Motivating Long-Term Employees: 10 Tips for Managers
When a long-term employee seems to be stuck in a rut or simply coasting, a few moves by the employee’s supervisor can help shake out the cobwebs and rekindle the employee’s fire . Here are 10 simple tips for managers:
1. Turn employees into mentors. Long-term workers can serve as great trainers for new employees. Set up a formal mentor program, or have them help in developing new-employee training sessions.
2. Coach them up. Don’t assume employees know it all because they’ve been there so long. Use training, workshops or refresher courses to stimulate longtime workers and expose them to new methods or ideas.
3. Add to the job. Consider increasing the employee’s responsibilities (and challenge) if the job has become too routine.
4. Time for a transfer? A new setting and responsibilities—even a lateral move—may provide fresh energy to their productivity.
5. Open your door. Let longtime employees know you are free to listen to them about day-to-day issues as well as their big-picture roles in the organization.
6. Show the job’s purpose. Longtime employees feel committed to their work when they believe their jobs—no matter how small—are essential to the organization’s success. Make it clear that there’s a purpose to their work and you value their contributions.
7. Allow job flexibility, when possible. Employees feel more engaged when they’re allowed more control over the way they perform their jobs. By allowing freedom, you demonstrate your trust in them.
8. ASK what they need. Don’t be a mind reader. Approach long-termers to find out what they need to keep their jobs challenging and interesting.
9. Assign partners strategically. When pairing up employees for projects, choose someone who complements the long-termer well (i.e., lots of experience in a skill that the long-termer is short on).
10. Demonstrate your interest in the past. If you take seriously the company history and “the way things used to be,” you’ll gain the employee’s respect and others will follow.
8 Steps to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need
A lot of talk surrounds whether employees are engaged in their jobs. But are your MANAGERS engaged? The truth: Most workplace leaders at all levels are disengaged from their staffs, which destroys productivity and morale, and increases turnover. But you don’t have to accept this fate.
At our recent audio conference, 8 Steps to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need workplace expert and author Bruce Tulgan offered a clear, step-by-step guide to becoming a strong, effective manager. It challenges bosses everywhere to: spell out expectations, tell employees exactly what to do and how to do it, monitor and measure performance constantly, correct failure quickly and reward success even more quickly.
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