intuition and experience remain valuable, but they're no longer sufficient on their own. UK businesses facing rising operational costs, increasing competition, and a challenging economic environment can no longer afford to make critical workforce decisions based on gut feeling alone. The difference between thriving and merely surviving increasingly depends on how effectively organisations leverage data to optimise their most valuable resource: their people. According to research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , UK productivity growth has stagnated since the 2008 financial crisis, lagging behind other G7 nations. With the April 2025 minimum wage increases looming, businesses face growing pressure to extract maximum value from their workforce investments. The good news? The rise of workforce analytics provides unprecedented opportunities to identify inefficiencies, optimise performance, and cultivate environments where employees thrive. As Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Arts (RSA), noted in the UK Government's Good Work Review : "In a world of increasing workplace complexity, the organisations that thrive will be those that measure what matters and act on the insights." This blog explores how data-driven decision making can transform workforce productivity, examining practical approaches that UK businesses are implementing today with remarkable results.

The Battle for Skilled Workers: How Manufacturing Can Compete with Other Industries for Talent

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
Manufacturing in the UK faces a talent crisis of unprecedented proportions. While the sector contributes over £191 billion to the British economy according to Make UK, it's increasingly losing its most valuable resource—skilled workers—to competing industries. This talent exodus comes at a critical moment when technological advancement demands more specialised skills than ever before. The Manufacturing Skills Gap Survey reveals a stark reality: 83% of UK manufacturers struggle to recruit appropriate talent, while 64% report losing skilled employees to other sectors—particularly technology, logistics, and renewable energy. This isn't merely a staffing challenge but an existential threat to the industry's future competitiveness and innovation capacity. "Manufacturing has an image problem that masks its reality," notes Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK. "While other sectors have successfully repositioned themselves as modern, dynamic career destinations, manufacturing continues to battle outdated perceptions that undermine its appeal to today's workforce." The good news? Forward-thinking manufacturers are finding ways to reverse this trend, implementing innovative strategies that not only stem the tide of departing talent but successfully attract skilled workers from other industries. This blog explores how manufacturing can transform its approach to talent acquisition and retention, repositioning itself as an employer of choice in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

From Passive to Proactive: How to Build a Talent Pipeline That Eliminates Recruitment Panic

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
The scenario is all too familiar: a key team member hands in their notice, triggering an immediate scramble to fill the position. Job descriptions are hastily updated, recruitment agencies engaged, and hiring managers pulled into urgent meetings—all while business continuity hangs in the balance and costs mount. This reactive approach to recruitment isn't merely stressful; it's strategically flawed. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), UK organisations take an average of 28 days to fill a vacancy, with specialist roles often exceeding 12 weeks. During this time, productivity suffers, remaining team members face increased pressure, and opportunities are missed. The alternative? Building a proactive talent pipeline—a continuously nurtured pool of engaged, pre-qualified candidates ready to step into roles as they become available. This approach doesn't just reduce time-to-hire; it fundamentally transforms recruitment from an emergency response to a strategic advantage.

The Impact of Same-Day Delivery on Warehouse recruiting: Are You Prepared?

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
The race to deliver ever faster is transforming the logistics landscape. What began as Amazon's competitive edge has evolved into an industry-wide expectation, with same-day delivery rapidly becoming the new standard rather than a premium service. For warehouse and logistics leaders, this shift creates unprecedented operational challenges—none more pressing than how to recruit, train, and retain the workforce necessary to meet these accelerated timelines. According to the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) , the demand for warehouse space has increased by 32% since 2020, driven largely by e-commerce growth and the same-day delivery paradigm. Yet while physical capacity expands, the human capital challenge grows even more acute. A recent LogisticsUK survey found that 82% of warehouse operators cite staffing as their most significant constraint in meeting same-day delivery demands. This isn't merely a challenge of hiring more people—it's about recruiting differently for roles that have fundamentally changed. As Peter Ward, former CEO of UKWA, notes: "Same-day delivery hasn't just accelerated timelines; it's transformed the very nature of warehouse work, creating new roles requiring different skills and aptitudes than traditional warehouse positions."

How to Recruit for Shift-Based Roles Without Destroying Work-Life Balance

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
In today's competitive labour market, attracting quality candidates for shift-based roles presents a unique challenge for HR professionals. The CIPD Working Lives Report found that 68% of UK shift workers report negative impacts on their personal lives, yet many businesses rely entirely on shift patterns to maintain operations. The critical question becomes: how can organisations recruit effectively for these positions while preserving the well-being and work-life balance that today's workforce demands? Far from being an impossible task, creating attractive shift-based roles requires strategic thinking and innovative approaches to work design. Companies that get this right gain a significant competitive advantage in recruitment, retention, and productivity – all while supporting employee wellbeing.

Why You’re Not Getting Interviews – And How to Fix It

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
You've spent hours perfecting your CV, searching for the right opportunities, and submitting applications – yet your inbox remains frustratingly empty. If you're wondering why you're not landing interviews despite your qualifications and experience, you're not alone. Recent research from Totaljobs shows that the average job opening in the UK attracts 49 applications, with only 15% of applicants typically securing an interview. The good news? With a few strategic adjustments to your approach, you can dramatically improve your chances of making it to the interview stage. Let's examine the most common reasons applications fall flat – and the practical steps you can take to stand out from the crowd.

The Future of Engineering Leadership: What the Next Generation of Leaders Will Look Like

By Karl Montgomery • March 17, 2025
In an era of unprecedented technological change, shifting workforce dynamics, and evolving industry pressures, engineering leadership stands at a critical crossroads. The traditional command-and-control approach that once dominated the sector is increasingly being replaced by more adaptive, inclusive, and technology-enabled leadership models. This transformation isn't merely a trend—it's an essential evolution for companies seeking to remain competitive in an increasingly complex global marketplace.

The Hidden Productivity Killers: How Poor Shift Planning, Meeting Overload, and Workplace Distractions Are Draining Your Profits

By Karl Montgomery • March 10, 2025
In the relentless pursuit of efficiency, UK businesses often overlook the subtle yet powerful forces quietly eroding their productivity. While organisations invest millions in cutting-edge technologies and process improvements, the most damaging productivity killers often operate in plain sight—unrecognised, unmeasured, and unaddressed. According to research from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , the UK continues to lag behind other G7 nations in productivity growth, with output per hour worked remaining stubbornly below pre-2008 financial crisis trends. What's particularly concerning is that this productivity gap persists despite significant investments in technology and equipment. So, what's truly holding UK businesses back? Our analysis of current research reveals three pervasive yet frequently overlooked productivity drains: ineffective shift planning, excessive meeting cultures, and persistent workplace distractions. Together, these hidden productivity killers could be costing your business up to £8,500 per employee annually, according to calculations based on CIPD Workplace Productivity Survey data. Let's examine each of these productivity vampires and, more importantly, how to drive a stake through their hearts.

Shift Patterns vs. Productivity: The Science Behind Workforce Scheduling

By Karl Montgomery • March 10, 2025
In UK manufacturing and production facilities, the constant hum of machinery doesn't always match the natural rhythms of the people operating them. As production demands continue to evolve in 2025, the way we structure work hours has profound implications not just for output metrics, but for the humans behind those metrics. According to the UK Office for National Statistics, approximately 3.5 million workers in the UK regularly work shifts, with manufacturing and production industries representing a significant proportion of this figure. Yet despite this prevalence, many operations managers and production directors still rely on outdated scheduling approaches that prioritise machine uptime over human performance. The consequences? Higher turnover rates (manufacturing experiences 15% higher turnover than the UK average according to Make UK's 2023 Labour Turnover Report), increased workplace accidents (37% higher in night shifts according to HSE data), and productivity plateaus that frustrate even the most experienced production managers.  Let's explore what the evidence actually tells us about shift patterns, their impact on your workforce, and how to design schedules that serve both business objectives and employee wellbeing.
Show More