Motivation Article: Eight Ways to Motivate Part-Time
Employees
By Ed Sykes
In most cases, part-time
employees present a special challenge when it comes to motivation. They do the
“grunt” work, have little career choices, are often focused on other goals
outside of your organization (college, hobbies, etc.), and are treated as
outsiders by full-time employees. So what’s a manager to do? How do we turn
our part-time employees into outstanding employees?
The following are eight
proven motivation techniques to motivate your part-time employees:
1.
Orient them
properly.
Take time to describe job
duties and go over what is allowed and not allowed, e.g., personal telephone
calls, use of organization property, etc. Avoid confusion by designating one
person to orient and give assignments to part-timers. This will eliminate the
“well he told me one thing and she said something else” situation that can lead
to a demoralized part-time employee.
2.
Find Out What
Motivates Them.
Ask your part-timers
questions so that you can find out how to best motivate them. In my
teambuilding and leadership programs, I discuss the
“Sykes Seven Questions of
Motivation” that you need to have the answers to if you are truly motivating
your employees. One question you can ask your part-timer is, “What do you
want to do in the future?” By asking the question, you can relate their future
goals to your present needs. For example, the part-timer says he/she wants to
be an artist. Listen, acknowledge, and embrace the answer and realize that you
can possibly apply their skills now by allowing them to create
recognition posters (I know you are already doing these, right?), work on the
organization newsletter, or any other art project that will benefit your
organization.
If you don’t ask, you won’t
know what the hidden talents of these part-timers are.
3.
Check Yourself
When Communicating
Sometime part-timers are
looked at as an unnecessary evil. It may be great to have the extra
hands, but not so great to deal with them. First, realize you are fortunate
enough to have the extra help. Most people are anxious to have the extra help.
Second, it is your job to develop them. Third, only communicate the positive
when communicating with them.
Remember, for your
part-timers, this may be their first experience in the workplace. They may be a
little scared and may show it in a number of different ways (rebelling against
requests, not working with others, or showing up late or not at all). Our job
is to check ourselves whenever we communicate with part-timers so that they feel
welcome. Check yourself when communicating requests so that they are always
discussed with positive expectations. Check yourself when communicating with
part-timer and full-timers so that both groups know you are glad to have them.
It will go a long way to letting the part-timer feel motivated to be there.
4.
Assign a mentor
Even
after proper orientation, part-time workers will be confused. Assign them a
full-time worker to be a mentor. The part-time worker will feel more like part
of the team, and the mentor will feel good about the added responsibility.
Important: Pick someone who is patient, has good communication skills, is
motivated to do the task, and has the time to answer questions.
5.
Mix up the workload.
Don’t
overload part-time workers with “grunt” tasks only. It’s a common temptation to
assign all low-level work to part-time employees. Don’t do it! It’s
demoralizing. Remember, “Variety is the spice of work life.” This is where you
would apply the information learned in technique number two to mix up the
assignments.
6.
Eliminate any Hard Feelings
Eliminate any perceived or real hard feelings between part-timers and
full-timers immediately. Explain to full-time employees why you’re bringing in
part-time help and that their jobs are not being threatened.
Important: Sell them on the benefits of bringing in part-timers (make jobs
easier, allow them to learn management skills, etc.)
7.
Offer Flexible Hours
Many
part-time employees are working part-time to meet special situations (College,
family health situations, childcare issues, transportation issues, etc.). Use
that to your advantage. By allowing flexible work hours, you’ll retain your
part-time workers longer, eliminating the need for costly retraining.
Important: Make sure part-time employees communicate and clear all scheduling
conflicts in advance to avoid confusion.
8.
Offer Incentives
Most
companies don’t offer part-time employees incentives. Believe me, the part-time
employee knows and resents this policy right away. That’s a big mistake. Set
up an incentive program based on your organization’s revenue or behavior you
need to see from the part-time employee. In the case of incentives for
behavior, give a bonus or incentive for the following:
§
Perfect
attendance
§
Perfect on time
attendance
§
Working well
with others
§
Working well
with full-time employees
§
Taking
initiative to solve problems
§
Great customer
service
Important: Recognize the part-time worker as soon as the action was taken and
praise publicly (my article
“Appreciate to Motivate” will explain how).
If you follow the eight motivation steps mentioned, we guarantee that
you will be well on the way to motivated, productive part-time employees with
less turnover and retraining. You will accomplish far more in less time without
the stress.
Suggested reading:
Appreciate to Motivate
(The Key to Successful Team Building)
Are You Building Your Foundation of Success: Six Secrets of Motivating Yourself for Success
Employee
Motivation, Don Imus, and Team Building: Five Secrets of Motivated Teams
Adversity: Your Seed of
Greatness (Three Secrets to Using
Adversity to Become Great)
Connect the Dots! Your Roadmap for Success
Seven Secrets to Being the Leader Everyone
Wants to Work For
Five Secrets to Becoming the Perfect Employee
That Everyone Wants – Part One
Have You Appreciated Someone Today?
Nine Ways Johnny Carson Can
Help You Run Outstanding Meetings
You Mean I Need to
Promote Myself to Get a Promotion? 5 Promotion Secrets to Get the Job You Want!
Five Secrets to
Gaining Credibility with Your Team for Outstanding
Results
Five Secrets to
Creating a "Goal" Medal Life - Part 2
How Appetizing Is
Your Feedback? (5 Steps to Giving Effective Feedback)
Five Secrets to Creating a
"Goal" Medal Life
Ten Techniques for
Motivating Others Through Chaos
10
Action Steps to Motivate Yourself to Great Accomplishments
Delegate to Accelerate Success
(How to Prepare
Yourself and Others for Success)
The
Greatest Gift of All - The Gift of Empowerment
Leadership Secrets for Challenging Times
Goal Setting Secrets to Jumpstart Your Life
Want to learn how to motivate your employees? Our
Team Building,
Life After Downsizing,
How to Develop the Leader Within You,
Time Management Skills to Achieve More, and
How to Handle Workplace Stress and Master Your Life programs can
help you lead others to the next level. Please read our
articles on motivation, goal setting, etc. Call us at 757-427-7032 or
e-mail us at
info@thesykesgrp.com.
Ed Sykes is a
professional speaker published in the areas of leadership, change management,
customer service, motivation, and teamwork. He works with business and government
organizations who want to reach the next level of success and individuals who
want to perform at their best. You can email him at esykes@thesykesgrp.com,
call him at (757) 427-7032 or visit his Web site at
www.thesykesgrp.com.
