Top 10 Tips for Motivating Your Staff Through The Credit Crunch

By Nigel Toplis, MD of Recognition Express

Nigel Toplis is Managing Director of Recognition Express. Recognition Express is a successful franchise organisation of 27 years standing and one of Europe’s largest suppliers of corporate recognition products, from signs and name badges to promotional products and employee awards.

Nigel is also Honorary Teaching Fellow at Lancaster University’s Institute for Entrepreneurship & Enterprise Development. 

1. Focus on Team Spirit. Finding ways of keeping your workforce happy doesn’t cost anything but a little time and thought. It’s team spirit and enthusiasm that will get you all through.

2. Say Thank You. Make a point of saying thank you in person: it costs nothing and means a lot, especially to staff who rarely get to talk to the boss.

3. Acknowledge Success. Send hero-grams for a job well done. As well as thanking the individual in person, follow up with an email to the rest of the staff, placing your thanks on record.

4. Offer Little Extras. Big pay rises may be off the agenda, but treats like an early finish on a Friday, or a day off on a birthday do wonders for staff morale.

5. Keep an Open-door Policy. When times are tough, staff need to know that the boss is approachable and that someone senior will listen to their concerns.

6. Laugh a Little. Constant hard work in an atmosphere of gloom and doom wears people down. What staff need is a dose of light relief that makes them feel glad they’ve come to work, like dress-down days for charity, an office quiz night, a sweepstake on the Grand National, or a free raffle for a bottle of bubbly. 

7. Start a Company Award Scheme. It shows faith in the staff and gets them to remember the great work they’ve done so far, instead of the work that’s piling up in front of them. They don’t have to be big annual awards – monthly prizes of wine and book tokens for top performers in anything from sales to tea-making will bring out a smile.  

8. Remember Your Staff’s Names. There’s nothing more demoralising for a hard-working, long-serving employee than to discover that the MD doesn’t know their name.  If you want them to feel loved and wanted, start by noticing they exist!

9. Lead by Example. When staff numbers have been cut to the bone and the workload increases, managers need to get stuck in, even if it means getting their hands dirty for an hour a day. It sends a message to the staff that they’re not alone and someone at the top appreciates that they’re going the extra mile.

10. Be Ready for the Upturn. The economic downturn means everyone is working harder, with less certainty of success and more worry. At such times it’s vital to look after your staff – the people who look after you – so that you’re ready to roll when the recovery comes.

Nigel Toplis, Managing Director

Recognition Express 

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