Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation

For those interested in this subject, I would suggest looking into ROWE - Results-Only Work Environment.<p><a href="http://gorowe.com/" rel="nofollow">http://gorowe.com/</a><p>The basic tenet of ROWE is to stop doing busy-work, and start doing only what matters. Stop wasting everyone's time. All meetings are optional. You work when and where and how you like, as long as the job gets done. That's key, by the way... <i>as long as the job gets done</i>.<p>The most common objection in the corporate world seems to be "but how will we know if people are doing their job if they aren't in the office from 9 - 5?" and the answer, of course is "how do you know now?" (hint: for the most part, you don't, unless you have clear goals and are judging people solely on output rather than on face-time etc.)<p>In a start-up this is hardly an issue!

<i>A critical condition for employee enthusiasm is a clear, credible, and inspiring organizational purpose: in effect, a "reason for being" that translates for workers into a "reason for being there" that goes above and beyond money.<p>Every manager should be able to expressly state a strong purpose for his unit.</i><p>Out of all of these points, I'd say this is the most important. If you can't tell people <i>why</i> they're doing what they're doing, and convince them that it's important, then you've lost already.

Good tips. I love my job right now, salary is good, work is not too hard, I have time to learn new skills. However, one thing that is frustrating is that there are those on my team that refuse to work and management never disciplines them for any reason. They are allowed to just collect a paycheck, while only putting in about 2 hours of actual work every week. This is mentioned in the article.<p>Any tips for me? Just suck it up and try to do good at my job is what I've been doing for the last 3 years, but sometimes it gets frustrating.

Curiously, I'd come to a few of these conclusions myself since I started working for my current employer. A lot of people make that sort of Knowing Face when I tell them that I work for my husband. Sure, switching from being the boss to being the bossed, during work hours, leads to some occasional friction,... :-) But because of our unique relationship, there is a measure of equity and communication that I've only ever felt from one other employer (and that only from my immediate superior).<p>At least one of my former employers would pat himself on the back after reading this, completely blind to the impact on moral of his constant threats to fire us. So while these things make sense when you read them, obviously some self-(awareness|respect) is necessary to understand and act on them.