It is difficult to grow your small business if you cannot measure the motivation level of your employees. Employing methods to gauge worker engagement and energy can make the job of increasing these factors easier. To evaluate motivation and provide insight, listen to staff input and assess tangible indicators to improve your business methods.

Surveys

Prepare employee surveys with questions that target motivation. Ask workers directly about their job satisfaction. Give them a section to explain what they are getting and what they need in creative opportunities, compensation and benefits, and resources and support. Provide questions regarding management to get feedback on how to better motivate your staff. For example, one query could be "How could your manager encourage you more?" Make the surveys anonymous so workers can be honest without worry about retribution.

Attendance

One way to judge how motivated your employees are at work is to look at how frequently they miss it. Look at your workers' attendance reports for the past six months. Consider the overall amounts of absences. Take out any statistics of employees who had to miss work for extended amounts of time due to injury or health issues. The information you have left illustrates whether there is a general attendance problem that could be linked to a lack of motivation.

Participation

Managers interested in judging the motivation of their employees can learn much from their participatory actions. Associates who respond to needs of their supervisors and other employees show enthusiasm for their jobs. Test employee alertness and desire to work by presenting them with challenges. Staff members who are eager to pitch in, work out strategies and divvy up tasks demonstrate great motivation. If workers are sluggish to start or argue that there is already too much to do, those workers are disengaged and lack necessary energy.

Results

Assessing the output from employees is a way of measuring their engagement in their work. For example, look at results such as recent profits to gauge staff involvement. Also, evaluate the quality of the work your staff is producing and the timeliness of work tasks completion. If your workers' output is on the decline, it is time for morale boosting efforts such as incentive plans and workplace condition improvements.

Growth

A lack of growth most often means worker motivation is low. When a company stagnates, it is often due to the lack of achievement of its workforce. The lack of company growth is associated with the lack of individual employee progression. Staff members who do not learn new skills don't aspire to higher positions and fail to accept additional responsibilities are not pushing for personal or organizational success. Increase motivation with educational grants and a leadership program that will inspire employees to grow, which propels the company forward.