How to Motivate Employees

Discover what each employee/group likes and then reward them with what you are able to discover.  Here are a few discovery tips and pros of the appropriate reward:

• different employees like different rewards
• reward instills in an employee that the company actually cares about them, their happiness, their well-being
• this will help motivate employees to better serve the needs of the company
• will help instill owner mentalities in employees

These are some prime examples of rewards: money, praise, social recognition, use education as a reward (if they like to get out of the office and travel, then send to trade show, but have them gather data and then report back to main group when they return)

This YouTube video has been viewed by more than 2,000,000 times and I feel that it hits the nail on the head when it comes to motivating employees.  Speaking from experience, many employers are clueless at how to motivate employees that do jobs other that pulling a lever or placing the same item into a box repeatedly.   This video does an excellent job of explaining why rewards for thinking jobs do not necessarily work.  You have to find other ways to motivate people that "think" and "create" for their job.