My first job in the corporate world was an interesting set up. I worked at the corporate headquarters of an international staffing agency, as a temp. Shortly after I began working, the manager of the branch office was also given the role of managing my department at the HQ office. Interesting situation.
The people I worked with were fantastic and surprisingly, the work was fun. I learned a lot about a variety of topics, which is always important to me. Also, as I worked hard and learned, by manager paid attention and gave me raises (made quicker and easier because of his dual role). As a low paid admin, the raises were significant for me, in addition to the fact someone was paying attention to my contributions. I was energized and worked even harder.
I often think about how to motivate employees and through the years have realized that each individual has to be looked at differently. Some employees are actually motivated by salary increases (although it is a short term motivation). Sometimes it is an extra day off in recognition of hard work or a great idea. For others, public recognition is the thing that fills them with pride, energy and productivity. In short, there is no one way to motivate every employee. Managers should get to know what drives their team members and find a way to reward accordingly. This, of course, entails talking to each person, paying attention to the small things, discussing goals and expectations. It is not hard to do, truly. And in my experience, the managers who do this have teams who are incredibly successful and more important- individuals who want to be there, who want to contribute every day.
melina murray 