How Can You Motivate Employees to Help Grow the Business?
For many small and medium-size business owners, growth is a top priority. Turning your independent cafe into a small chain or your clothing store into a nationally recognizable brand can bring personal satisfaction and financial freedom. But you can’t do it all yourself: the business will only grow if your employees are as committed to the cause as you are.
This article discusses how to inspire employees in retail, hospitality, and beauty to help you achieve your growth targets.
Universal Motivational Strategies
Every employee is different. If you run a restaurant, your line chef and your head waiter might be driven by very different personal goals, and you might find that motivational techniques work for one person and not the other. However, some tried-and-tested motivational strategies are almost certain to improve the mood and work ethic among your workforce.
Foster a Positive Work Environment
It sounds simple, but employees will typically feel better and work better when there’s a positive work environment waiting for them when they clock in.
So what exactly is a positive work environment? First and foremost, the vibe of a workplace comes from the other people working there. A positive social work environment might involve free and constructive communication, feedback with positive reinforcement from management, and even formal systems for employee recognition (like an employee of the month award). It also requires a consistent process for addressing and resolving interpersonal conflict. This ensures team members feel heard when they are experiencing conflict and prevents grudges or rivalries from forming.
Facilities and equipment can also affect motivation: whether it’s an easy-to-use point-of-sale system or just sharp knives for the kitchen, making life easier for employees will reduce frustration.
Empower Your Employees
We get it. You want to run your business your own way. But unless you’re managing an army squadron, your employees won’t appreciate you constantly barking orders at them over every little detail. Delegating tasks to your employees builds up mutual trust while making them feel responsibility for the business.
With employee autonomy comes a level of creative freedom, which can make an employee’s job significantly more fulfilling. For example, you might motivate a retail employee by giving them control over a window display, or a barista by allowing them to contribute new drink recipes.
It also pays to set clear goals for your employees. A recent McKinsey survey found that 72% of employees are strongly motivated by goal setting, which can sometimes be linked to bonuses or professional development opportunities such as promotions or specialist training courses.
Build a Strong Company Culture
How do you make your employees care about their place of work, besides treating them well and giving them responsibilities? You’ll need to clearly define and communicate your company values when you bring people on board, letting them know what they’re buying into.
Of course, you can’t just create a company culture with a click of your fingers; you’ll need to nurture it among your workforce by consistently communicating and demonstrating the values that inform the culture you’re trying to build. The key to a pervasive culture is that it is established by leadership but nurtured by the team members themselves.
A great example of consistent and strategic culture building is the Trader Joe’s grocery store chain. Trader Joe's promotes its company culture to employees by emphasizing a fun, friendly, and customer-centric environment through extensive training, encouraging employee engagement, providing opportunities for creativity in displays, promoting from within, offering competitive benefits, and fostering a sense of community and belonging. Essentially, they prioritize employee happiness to create a positive environment, and customers feel and appreciate that environment.
Motivating Retail Employees
Working in retail can be challenging, so knowing how to motivate employees is critical for store owners. Some strategies can include:
Organizing product training sessions and knowledge contests (and rewarding contest winners through bonuses or other incentives).
Recognizing and rewarding employees for exceptional customer service.
Setting realistic sales targets within a set timeframe (and tracking their progress via your POS system).
Implementing customer feedback mechanisms to identify areas for improvement.
Involving employees in visual merchandising decisions to foster creativity and ownership.
Motivating Restaurant Employees
Restaurants can be notoriously stressful places to work, and there’s a fine line between knowing how to motivate employees in hospitality and simply adding to their stress levels. Strategies can include:
Creating a bond between front-of-house and back-of-house staff via joint training sessions and team-building activities.
Implementing a system for recognizing and rewarding excellent customer service.
Providing high-quality equipment, from the espresso machine to the mobile restaurant point of sale system.
Make learning about new menu items, wine pairings, or cocktail recipes fun experiential events for the team rather than simply memorizing the ingredient list.
Motivating Salon Employees
Working in the beauty industry can be socially rewarding, but it can also involve long hours and variable pay, putting pressure on salon owners to know how to inspire employees. Strategies can include:
Providing (paid) opportunities for employees to attend industry events, workshops, and training courses to enhance their skills
Providing incentives for client retention, referrals, or upselling beauty products at the cash register
Encouraging employees to experiment with new techniques and styles and providing inspiration. That can be anything from simply providing free style magazines to organizing team trips to fashion events or hair shows.
Creating opportunities for employees to showcase their creativity — photo shoots, competitions, online marketing campaigns, and beyond — and incentivizing employees to promote their work on social media.
A Dedicated POS for a Dedicated Workforce
Designed to make life easier for small businesses, SumUp POS benefits owners, customers, and employees alike. Employee-friendly features like a touchscreen register are complemented by advanced management tools for tracking individual employee sales, helping you motivate your team and reward star performers. To learn more about SumUp solutions, get in touch with our team today.
