Of all the tough situations the year 2020 has brought in, the covid-19 pandemic is one which will go down in history as it forced the entire world to come to a standstill impacting people far and wide. The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on various industries worldwide cannot be ignored.
Subsequently, it has also caused low profits, high rate of employee dismissal and eventually a total loss of motivation among employees.
In such grim circumstances, an employer’s responsibility is to make polite and humble actions to draw their teams out of de-motivation and self-revulsion. In the post-covid work environment, it has become important for every employer/manager to display strength and lead by example, whilst boosting the downtrodden morale of one’s team.
Here are some of our top tips to increase employee motivation during pandemic.
- Keep the Work Environment Friendly
Your employees indeed work under you, and they have to follow your orders but even in usual circumstances, they shouldn’t be treated as slaves or spoken to rudely. With the pandemic, maintaining a positive work environment is quite important. Our piece of advice, try to be as much friendlier with them as possible. To raise their motivation levels, always keep your door open for them so that they can come to you and discuss their work-related issues with ease instead of shying back assuming that they might get sacked. It is important that you listen to their questions attentively and answers them politely.
- Keep Them Involved
To further raise their motivation levels, start provoking conversation and healthy dialogue with your employees and taking their suggestions on official matters. If you get stuck somewhere professionally, instead of relying on external resources, show some trust in your own team members and seek their opinions. This will not only keep them motivated but also entail a sense of acknowledgement and importance in them.
- Promote Unity Among Peers
It is very important to develop a sense of unity between you and your employees. This will ascertain them that you are on their side. It is best advised to not let them feel being left out, and to continually remind them with your actions that their opinion matters and you both want the best for the company. You can also check workplace engagement with Performance by Design to improve the overall work environment.
- Appreciation is the Key to Motivation
A major problem for employees is the lack of appreciation from superiors. A lot of time people make mistakes, which come to define them in their professional capacity. It is important that you let go of such perceptions, and learn to appreciate your employees a little more than you would usually do. Appreciation raises motivation levels among employees like nothing else. You could even add appreciation bonus or simple letters of appreciation officially delivered from the company to boost the morale of your team.
- Therapy Groups Are a Great Idea
Staying at home all day hasn’t done a lot of good to the mental health of people and they have ended up being more frustrated and depressed. To combat this frustration, many people have found solace in various activities during the pandemic lockdown. As an employer, you can help your team cope up with the trauma Covid-19 has brought by arranging group therapy sessions. This could be done simply over the lunch hour where you could discuss all the things each one of your team members went through during the pandemic and how they could overcome the stress if any.