How Do We Keep Our Employees Motivated?
By Rick Segel

You can’t talk about motivation without talking about money.

Everyone believes, or maybe we would like to believe, that money works. I don’t have to tell you the answer — you know it doesn’t. We want to believe it the same way we want to believe that there is still a Santa Claus. If money were the source for all motivation, then it would be easy. Just put everyone on commission or on a bonus plan and we’d be done. Of course, we would have a problem getting people to work on stock or clean or even help out with a shipment. Maybe we could pay a commission on those tasks as well.

Unfortunately, commissions and bonuses add to other problems.

There is nothing worse than two salespeople fighting over a hot customer who walks into the store. “She’s mine!” “No, I waited on her the last time she came in the store!” “But I was on vacation the last time she came in. I always wait on her.” “See, she doesn’t even like you, why would she come in during your vacation if she likes you so much?”

Some of us have those problems without commissions, so why would we want to pay extra for that behavior?

The current trend in corporate America today is the concept of teams — people working together for a common goal.

A chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Everyone will help everybody for the good of the business and the team. The battle cry is “There is no ‘I’ in team.”

How would this concept work in specialty store retailing today? It is worth discussing, but I’m still not totally sold on the concept.

Let’s get real basic — we all have to make money in order to exist. Our stores might create a lifestyle but we have to show profits to survive.

There are only two ways, or a combination of those two ways, to make money:

1. Control expenses.

2. Increase sales.

In short, we have to have more money coming in than going out. So how could this team approach work?

Simply put, you would pay the team a bonus to be shared by all if the store reaches a sales goal for the month. It could even be based on keeping expenses under a certain percentage or a combination of both. You could divide up the bonus based on the total hours a person works.

The benefits in theory are that everyone will help everyone because they are all sharing in the bonus.

Sounds good, but the problem is that money is not the thing that motivates people, regardless of what they might say.

People stay at low paying jobs because they are comfortable.

Ask yourself, where would you rather work, in a place where the boss was constantly yelling at you, never giving you a compliment, embarrassing you in front of other people, i.e., a miserable work environment, but paid very well?

Or would you be willing to sacrifice some money to work for wonderful people who appreciated what you did, compliment what you do, listen to your ideas, respected your family life — a place that was fun to work, and you actually looked forward to going to work?

I think we just answered our own question.

Forget the money. Build your business as a good employer, a place where people want to work and you will start attracting employees who can move your business so that you will be able to pay more money.

But of course, that won’t be important because they aren’t there for the money to begin with.

We have moved into a society where quality of life issues are more important than money. Would you work for 67 cents an hour and have to work 50 hours a week? Probably not, but if I told you would be working with 40 other college kids on a beach at a Holiday Inn in Hilton Head Island and housing was included, you might start to change your mind. My daughter did it one summer and even came back with a “significant other.” That’s what I call fringe benefits.

Obviously, that’s taking it to the extreme, but if we make the jobs of our employees as enjoyable as we can, they will jump through hoops for us.

The concept of “fun” is starting to become a very desirable management strategy to motivate employees in a positive manner.

When you humorize, you humanize, and when you can reach an employee as a human being, they will do amazing things. You might even be able to pay a little less.

Ask any of the employees at Southwest Airlines, which was just named #1 in customer service in the airline industry and the most profitable airline in the United States. The CEO, Herb Kelliher, a bit offbeat himself, believes in encouraging his flight attendants to joke and kid with passengers. Have fun. This is his marketing strategy that works and has created some of the most loyal employees any company would be proud to have.

Southwest is just one of many companies that have adopted such a policy of fun to motivate employees.

Great Harvest Bread Company out of Dillon, Montana ranked as one of the #1 franchises in the country, has written in their mission statement “to have fun”. In areas with close to non-existent unemployment rates, some of their bakeries have waiting lists of people who want to work there. Do they work hard? Baking bread all day isn’t easy work, but they love it. As the owner of the franchise in Billings, Montana told me , “You can buy bread anywhere, but you can’t buy bread with the fun we give the customer.”

If the customer is having fun, generally the employee is as well. Isn’t that what this is all about? Keeping the employee motivated. Having the employee work hard without them even realizing they did. Maybe it’s just the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down.

I choose to call that good management and a very healthy business.