The start of each fresh day, and the routine you undertake before work often sets the tone for employee motivation, which in turn affects the engagement of the whole team.
All employees have their own set of morning routines before they leave home for work or just as soon as they reach the office. Some employees need to be motivated a little more than others for a great start to the day.
Regardless of what these routines are, as a leader, you can help manage employee motivation by encouraging more positive morning routines. We have compiled a list of activities that you could encourage your employees to cultivate for improved employee motivation in the workplace.
Eat a healthy breakfast
Yes – it’s that first important meal of the day but not everyone has it. There are some people who skip breakfast entirely because it is too troublesome and just want to get to work as quickly as possible.
Skipping breakfast keeps your body in the stressful state of fasting for longer, which can disrupt your metabolism in considerable ways (unless it is a planned type of fasting). This is bad for the company as it can cause employees to become moody in the morning and throughout the day.
Encourage employee motivation in the workplace by providing simple healthy breakfasts. We’re not talking about poached eggs on toast or a typical American breakfast; breakfast porridge, muesli cereals, oatmeal or even yogurt are healthy breakfast options you could provide to your employees.
When employees realise that management cares about their well-being, they are likely to become more motivated at work.
Image: Stock Snap
Exercise to kick start the day
What better way to encourage employee motivation in the workplace than by starting the day working out. Management could organise a morning training session or exercise routine once a week for your employees. You can include a weekly program or schedule such as yoga, morning nature walks or an hour in the gym.
This is a great way for employee motivation in the workplace as one of the advantages of working out in the morning is that you will become more alert during those later hours.
Daily team chat
We are not talking about the intensive, brainstorming type meetings. Have a quick morning chat with the team, talking about tasks or projects that employees are working on and problems they are facing. This is a great routine as employees can catch up with the rest of the team members on projects that they are currently working on and find out if others could hop on and assist.
Entire projects can become delayed by issues faced by a single employee but by sharing with the team, solutions could be found among other team members and this makes it easier and more productive for everyone.
Set goals for the day
Another great inclusion in the morning routine for employee motivation in the workplace is to encourage employees to write down three goals that they would want to accomplish by the end of the day. These goals do not have to be work related – it could be something personal such as booking that yoga class that they’ve been procrastinating on, or drinking sufficient amounts of water instead of countless cans of soda.
When employees recognise the level of concern the management have for their fellow employees, they tend to be more motivated, work harder and give the company their 100% at any given task. Not only that, when the day is over, employees will leave the office with a great sense of accomplishment.
The day is over and I am leaving the office with a tremendous sense of accomplishment. What have I achieved?
– Ron Friedman (@RonFriedman)
Provide some entertainment
They say music tames the savage beast and they are right. Another great element to an excellent morning routine for employee motivation in the workplace is by starting the morning with music or an audiobook that might be inspirational or motivational to the team. It is the perfect way to set your employees up for success.
Avoid loud, annoying music and try to select something soothing for the morning like jazz. You could also choose something to perk up the sleepyheads with something pumped for an action-packed day.
In Summary
In general, workplaces that make their employees feel included, valued and cared for will bring out the best out of them.
Every employee incorporates different morning practices into their routine. However, you should try to encourage a great start in the morning for employee motivation in the workplace. Give yourself the best opportunity to boost company culture with these tips or try out some of our other ways to motivate your employees.
