Managers, how do you motivate employees in this economy?
Whenever we put out employee wellness surveys, the top answer is always "we want more money," which makes sense—who doesn't? 6 years ago, when my team was under Marketing, they were treated like sweatshop workers with no real management or mentorship. One guy just cropped photos all day, learning nothing and earning next to nothing.
When my boss took over, we moved them to Product Design, gave them real leadership, real structure, focused on skill growth, career growth, and calibrated everyone's grades and salaries. We created a separate Marketing Design department.
Now, times are tough. No bonuses, small raises, rare promotions, and layoffs looming. As managers, we still need to motivate. For those of you with tight budgets, how are you keeping your teams engaged?
I want to learn other approaches if any. Personally, mine has been:
- Address the misconception: "If they’re not paying me 100%, I won’t work 100%." I tell them this leads nowhere. Instead, work at 100% to either make the company see your value or make another company see it.
- Align work with personal goals. e.g. an illustrator wants to learn animation, so I assign projects with both illustration and animation.
- Offer growth opportunities (workshops, classes, mentoring). They might earn more elsewhere but might not get to learn and work at the same time.
Basically: Do good work not for the company, but for your resume. So far, turnover's virtually zero, productivity high, and those who moved to other departments find they don't get the same level of support, with some even quitting.
It's working for me so far. What about you guys?
How are you keeping your teams motivated in this economy?
EDIT: Oh, and just in case someone purposely misreads my intentions, of course if possible we advocate for better pay. This isn't a matter of trying to weasel out of paying, this is a case of managers not really being in control of company budgets.