4 Reasons Your Employees Are Feeling Unmotivated and How to Fix It

People generally want to like their job and do it well, but too often, employers get in the way of that.

If you’ve done a good job of hiring the right people, but your employees are feeling unmotivated, it’s time to look in the mirror. Below are some common reasons employees lose motivation, and how you can address them.

Below-Average or Unfair Pay

Of course, employees will not be particularly motivated by below-average pay. It’s also possible to offer all of your employees above-average pay and still have a pay structure that doesn’t motivate or even demotivates employees. A company’s pay structure must be fair to be motivational.

It’s okay if you are paying some employees a premium because of more experience, a higher skill level or superior performance ratings. However, it’s not okay to pay someone more because of who they are.

Regularly look at salaries to ensure your pay structure is equitable, fair and competitive.

Rampant Bullying

If your employees have to deal with regular bullying, they will dread coming in each day and find it hard to get motivated, even if they find the work fulfilling.

Bullying can exist at any level in a company and come from anyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, nationality, age or ability. Therefore, your company must have a zero-tolerance policy. Nobody ought to be teased, intimidated, harassed or threatened while on the job. Creating and enforcing this policy requires a great deal of work and vigilance but stamping out bullying is absolutely important if you would like to keep your employees motivated.

Poor Organization

When a supervisor doesn’t know all of the details on a project or doesn’t allocate the proper resources, working on it quickly becomes stressful and demotivating. A bad organization is a multi-layered issue because it can be caused by so many different things. A manager who’s very regimented by nature can be thrown off by workflow getting backed up or a communication breakdown between departments.

An effective approach is trying to identify signs of a poor organization so a root cause can be identified and fixed. Communicate people directly impacted by the issue because they likely have the best insights on the problem.

Rules That Are Too Many or Too Harsh

Some companies and jobs, due to their nature, must have stringent guidelines. For instance, if the work involves dangerous chemicals, workers must follow the protocol precisely. However, in most work situations, enforcing strict rules aren’t necessary, and can be considered micromanaging.

Today’s professionals expect common-sense flexibility from their employers. When it comes to managing employee behavior, focus on the effort and intent, and not so much on methods and small decisions, like whether clock in at 9:00 or 9:05. HR has a role to play in helping managers offer flexibility and avoid micromanaging.

Let Us Help You Find Inspired, Self-Motivated Employees

At Career Concepts, we specialize in finding best-fit talent for our clients’ open positions. If your company is currently trying to find candidates that identify with your mission and values, please contact us today.