How to motivate employees

Imagine hosting a company all-hands meeting where you’re met with deafening silence after asking the team to share their questions. Or reviewing an employee survey only to discover that most of your team feels burnt out, stuck, or disengaged. Moments like these are wake-up calls for HR or benefits leaders and shine light on a critical challenge: keeping employees motivated. 

Motivated employees view their jobs as more than a means to a paycheck — they're engaged, productive, and loyal. Whether you manage people or human resources, these strategies can help bring out the best in your employees.

Why employee motivation matters

Employee motivation is essential for day-to-day productivity and your organization’s long-term progress. According to Gallup, organizations with highly motivated employees experience a 21 percent boost in productivity and a 41 percent reduction in absenteeism. Workers who feel like their contributions matter are more likely to stick around, reducing high turnover costs and strengthening team morale.

How to understand what motivates your employees

To motivate employees, you need to understand what drives them. Behavioral psychology highlights two main predictors of performance: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives. 

Intrinsic motivation is driven by internal factors, such as personal satisfaction, curiosity, or the sense of meaning someone finds in their work. For example, an employee who takes pride in mentoring colleagues or solving complex challenges may be motivated by the personal fulfillment of contributing to their team’s success or mastering a new skill.

In contrast, extrinsic incentives rely on external rewards, such as recognition, bonuses, or performance-based incentives. For instance, an employee may push to exceed quarterly sales targets to earn a monetary bonus or a coveted “Top Performance” award.

While both types of motivation play critical roles, extrinsic motivation can crowd out the intrinsic kind when performance incentives are directly tied to specific results. In other words, employees become more focused on the reward than personal satisfaction in the work itself. 

However, one isn't necessarily better than the other. Extrinsic incentives tend to boost the quantity of work produced, while intrinsic rewards enhance performance quality. To balance both, you need to dig in and understand what motivates your team on both a personal and team level. A couple powerful tools can help you uncover the specific motivators that drive your workforce: 

• Regular surveys give your HR team an opportunity to directly ask employees about their motivation, professional goals, and job satisfaction. This data can help you understand what matters most to them so you can refine your engagement and recognition programs.

• One-on-one check-ins give managers a chance to connect with their direct reports on a deeper level. In these conversations, employees can open up about wanting a promotion, needing a better work-life balance, or recent wins that deserve formal recognition. By actively listening to employees, you can tailor your incentive program to ensure they feel valued for their contributions. 

10 practical ways to motivate employees

When it comes to employee motivation, more is more. By combining multiple tactics, you can amplify your impact and connect with a diverse range of employees who are driven by different motivators. Here are 10 ideas to get you started.

1. Performance incentives

Research shows that employees prefer to receive immediate financial benefits over non-monetary recognition of their achievements. Performance incentives provide a clear monetary incentive for going the extra mile. For example, you could offer quarterly bonuses based on team performance — an approach that works exceptionally well for teams with measurable KPIs.

2. Spot awards

Companies typically give out bonuses during regular performance reviews or at the end of the fiscal year, but there's no need to wait. You can provide a spot award when your employees collectively reach a goal like shipping a new product, exceeding a sales target, or improving customer net promoter scores. This tangible reward is an immediate way to celebrate someone's impact in real time. 

3. Employee appreciation gifts

Small tokens of appreciation can make a huge difference. From personalized notes to extra days off to gift cards, recognizing your employees' hard work helps them feel valued and boosts morale, especially during extra busy or challenging seasons.

4. Clear goal-setting

While monetary rewards may seem easier to implement, you can foster intrinsic motivation by helping employees set clear, achievable goals with established frameworks. SMART goals — specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely — are one way to give people a sense of direction and provide a clear pathway to grow and advance professionally.

5. Transparent communication

Transparency is a powerful tool for building trust and motivating employees. Over 80 percent of workers want a better understanding of how decisions are made, and 87 percent of job seekers prioritize transparency when evaluating potential employers. 

Additionally, 70 percent of employees say continual updates on strategy from senior leadership are a key driver of engagement. When leaders openly communicate about company goals, progress, and challenges, they create a sense of inclusion and shared purpose and reduce feelings of disconnection and demoralization.

6. Coaching and feedback

Clear, actionable, and frequent feedback is key to engaging and keeping employees. When managers highlight employees' strengths, provide constructive areas for improvement, and show appreciation, feedback becomes a tool for growth and motivation. Pairing feedback with regular recognition amplifies its effect, creating a positive cycle of trust.

7. Trust and autonomy

Empowering employees to work autonomously significantly impacts employee well-being and job satisfaction.  When employees can manage their responsibilities, work schedule, and work setting, they often have a greater sense of ownership over their work and commitment to your business.

8. Mental health and well-being programs

One in five employees worldwide experiences daily loneliness, and well-being among millennial and Gen Z workers declined in 2023. You can prioritize employee well-being through wellness programs, mental health resources, and work-life balance initiatives like paid vacation and flexible working arrangements. Investing in your employees’ mental health can help them stay motivated and focused during the work day.

9. Professional development opportunities

Workforce training, often an overlooked driver of success, has become an important employer differentiator.  Employees increasingly view a robust learning and development culture as a key factor in what makes a great workplace. 76 percent of employees are more likely to stay with a company that provides ongoing professional development opportunities. Offer your employees continuing education, mentorship programs, or upskill training to show them you see their potential and ability to grow in their career.

10. Positive work environment

Respectful communication is more important to today's workforce than the job perks valued by previous generations. Whether you're meeting one-on-one, sending a Slack message, or resolving a team conflict, fostering a positive culture of respect is vital.

At Google, the highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety, or the belief that you won't be punished when you speak up, take risks, or make a mistake. You can build psychological safety at work by encouraging taking turns in conversation, responding to failures and hiccups without judgment, and modeling openness and vulnerability.

The bottom line on boosting employee motivation

Motivating employees isn’t just about improving your team’s productivity and performance. Your efforts can help shape a positive company culture of collaboration, innovation, and shared success. By using a mix of intrinsic motivators and extrinsic incentives, you can build employee programs that sustain and energize your workforce, even when times get tough.

Up next: Pros and cons of employee incentive programs >