How to motivate your staff and prevent employee stagnation

Employee motivation and stagnation need to be addressed to retain productive employees and prevent people from stagnating.

During everyone’s career, they will go through motivation and stagnation phases. When motivated, we can all work hard, but, it is difficult for anyone to maintain a high level of motivation consistently. And if motivation drops for a period of time, it can lead to stagnation.

So what can you, as an employer, do to motivate your employees and prevent stagnation?

What is employee motivation and stagnation?

Motivation is fueled by the desire to do well and the personal satisfaction of a job well done. Motivated employees help the organization grow and succeed. The company may offer incentives to increase employee motivation and retention. However, motivation may wane over time if working conditions change or if the employee gets bored, pushed aside, or left behind.

Stagnation indicates that a change is needed to return the employees to functioning at full capacity. Sometimes the employees may need to change departments, employers, or careers to regain their productive functioning.

Change may be scary, but is not a bad thing. The stagnating employees or manager needs to recognize and address the problem as soon as possible to prevent it from escalating and spreading.

What are the success factors for employee motivation?

Motivated employees are happy, cooperative, and productive. They have great attitudes. They rarely miss work without good reason. Likewise, they tend to get along well with everyone in the organization, regardless of any disagreeable points of view.

Employees may participate in many company activities and volunteer to take on extra tasks. They meet all timelines. Supervisors and managers must make every effort to retain motivated employees on staff.

Here are some factors that can help to motivate employees:

  • Appreciation for work done through a recognition and rewards program.
  • Putting an article about the employee or team in the company newsletter and/or providing cash rewards.
  • Good wages – well-paid employees are usually productive employees.
  • Promotion and growth opportunities within the organization.
  • Job security.
  • Interesting work.
  • Corporate and managerial stability.
  • Career advancement courses.
  • When workers are given extensive background information regarding their project, it provides a foundation for their involvement, not just them acting as a pair of hands.
  • Perks – e.g., stock options, motivation, and productivity will be sustained and may increase.
  • Good working conditions, which include a clean and safe environment, and no intimidation from colleagues or managers.
  • Being involved in special projects makes employees feel useful and needed.
  • An ample amount of vacation days.
  • A good benefits package.
  • Employer understanding and support with employees’ problems
  • Employee savings plan with company-matched contributions.
  • Tuition assistance programs.
  • Motivated and productive employees need to be recognized and rewarded appropriately to facilitate worker retention.

What are the failure factors for employee stagnation?

Stagnated employees are unhappy, uncooperative, and unproductive. They tend to keep to themselves. They may spread gossip or complain about the working conditions or management. Their work may be sloppy. They may not adhere to timelines. They may have poor attitudes.

These conditions do not benefit anyone, especially the stagnated employee. The stagnated employee may need to be reassigned or replaced. Stagnated employees need to recognize when it’s time to move on.

Here are some factors that can cause employees to stagnate and lose interest in their positions or careers::

  • Being in the same position for too long.
  • If employees are not given access to growth opportunities in the organization, their motivation will probably decline over time.
  • Lack of trust and dishonesty between colleagues and management.
  • When managers dissociate themselves from their staff, (e.g., not coming around to see what’s happening in the trenches) employees tend to feel cut off and out of the loop, thus decreasing motivation.
  • Staff meetings should be informative and productive, not just a time to get free coffee and donuts.
  • If managers are lukewarm or not supportive of a project, there is little incentive for the workers to tackle the task wholeheartedly.
  • It is difficult for employees to empower themselves if management is resistant to changes or risks.
  • Fear and intimidation tactics from colleagues or management.
  • Supervisors and managers should become familiar with the inner workings of the staff’s responsibilities to help to make better managerial decisions. If not, the employees may feel that their work is not worthwhile or understood.
  • Unstable organization or management structure.
  • Job insecurity.
  • Too many changes, reorganizations, and layoffs.

What actions can you take to motivate your employees?

So what can you do to help motivate your employees and prevent them from stagnating? Supervisors and managers need to recognize motivated and stagnated employees and act upon them immediately and appropriately to ensure a good working environment for everyone and help the organization grow and succeed.

The list of success and failure factors above can help guide you in warning signs to watch out for, and inspiration for ways to keep your team motivated, happy and productive.

Hannah Butler is a content writer and editor assistant at AssignmentPay, a leading online essay writing company. With a passion for detail-oriented work, Hannah has an exceptional ability to produce high-quality content for a wide range of online platforms.