I am an HR head of Government Ministry, I\'m very much concern about demotivate of our employees. Please give me a way forward to improve employees motivation.
From Maldives, Male
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Hi Hafeeza,

You can hire a motivational speaker for a day or get somebody to conduct a 2-day course on meditation and personal development. If they are bored of their routine activities, I suggest you organize a hi-tea along with some stand-up comedy in the evening.

With regards,

From India, Bangalore
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Dear Hafeeza,

The subject of motivation comes up for discussion again and again. This only goes on to show how complex and important this subject is. Earlier, I have given an exhaustive reply on employee motivation regarding the factors that influence it. You may click the following link: https://www.citehr.com/455372-techni...ml#post2040493

In addition to this, employee motivation also depends on the "culture of interdependence and cooperation". For further information, please refer to this link.

I recommend conducting an "Employee Satisfaction Survey" (ESS). However, I doubt whether this method will be effective. To read my past comments on ESS, please visit this page.

For Scarletmoon: My responses are provided in italics:

You can hire a motivational speaker for a day or arrange for a two-day course on meditation and personal development.

I beg to differ with you. If motivational speakers were truly effective in increasing employee motivation, the concept of motivation theory would not exist. I have not encountered a single example where someone's persuasive speaking improved motivation. If you have examples of the ROI on this activity, please share them for the benefit of all forum members. In my view, it is more about the speakers' charisma than the substance of their message that contributes to their success.

If employees are bored with their routine activities, I suggest organizing a high tea event with stand-up comedy in the evening.

While this approach may offer temporary relief, its effects are short-lived. Can you provide examples where such activities have reduced employee turnover, increased suggestions from employees, or decreased internal conflicts? This high tea or comedy event is like a magnet. Initially, it may attract attention, but the novelty wears off quickly, returning things to normal the next day.

Thanks,

Dinesh V Divekar
Management & Behavioral Training Consultant

From India, Bangalore
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"People don't change their behavior unless it makes a difference for them to do so."

Employee motivation is important, and I am glad to know that the government ministries are also focusing on this. To be a little honest, gone are the days of "One size fits all." Today's age is one of tailor-made and custom-made solutions. To the extent that even schemes are now tailor-made to some extent.

One of the simplest and most basic things one can do is to tailor-make the salary structure for your staff. I know it is lengthy and involves too much work. But what you can do is list a few company-approved allowances or benefits that can be adjusted to allow the person to have better take-home pay and save on taxes. As tax advisors always say, saving tax and tax planning are not crimes. For example, giving a child education allowance of 200 Rs to a person who is not even engaged yet is not going to motivate him/her. Instead, we can reframe the same allowance as a mobile expense reimbursement or food allowance or something similar.

Since you belong to a government ministry, I believe you must be giving something like a food allowance. I think you should split your food allowance as follows: Fixed money part and some meal vouchers like Sodexo. Giving meal vouchers has an advantage - they are tax-free. But ensure to educate your staff before you bring in this change; else, they would be demotivated that their food allowance has been reduced. Also, while choosing a meal voucher, choose one that is accepted at many places, even at grocery stores. For example, Sodexo is accepted even at Food Bazaar to buy daily groceries or any food items.

Apart from this, you can also start many engagement activities like:

1. A picnic or an outing.
2. Celebrating certain days at the office like Holi, Diwali, Dussehra. For example, celebrating the 9 days of Navratri by asking the staff to dress in the color pattern.
3. Appreciating small tasks done by them. For example, if you find that XYZ has not taken even a single leave in this month, you can appreciate the efforts and give him recognition in front of the staff.
4. If someone is on leave for a sick or medical reason or has taken a leave to take care of a family member, try to ask if they're well when they resume. It's a basic human nature but not practiced with office colleagues, especially when they're not in the same department or those who are reporting to us. It won't make us look low, but it would make us look better.
5. Try to do some environmental activity together. For example, recently there was World Health Day on 7th April; you could have arranged for a dietitian who could have shared the benefits of a healthy life.
6. Check your work-life balance scheme.
7. Do the employee satisfaction survey and try to figure out what is wrong. Or as an HR professional, engage yourself in a friendly chat with most of the people to know where the shoe is pinching them.
8. Most important and often neglected - Appreciate an idea or any suggestion that is being made by someone. Most often, people (either in public or private sectors) do not make any new suggestions out of the fear that it would either go unheard, be mocked off, or simply get a message like, "How much do you know about the industry? I have better experience than you. Please don't bother to teach me." This might not be the literal reply, but your body language and indirect message convey this. Be open to new ideas.
9. Check the level of office politics, groupism, etc. Look out for team-building activities and encourage inter-departmental team building.
10. Trust them, their capabilities, and give them jobs that match not only the level of their education/qualification/experience but also their skill sets.
11. The power of acknowledgment is often underrated. Ensure that you give TRUE acknowledgment/appreciation (Timely, Responsive, Unconditional & Enthusiastic) to people.
12. Check your organizational culture. With changing times, nowadays we need a culture that is Open, Flexible, Caring, as well as Fair.

I checked a similar discussion - please check [Head / VP / GM - HR](http://www.brijj.com/group/head-vp-gm-hr--link--7-Surprising-Ways-To-Motivate-Millennial-Workers?type=memberugc&mailerid=20130410&eid=36363 84&oCLyr=1).

Hope this helps you solve your query.

From India, Mumbai
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Dear Hafeeza,

Employee motivation is a universal concern, hence at times neglected, at times fixed with immediate "To Dos" and suggestions. Diagnosis to focus on the root cause and then initiating curative solutions, incl. preventive actions, is an ideal process. I suggest you to use Extended DISC inventory that offers individual insights, collectively leading to team diagnosis and capturing organizational culture/climate-related issues. This insight and awareness can help you leap forward with preventive and curative, immediate and long-term, process-oriented as well as result-focused actions. We have been providing consulting services in this critical HR area using Extended DISC and have a couple of organizations patronizing our deliverables. Please write to me at or visit us @ [i]<link no longer exists - removed></i> / speak to me - 09824509399.

Best wishes,

Nanda N Dave Director - The Mentors - Trainers & Mgt Consultants

From India, Vadodara
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Dear Hafeeza,

My advice is to stop doing what demotivates them. Apparently, management has convinced your employees that they don't really care about employees. Every person has their own motivations for doing what they do, and you will never fully understand those. But you can release them to the power of their own motivations or prevent them from doing so.

When they first join an organization, they are motivated or they would not have chosen to join. Then management treats them in such a way to demotivate them by not treating them like they are valued employees. This is done in a number of different ways but mostly by not listening to whatever they have to say and not responding to what they say in a timely and respectful manner. Another way is to have a bureaucracy that makes their job more difficult and is unresponsive to their needs. There are many other ways associated with training, coaching, tools, procedures, direction, discipline, planning, information, and the like.

In short, there are actions that will consistently demotivate employees, other actions that will release some of their motivations, and still others that will consistently create a highly motivated, highly committed, and fully engaged workforce that loves to come to work and is highly productive. And, there are very good reasons why this is true, what I call the science of people.

I am willing to coach yourself and your executives and managers in becoming skillful in the right actions, or you can learn a lot from my book and the articles and videos on my website. As an executive, I have created several of these workforces, and the results go beyond anyone's ability to describe with any other words but simply amazing.

Best regards, Ben Simonton

Leadership is a science, and so is engagement

From United States, Tampa
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Hi Hafeeza,

I am a retired HR professional with over 40 years of industry experience. I have been conducting soft skill training for Arts, Science, Management, Engineering students, and also employees of IT, BPO, Automobile, Construction companies, and so on. You are most welcome to utilize my knowledge, skill, and experience, and for me, location is not a constraint at all. I will soon be traveling to some Middle Eastern destinations shortly. My detailed profile is attached herewith.

Best wishes

From India, Bengaluru
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Sir,

Please try to provide opportunities for individuals to understand that they are multi-skilled and talented people, but something is suppressing their interests. Help them realize how to modify their behavior through a Behavioral Trainer.

Regards,
Dr. G.V. Kumar
Behavioral Trainer & Psychologist
9444144510

From India, Madras
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Dear Hafeeza,

You have received lots of advice, and most of it is good. But only if you were a student of motivation!

So, if you want a solution to your problem, you will have to define it first. Merely saying they are demotivated will not be enough. If you do that and follow all the advice, it will be like a doctor prescribing a whole lot of medicines merely based on a complaint of body pain and hoping something will work.

As a starter, you can have a discussion with all the concerned department heads and take their feedback. The second step is to either have an open forum with the concerned employees and gather their feedback too. This can be done in various ways - by an online survey, by a meeting, or by inviting suggestions and feedback either through emails or personally or through a suggestions box. Another option is to hire an outsider to do the analysis. The choice is yours.

Now, once you have gathered your data, you can move on. Analyze and understand what the data is telling you and then take corrective actions. On a general front, the biggest motivator is money, followed by recognition, reward, professional growth, and sharing of good practices, etc. There are negative motivators as well, ranging from bad appraisals, a red mark in a file, demotion, and forced separation.

And finally, generally, the most common and unrecognized (knowingly) problem of demotivation is a bad boss (it is a tragedy normally. Whenever something goes wrong, it is poor employees who become the problem. Nobody talks to the boss).

From India, Delhi
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I happen to read this article on line. Have put in some important lines from the article and have also shared the source so that you can read it on whole if it interests and suits your requirement.

Why “Workplace Change” Is a Dreaded Phrase

Next to “You’re fired,” the phrase “workplace change” seems to be the most dreaded word combination many employees can hear. Staff reaction to change continues to mystify management.

However, there is a simple—natural—reason for traditional employee resistance. It’s all about comfortability and human comfort zones. It's also acceptable to call it "fear of the unknown."

How to Minimize the Pain of Change

1) Explain employee options and consequences

2) Discard the “carrot and stick” approach; just do what’s right.

3) Clearly analyze staff buy in tendencies—or lack thereof.

4) Create shared vision with staff.

5) Listen carefully and intently. Listening properly is a vital necessity for all executives.

6) Value employee ideas and feelings.

Realizing that your employees can suffer pain equal to your own when implementing workplace changes helps you increase your empathy for their feelings. In so doing, you can better create a buy in plan that works.

Source:

How to Institute Organizational Changes without Employee Pain

From India, Mumbai
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Hi Hafeeza,

I think motivation is a very vague and ambiguous term. How can one person be motivated to come to the office every day but not be motivated to work in the same office?

The reason I gave this example is that I come to the office every day because I get paid to be present (mind you, not to work). Everyone has their own reasons to be motivated and demotivated, and believe me, you cannot provide a customized solution to each and every employee.

But there is again a very big factor directly associated with this phenomenon - "it's contagious." Just as a single positive electron can charge others, so can a positive employee (I am not using the word "motivated employee" as I don't wish to contradict my first statement).

Don't motivate employees to use motivation for useless things; instead, make them positively charged towards organizational objectives.

To make my point, I would give you an example.

Two months ago, a very senior and trusted partner left my organization, and his team was demotivated. We waited for a month to let the mourning complete, but after that, it began affecting the positivity of other divisions. My smart HR manager immediately appointed a new manager from another team who had high aspirations. It worked like a magic wand. In a week, the team was performing better.

Two days ago, I asked him what he did to get the team on his side and erase the remains of the previous manager. He put it in one word - "COMMUNICATE."

He communicated his positivity to the team and got it back on track. No motivation lectures, no training, just clear plain communication.

What he did was he cleared all the negative communication (the doubts, the uncertainty, etc.), gave a clear picture (about the organization's objectives), created trust and faith among his team members, and later positively communicated the organization's expectation from the team and each individual, also assertively communicated the repercussions of not meeting the expectations.

I think strong and positive communication from top management regarding its expectations from its employees towards meeting organizational objectives would help. This would start a positive change in the organization. Management should also be clear in terms of what employees will get back in return for meeting organizational objectives.

Once a clear positive message is communicated, we can review the effects periodically and establish a continuous two-way communication channel for this.

Hope this would be useful.

Regards,

Sagar

From India, Mumbai
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Hello Hafeeza,

I think you have some excellent pieces of advice from the members here -- not sure if any more can be added without the risk of repetition. However, I would highlight one aspect regarding motivation -- this is not something that's practiced on-and-off. It's a continuous affair if you want the tempo to sustain.

This small snippet from the well-known motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, will convey the message better than me: After a speech one day, Zig Ziglar was approached by someone in the audience who said, "Zig, it was a great speech, but... motivation doesn't last." Zig said, "Bathing doesn't either. That's why I recommend it daily!" Guess you get the point.

All the best.

Regards,
TS

From India, Hyderabad
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Dear all sirs,

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From India, Pune
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Dear Sir,

Please start PMS every three months instead of once a year. Remove employees who are playing politics. The remaining employees will automatically be motivated for a longer duration. A very good environment makes people happy for a long time.

Streamline work pressure for all employees. It's not the case that some are working very hard while others are not. Appraisals should be fair and equal for all.

By implementing the above-mentioned points, employees will be happy for a longer duration rather than just for a one-day picnic.

Regards,
Mili

From India, Vadodara
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Hello sirs! I am developing my own website and am extremely interested in financial recruitment solutions. Does anyone have any ideas and experience regarding hiring such specialists in an outsourcing format? I would be very grateful for any information as well as just interesting stories related to my question.

Have a nice day everyone!

From Ukraine, Kyiv
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