Welcome back! We hope the end of summer has been kind to you and that you’ve been able to enjoy all of this sunshine!

It’s no secret that at Pathway Design Group, we believe the people on your team are your most important assets and that they should understand they are valued for the skills they bring to your organization. There are many ways to show this appreciation ranging from financial incentives to certain privileges. Today, we’d like to approach this from a different angle: focusing on the well-being of your employees. 

While external incentives like the ones mentioned above are certainly effective, they shouldn’t be the only options for motivation. Focusing on the personal growth and development of your employees is another fantastic way to improve the morale, engagement, and productivity of your team. 

Employee Coaching and Education

By offering professional and personal development options to your employees, you can improve their work lives in monumental ways. These improvements, of course, will lead to improved attitudes and productivity but will also benefit employees in other areas of their lives; areas that have nothing to do with work. 

Whether the curriculum is centered around work or personal wellness, the effort expended to improve your employees’ lives will not go unnoticed. Talk to your team members, ask them what they’d like to learn more about when it comes to their job or career, and find a way to provide that education. This could range from specialized skills training to courses on communication and leadership. 

Give your team the tools they need to succeed — it’s a great way to boost their confidence and see the value you recognize in them!

Communicate Realistic Performance Expectations

As a leader, it’s your responsibility to know your team and to provide them with clear, manageable expectations. This means, of course, that you’ll need to take the time to get to know your team members – learn their abilities, talents, and challenges. If you can look at a situation, project, or timeline and recognize what the realistic goals are, your employees will have a better chance to do high-quality work. 

Few things are more stressful in the workplace than working toward goals you know are impossible to achieve. The negative effects of this show up in quality of work, morale, and engagement. Communicate regularly and clearly and what is expected of your employees, make sure those goals are attainable and watch their productivity improve along with their attitudes. 

Offer Personal Wellness Education and Opportunities

Our busy, modern lives don’t leave much room for personal wellness. Between caffeine, social media, the news, and a million other excesses and distractions, truly focusing on ourselves can feel like a luxury 

Show your employees that their wellbeing is important to you. This can look like a lot of different things and can be done at a minimal cost to the company as a whole. 

• Challenges with Rewards: Whether it’s a step challenge, water-drinking challenge, or even a meditation challenge, offering some kind of incentive to your employees for taking care of themselves can be highly effective. 

• Offer an App or Classes: Meditation and mindfulness apps can be extremely beneficial to those who use them, but the cost of monthly subscriptions and even the apps themselves can deter people from using them. If your company has the budget, providing these apps to your team can have staggering results. 

The bottom line is that your employees want to know that they’re valuable. 

When team members know they are cared about, they will almost always expend their better efforts toward the organization that shows it cares. We would love for you to give one of these ideas a try, or let us know if you’ve tried something different that works for you!