How To Motivate Employees – Part 1

This guide will show you how to motivate employees, which is a key part of building high-performing teams. This is a key part of Super Scaling your business.

During my 20-year career in entrepreneurship, I found that one of the better goals to strive for was to build a team you can trust 100%. To do this, there needs to be a nurturing culture and looking after everyone on the team. That’s the first step on finding out how to motivate employees — starting with the environment that you’re creating in your company.

Your team members don’t need to have superpowers, but they should be reliable members of your team.

For me, ensuring reliability means creating a supportive environment where everyone feels safe enough to perform their best work and voice their thoughts without fear of judgement or retribution.

It also includes the management being clear about things like performance measurements so it is obvious when someone isn’t doing well and has room for improvement.

What Salary To Pay Your Employees

Paying your employees more than the going wage can lead to a significant increase in employee retention. Costco, for instance, pays their workers $5 an hour over market rate and they reap the benefits of this because 50% of their workforce has been with them for 5 years or longer.

Having loyal employees also leads to increased referrals which creates a positive feedback loop.

When it comes to attracting talented employees, a little extra goes a long way. You may think that hiring talented people at a higher pay rate will lead to an unsustainable business and leave you unable to compete with other companies in the industry. But this is not so.

Pay over market rate so people want to work for you.

The Costco Corporation has been voted one of the best places to work year after year because they provide their team members with more than just competitive wages; they also have great benefits like vacation time as well as 401Ks. In addition, by adding bonuses on top of generous compensation packages such as holiday cash or discounts at stores, Costco’s employee retention skyrocketed.

Paying your employees well also leads to more employee referrals, which becomes a positive feedback loop.

Ditching Generic Financial Bonuses

When someone in your company goes above and beyond, reward them. Don’t just have a generic stipend or bonus to give those who work hard for you. It’s important that they know the effort is noticed when it comes time to get recognition. For example, it can be something as simple as a gift card to their favourite restaurant so that they can bring their family out for a treat.

Another example can be buying lunch at the end of a particularly busy week. Or sending snacks, beer or wine to them. This is exactly what you’d do to friends and family. Treat your employees similarly, and they won’t steal from you or rip you off.

Give And Take

Let’s face it, finding time to take care of your kid or spouse when they’re sick can be a nightmare. Not everyone has the luxury of staying home from work for days on end because their loved one fell ill. Most family members feel forced into working when illness strikes — leading to absenteeism, stress at work and reduced productivity as well.

I know it’s a process of give and take. People in my company know that they can leave early occasionally if they’re done with their work for the day — the company is not a jail. The tradeoff is that they can be depended to go the extra mile when the company needs it. This could be when emergencies happen, or when something unforeseen strikes.

How To Motivate Employees The Right Way

Some business owners don’t like this loss of control, but in truth, most employees will perform well in these scenarios and boundaries. The majority of people will benefit and appreciate this flexibility.

If there are any individuals in your company who abuse any of this, they are clearly not suited to be part of the team. The adage of “hire fast, fire fast” is true here. Rip off the bandaid as quickly as possible and remove these people from your team.

When you build a company that has a strong company culture, these things get taken care of. In my Super Scaling book, I show you how to motivate employees so that you can Super Scale your business.