According to business psychologist Chambers, there are other ways to improve the employee experience, aside from compensation, the potential for progress, and autonomy. Managers ought to look at every employee as someone unique.

“Firstly, consider the power of recognition and appreciation, both formal and informal, for contributions both big and small,” he explained to Bored Panda via email.

“Flexibility is an increasingly important factor, so flexible working policies can promote trust and balance. Supporting your people to find meaning in their work can be beneficial, as can providing relevant training and upskilling,” Chambers said.

“Clear communication is valued, and the ability to feel included through feedback and input can increase motivation, and access to wellbeing can promote positive engagement in other aspects of work.”

According to the business psychologist, it is possible to have a healthy work-life balance without employees feeling like they need to disengage or practice quiet quitting. 

“Setting and communicating realistic boundaries creates space to work efficiently, prioritizes tasks, ensures urgent and important tasks get the attention and progress needed, and allows space for regular breaks and less overtime,” the founder of Male Allies UK and Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing said.

“Time management techniques can be effective for some people to give structure, and this also opens opportunities for flexibility in other areas. Minimizing distraction can improve output and provide more time for personal commitments and practicing self-care, leaving you with a balance that won't be perfect, but it will leave you with the opportunity to perform well both at work and outside of it.”

According to Chambers, the key to finding an effective work-life balance is being proactive and strategic.

Most entrepreneurs obviously want their businesses to be profitable, attract talented and capable people, and make an impact on the world. However, they need to know how to motivate their workforce. It’s not something that happens on its own. And it’s too important of a question to leave it up to chance.

Good managers know when to be proactive, not just reactive, when it comes to motivating their subordinates. They also know to look at what drives each individual person to excel. Even if they're considered 'problematic.'

If your employees feel demotivated, burned out, and disappointed with your company’s culture and overall strategy, you’re in a pickle. They’ll check out. They’ll either scrape by doing the absolute bare minimum or they’ll look for better opportunities elsewhere.

They might jump ship and sign up with your competitors if you’re not careful. But before you start coming up with elaborate schemes to boost everyone’s morale, make sure that you’ve got the basics right.

The basics are pretty straightforward. Make sure that you’re paying your staff an adequate wage. In these economically bizarre times, you want your people to know that they’re financially secure.

But a good wage isn’t enough. What motivates many people is a sense of growth and development.

That’s why it’s vital for your staff’s wages to grow annually, and based on their results. That way, you’ll avoid creating an atmosphere of stagnation. And, on top of that, you’ll help your employees feel properly rewarded, and able to outpace inflation. Or, at the very least, keep their purchasing power at a decent level.

Next, consider what sorts of other opportunities for growth you’re offering your workers. Are you investing in their futures? What sort of skill training or courses do you offer? What do the career opportunities look like at your company?

To put it bluntly, if your company has only stagnation and confusion to offer new employees, you need to change things, drastically. You need to give people clear reasons to stay without resorting to cliches about everyone being ‘treated like family’ (yuck!) and how their vague ‘culture and values are so amazing’ (ew!).

These are empty platitudes. Make sure you have something realistic to back all of these things up. Words are cheap.

Something else that gets employees pumped up is feeling respected, trusted, and supported. To put it simply, workers want to have the freedom to do their very best, without being actively micromanaged. When you take that autonomy away, you’re hamstringing the entire business. Certainly, communicate with your workers about their tasks and performance often and clearly. But do not micro-analyze their work. It sets a bad precedent and pushes professionals away.

Not only that but people want a decent work-life balance. We all do our best work when we’re given purposeful tasks, get proper rest, and have some spare time to spend with our loved ones and on our other passions.

If all you ever do is work and answer your boss’ calls and emails during overtime, you’re going to burn out, and resent yourself, and you’ll have a hard time even getting up in the morning. Balance—you need it in all aspects of your life.

The r/ididthejobboss online community is a fairly new one. The group was created in April 2022 and since then, it’s attracted just shy of 30k members. The entire point of the subreddit is to showcase the funniest and most ridiculous moments when employees “successfully” complete their assigned tasks… but in the worst possible way.

According to the moderator team that runs the project, they’re open to all kinds of submissions. This ranges from hilarious work fails to poorly designed products.

The mods themselves point out that their subreddit is titled in a slightly ambiguous way, so they’re giving other redditors the freedom to interpret it as they wish. If you have examples from your own daily life that fit the spirit of the sub, feel free to share them. But they have to be real, not made up for the sake of fake internet points and karma.

However, they’re very strict about people behaving in a respectful, civilized manner. Nobody should be spamming up the group with awful content, posts related to politics, or explicit images. 

How do you and your colleagues stay motivated at work, dear Pandas? Have you ever done the bare minimum that somebody asked of you? If you manage people, how do you inspire your staff to get awesome results? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section!