Most of us operate well when motivated. Motivation in the workplace does not necessarily have to be monetary, there are non- monetary forms of motivation that actually drive people to wake up every morning and have a sense of contentment being employees of a particular organization, and knowing that they are valued and appreciated.

We all need a reason to push on in life, we are all struggling, whether financially, mentally, physically, socially, spiritually, or in any other configuration and a toxic workplace should not be one of them. So, how can an organization motivate its employees and empower them to do better? Both for individual motives and for organizational motives?

A good way of motivating employees include but is not limited to:

• Offering incentives– this means giving something of value to employees so as to empower them to do better. This could be money, or social recognition. An employee might be given salary increments or recognized by their achievements. This fosters growth as a healthy minded employee is likely to perform better than one who feels unappreciated and neglected.
• Having Supportive leaders– Essentially, leaders don’t do work for others, they instead help others figure out how to do it themselves. A leader who shows people the right path and is a good listener is likely to retain his employees as they are able to open up about their concerns and get is solved instead of handing in a resignation letter.
• Controlling organization politics– Every organization has internal issues among the workforce. This might demotivate someone to an extent where they plunge into depression and perform poorly. Having a strategy to curb or minimize issues within the organization helps to make each person comfortable and motivate them to push on.
• Offering food in the workplace- This might sound like something trifling, but it works wonders. In Nairobi, life is already hard, budgeting for food every day is not an easy task. Offering food in the workplace means people won’t have to walk out to buy lunch nor spend money every single day. This gives employees a sense of security as they are assured of eating every day and not struggling to go out to look for food joints. A satisfied employee is a happy employee and a happy employee is motivated to work and produce better results, and to complain less.
• Fostering open communication-Communication goes a long way, people are able to air out their views, open to receive positive criticism, or talk about the plight they are going through. This enables the management to understand each and every employee’s predicament and help to close the gap that emanates from such problems. This promotes a positive work environment where employees thrive in their work projects and feel fulfilled while also staying physically and mentally healthy.