What Motivates Employees?

Other than the obvious, money, what motivates your employees to do their best work?

Here are a few non-monetary ideas to motivate your workforce.

• Praise. If someone does a job well, let them know, give praise where it is due. This costs you nothing but it means a lot to your employees. Giving regular praise where it is warranted helps to validate your staff’s hard work and encourage them to do their best all the time.
• Communicate with employees. It may sound very basic but employee communication can often be overlooked in many organisations. If an employee has a concern or some other issue that may prevent them from working productively, they need to know that communication channels are open. Taking the time to converse with employees can make them feel more comfortable in their jobs, more settled and better-motivated to work hard for the organisation
• Ask your staff for their input. Ask for their opinion, it makes staff feel as though their opinion matters. Instead of making a demand, ask them “what do you think about doing it this way?”
• Never point fingers. Being called out for making mistakes destroys your staff’s self-esteem. Instead of blaming or criticizing your employees, have a conversation with them. Discuss the problem with them and work out how it could have been handled differently. This will help them to learn from their mistakes.
• Establish a good work environment. A clean, aesthetically pleasing workplace can go a long way to motivating staff. Make the effort to make your workplace look nice. 
• Award Leadership roles. By rewarding good performance with leadership opportunities you inspire your employees to work hard and aim high.
• Take your team out for a meal every once in a while.  This brings everyone together outside of the office and encourages them to get to know each other and bond. Having a tight knit workforce makes work a more enjoyable place to be.
• Plan some fun activities. Planning something fun for your employees to do together helps them to blow off some steam and see their workplace in a more positive light.
• Organise a friendly competition. It’s astounding what a little competition can do for your employees. Hold a weekly or monthly competition with a small prize for the winner, it can be as simple as some movie tickets. Keep track of the results and display them somewhere in the office where everyone can see them. This is a great way to motivate people to work harder.

Dos and Don’ts of your Work Christmas Party

The work Christmas party is a time to celebrate and let your hair down with your colleagues after a busy year, however it is important to remember that you are at a professional function and you must behave that way.

Your work Christmas party is a great opportunity to build relationships so use this time wisely and don’t do anything that may cause these relationships to be damaged or deteriorate.
Read our tips for enjoying yourself without jeopardising any professional relationships here.
Dos and Don’ts of your Work Christmas Party.

The work Christmas party is a time to celebrate and let your hair down with your colleagues after a busy year, however it is important to remember that you are at a professional function and you must behave that way.

Here are a few tips for enjoying yourself without jeopardising any professional relationships.

• Drink responsibly. Don’t forget that you are at a work function so treat the party as an extension of your work day. The more you drink the bigger the chance that you may do something you regret.
• Eat before you start drinking. Drinking on an empty stomach is asking for trouble. Alternate alcoholic drinks with water and more food.
• Find out the dress code and dress accordingly.
• Arrive on time. This will give you the opportunity to mingle with everyone and still leave early without appearing rude.
• Mingle. Do the rounds and make sure to acknowledge all of your colleagues. The Christmas party is a good opportunity to talk to everyone in a relaxed and happy atmosphere and find out a little bit more about them, their hobbies, family, etc.
• Even if it’s someone you don’t particularly like or get along with, make an effort to have a brief chat with them.
• Although it’s important to relax and chat with people at a Christmas party, try not to let your guard down too much and reveal things about yourself that you may not necessarily want your co-workers to know.
• Be mindful of your body language and how you speak to people. Do not touch people in a way that could be misinterpreted or say things that are provocative or demeaning. Dirty or off-colour jokes may be offensive to others so avoid telling them.
• If you see a co-worker that has obviously drunk too much or is behaving inappropriately, step in and bail them out. Explain to them how their behaviour appears to other people and if this doesn’t work, discreetly call them a taxi and send them home.
• Make arrangements to get home after the event in advance, pre order a taxi or organise a spouse or friend to come and get you at a designated time.

Your work Christmas party is a great opportunity to build relationships so use this time wisely and don’t do anything that may cause these relationships to be damaged or deteriorate

One on One with the Boss

Most management conversations happen during group meetings, emails. Over the phone or when a problem arises.

However, it is good practice to meet with your boss one on one more frequently to get a little advice, support and motivation.

The main goal of a one on one meeting with your boss is communicating with them about the work you are carrying out for them.

• Before you go into a meeting with your boss ask yourself the following: 
• Are there problems that haven’t been spotted yet? 
• Problems that need to be solved? 
• Resources that need to be obtained? 
• Are any instructions or goals not clear? 
• Has anything happened since we last talked that the boss should know about? 
• Are there questions the boss needs to answer? 

Here are a few tips for making the most of a one on one session with your boss.

• Be prepared – make notes about what you would like to discuss with your boss ahead of time. If you have a problem to discuss bring your recommended solution, likewise if you have a decision to be made, make your recommended decision known.
• Keep your boss informed of all the key things you have been working on. This is a good opportunity to highlight your accomplishments and get some guidance and coaching from your boss.
• Own up to your mistakes. If you are having a meeting due to a mistake you have made, don’t be afraid to own up to it and make yourself accountable. Do not try and pass the blame or point the finger at your colleagues. 
• Always try to have a positive attitude in meetings with management. It is not productive or helpful to go into a meeting with a negative state of mind and you will cover more ground in your meeting if you stay upbeat.
• Include career development as a regular agenda item in your meetings. This will help you determine and achieve your goals as well as demonstrate to your boss that you are ambitious and have a desire to improve.
• Ask for feedback. Many bosses find giving feedback uncomfortable but by asking for it you are opening the lines of communication and making them feel more comfortable. 
• Let your boss know what you need in order to be successful. If you let your boss know in a constructive way how they can support you, most will do what they can to help.

Staff Retention Strategies

If you are not doing all you can to keep your staff happy and engaged, you may be at risk of losing your most productive workers to your competition.

You do not need to spend a lot of money to put a staff retention strategy in place. Here are a few things that can help you keep your staff happy.

• A well-defined career path – Most employees want to progress in their careers and like to know that there are opportunities available within their workplace to do so. Have discussions with your team about their professional goals and aspirations and how they can achieve them within your organisation. Offer mentoring and training programmes.
• Acknowledgement - Make an effort to acknowledge staff achievements and hard work. Most staff are more engaged and have a stronger feeling of satisfaction in their work if they feel that managers appreciate their contribution to the workplace.
• Trust – It can be difficult to be productive when someone is breathing down your neck while you are trying to go about your duties. Most employees like to feel that they can be trusted and relied upon to complete their work efficiently without being micro managed.
• Flexible work environment – Flexible work agreements are one of the most desirable elements of a work environment for staff. Giving your staff the opportunity to attend their children’s school activities or medical emergencies can make a big difference to an employee’s happiness within their job. Helping your staff maintain a healthy work and personal life balance can really increase loyalty to your company.
• Ethics – Most people would prefer to work for a company that they believe is good. It can be beneficial to promote ethics when interacting with customers and employees. Ensure your workplace encourages fairness and diversity.
• Communication – Well defined communication is one of the most important factors of retaining staff. Most staff liked to know what is expected of them and to have clear a clear job description or role within the company. Keep employees up to date when it comes to developments within the organisation. People feel more involved and part of the organisation when they are kept in the loop. Encourage employee feedback and ideas. When staff are involved with projects from the beginning they are more likely to feel connected to the outcome. Make sure to address interpersonal problems among staff members as soon as possible.

By using some of these strategies you can help encourage employee motivation and loyalty and lower the likelihood of losing staff to your competition.

The Benefits of Implementing a Performance Management Strategy

A performance management strategy is important for the improvement of the overall structural performance of a company by managing the performance of both teams and individuals to ensure the achievement of organizational ambitions and goals.

A successful performance management strategy can play a vital role in managing the performance in an organisation by:

• Making sure that the employees understand the importance of their contributions to the company’s goal.
• Ensuring that each employee understands their role within the organisation and what is expected from them.
• Identifies if employees have the specific skills needed to fulfil the expectations of their job.
• Facilitating effective communication throughout the organisation.
• Encouraging a pleasant and harmonious relationship between managers and employees.

Performance management strategies can have a positive influence on employee engagement and job satisfaction by

• Providing honest and open job feedback to employees
• Establishing a connection between performance and compensation.
• Providing learning and developmental opportunities when they are needed.
• Establishing clear performance objectives.
• Providing opportunities for career growth.

Establishing defined goals and regularly assessing individual performances can help you to establish any major skill gaps, therefore helping you understand where extra training may be needed. A performance management strategy can help you evaluate the willingness of an employee to take on higher responsibilities and provide feedback to employees on their current competencies and where they might need to improve.

A common misunderstanding among managers is that behaviour and activities are the same as results. An employee may give the impression of being very busy but may not be actually contributing at all towards company goals. They may not, for example, be fulfilling their job using the latest or most time efficient procedures.

A performance management strategy helps to identify organisational goals and the measures that need to be taken to achieve those goals. It also helps to gage the effectiveness or efficiency and means of attaining these goals.

The results from the information collected from a personal management system have a wide variety of uses. They can help with setting standards for comparison with best practices in other organisations. They can provide you with a consistent basis for comparison during internal changes or restructures. It can also help you to establish results during improvement efforts such as employee training or management development. They help to encourage fair and equal treatment to employees based on their performances.

The Importance of Staff Retention

Many companies are now beginning to view employee retention as a critical issue. High Employee turnover increases expenses and can also have negative effects on company morale.

Implementing strategies devised to retain good workers can help counterbalance replacement costs and reduce the indirect costs associated with high staff turnover such as lost clients and loss of morale.

Employee retention has become an important topic for many reasons.

These include:

• Social media networking tools such as LinkedIn make it easy to observe new job opportunities or get poached by another company
• Costs associated with hiring new staff, advertising, interviewing and hiring etc.
• Training new staff
• Loss of productivity. It can take up to 2 years for a new staff member to reach the same productivity levels as existing staff members
• Loss of engagement. Retained employees who see a high turnover often get disheartened and lose engagement

The longer staff stay with an organisation, the more productive they get .They get to know the systems, products and learn how to work together as a team.

Many high performing companies have loyal employees and each company has its own strategies for retaining their employees.

Some of the interesting things to consider:

• Compensation is a factor but does not play as big a role as you would think. Over-compensation will not offset a poor work environment
• Job fit is significantly important. Hiring the right people for the right positions by realistically advertising job positions will save you a lot of trouble in the long run. If you oversell a job you can suffer from high staff turnover. Effective retention strategies often begin during the employee recruitment process. Employees are more inclined to remain with a company that fulfils the promises made when their employment offer was extended. Companies that provide a realistic view of their corporate environment, advancement opportunities and job expectations to new hires can positively influence employee retention
• The work environment and culture matter. Staff want to feel appreciated, comfortable and included in their place of work. Employees that enjoy what they do and the atmosphere in which they work are more likely to remain employed with their company

Implementing an employee retention program is an effective way of making sure key workers remain employed while maintaining job performance and productivity.


In the end the most prosperous organisations are those that respect their employees and invest in building an engaged work place environment.

How much notice must you give before Dismissing an Employee?

When an employee is being dismissed, notice must be given. The notice starts when the employer tells the employee that they want to terminate the employment. Notice ends on the last day of employment.

The length of notice an employee must be given is determined by how long they have worked for you and their type of employment. If someone has worked for you continuously for over one year but less than three you must provide a minimum of two weeks’ notice.

An employer must give the following notice periods when terminating an employee;

• Less than 1 year’s employment - 1 weeks’ notice.
• 1-3 years employment - 2 weeks’ notice
• 3-5 years employment - 3 weeks’ notice
• Over 5 year’s employment – 4 weeks’ notice.

An employee is entitled to receive an extra week of notice if they are over 45 years old and have worked for the employer for a minimum of 2 years.

Sometimes an award, registered agreement or employment contract can specify longer minimum notice periods.

If a registered agreement has been put in place, check the terms of the agreement for the correct amount of due notice.

The minimum amount of notice an employer must provide is determined by the length of the employees continued service with them. Continuous service is the length of time an employee is employed by a business. Service does not include unpaid leave, with the exception of unpaid parental leave which does count as service towards notice of termination.

An employer may provide more notice than they are obligated to in the award, registered agreement or contract. The employee is only required to work out the minimum notice period although they are able to work out the extra notice if they choose to do so.

An employee is entitled to take annual leave during a notice period if the employer consents to the leave.

An employee may also take sick leave during a notice period if they provide notice of the leave as soon as possible and evidence (medical certificate ) if required.

If an employee has used up all of their sick leave they may take unpaid sick leave. They will still have to provide notice and evidence if required.

An employee cannot be forced to take leave as part of their notice period.

An employer can also provide payment as a replacement for notice, which can be equal to or exceed the total amount the individual would have been paid for the required amount of notice.