BizTips from SCORE – Engagement

Keeping Your Team Motivated

It is really hard to find employees to fill the ranks of small businesses today, but equally hard to retain them once you find and on-board them. Consider these best practices in managing your seasonal team:

Employees stay when they are: appreciated, mentored, challenged, engaged, empowered, not just paid well.  Getting and keeping employees engaged in the mission of the business is the number one guide for employee retention.

Topics that should be shared with all employees:  growth plans, organizational changes, the company’s performance.

What really motivates employees today?

• Recognition – for contributions to the organization, to customers and to one another
• Growth – opportunities for growth. Even if it is a seasonal gig growth is a top priority. Growth also includes learning. Giving employees an opportunity to learn something new is almost as important as growth in position.
• Fun – employees what to have fun in their work environment which in turns motivates them to give more to the organization’s mission.
• They also want:
  • Ownership of the work
  • Flexibility in their work schedule
  • A stable environment they can depend upon
  • Respect from management and other team members
  • Fair compensation
• Remember,
  • You don’t need to control, you need results. Give them the task, then get out of the way.
  • Praise employee performance personally and act fast in taking corrective action when needed.

Motivating and engaging your team to focus on the organization’s mission is job one for small business leadership.