In today’s day and age, earning a decent salary sadly isn’t enough motivation for some workers. Maintaining a productive group of employees can be difficult, but it’s crucial to ensure work is being completed efficiently. So, how do you keep your team motivated?

It’s time to look at some ways in which you can inspire your staff members to complete their work to the quality you expect.

1.      Communication is key

Keeping your team motivated is all about communication. How well do you communicate with your team? Do you often find there are misunderstandings regarding jobs and what’s expected from your employees? Are you open to your team coming to you with questions? By closing yourself off to your staff members, demotivation quickly sets in. Having open lines of communicationhelps you identify moments when you need to work harder in motivating your team and keeping your staff interested and engaged.

Try and keep an ‘open door’ policy within your workplace so your employees feel comfortable coming to you for support or to voice their concerns. If you find you’re often not onsite or where your employees are, implement measures like a suggestion box so your staff can anonymously add feedback for you to follow up on.

2.      Create a winning culture

Your company culture is one of the most significant factors that decide whether your employees are motivated or not. A winning workplace culturemeans that your employees are engaged, empowered, and aligned to your vision, purpose, values and strategy.

Did you know that having a uniform is a proven way to boost team morale, create a great workplace culture, and provide a whole host of other benefits?

Ask your team for feedback on the workplace culture, so you can find out where any gaps are that need fixing. A positive workplace culture is one of the main contributors to employee motivation, so make sure your employees enjoy their time at work!

3.      Give feedback regularly

For some reason, we naturally associate feedback with being a negative experience. However, feedback can be a really positive experience and an opportunity to grow. When delivering feedback, it’s essential to do so in a constructive way so your employee doesn’t feel as though they’re being attacked. Giving feedback regarding a specific circumstance should be done in a timely manner, but only after you’ve had the chance to consider what you’d like to say.

Don’t forget – positive feedback should be given as often as negative – it’s equally as important! Telling your employees when they’ve done a good job is a great little confidence booster and improves their overall morale. Another thing to remember is that feedback is a two-way street. Encourage your employees to give you feedback on what is and isn’t working for them. This should empower them to communicate openly with you.

4.      Offer incentives

Everyone loves a good incentive! Beyond a steady paycheck, what else do you offer your employees to motivate them? We don’t mean bribing staff members to do their job, but rather offering rewards for jobs done well or targets exceeded. Some examples of incentives to provide include:

• Treating them to lunch
• Rewarding them with a gift voucher
• Company recognition through channels like newsletters, emails, or staff meetings
• Professional development opportunities
• Offer an afternoon off
• Reward with leadership tasks

5.      Give them the resources they need

If you haven’t provided them with the tools, how do you expect them to do the job? Before allowing your tradies to pick up their tools, check and make sure you’ve given them a thorough brief and all the equipment, they’ll need. Make sure you don’t skimp on gear or offer cheaper tool alternatives that won’t do a good job.

6.      Understand their ‘why’

We often ask candidates what their experience, work history, and skills are during the interview process, but rarely do we ask them why they want to do the job. Each person has a unique motivation around why they want to do the job that they do, but it’s not something that is commonly discussed.

Take some time to meet with each employee and understand what motivates them in their role. Working in the trade industry isn’t an easy gig, so uncovering why they chose to work in this industry will help you understand the best way to inspire them.

7.      Provide a support network

This differs from good communication. It is crucial to provide a solid support network where employees feel comfortable enough to express themselves. Research shows that tradies have a higher risk of experiencing mental health issues than workers in other professions due to the long hours, fatigue, and ‘macho’ work culture.

Allowing your tradies a ‘safe space’ to voice their feelings – whether about the workplace or in general – will make them feel supported and seen. Some things you can do to create a support network include:

• Have a trusted person such as a human resources representative or counselling service available for employees to confide in.
• Understand the warning signs for mental health issues so that you can support them early.
• Consider offering each employee a mental health day every month or similar to encourage them to reset and reset.
• Have contact details for professional support available, such as:

Mates in Construction Australia

Mates in Construction New Zealand

Lifeline Australia

Lifeline New Zealand

Beyond Blue

MensLine Australia

8.      Encourage education opportunities

Another way to motivate staff is to offer professional development and education opportunities. Find out what’s driving your employees and where they want their careers to take them. They might aspire to have a leadership role or branch out to a specific specialisation within their field. Allowing your employees this room to grow keeps them motivated to complete their current job to the best of their ability, as they are striving towards a role that they want to extend into. Professional development and training courses also upskill your workers and increase the completed work output.

Keeping your tradies motivated is crucial to maintain work efficiency and staff morale. There are many ways to create a winning company culture, provide a solid support network, and offer incentives. Take the first step to boosting company culture by investing in a team uniform. Head to your closest stockist to find which one is right for you.