Last week’s tip on employee motivation was to tell people why. Today’s strategy: eat together. Food is a very effective motivator!
Eat together
Yes, I know, this sounds really simple, but it is a very powerful tool in your employee motivation toolkit. Now don’t just take my word for it, this is actually backed up by study after study in employee motivation research. In fact, one landmark 2005 study that was conducted by Peluchette and Karl in the health-care industry is particularly illustrative and indicative of the overall research. In this study, Doctors Peluchette and Karl developed the top ten list of workplace activities that employees consider to be fun and contributing to employee motivation. The top three had to do with food!
- Everyone goes out to lunch once a month
- Have a potluck lunch or dinner
- Celebrate employees’ birthdays by bringing in cake and ice cream once a month
Are you seeing a pattern here? Food!
So find ways to eat together – pizza, sandwiches, cake, international potluck. Heck, in my world, even beer and wine constitute a food group! When you eat together, it builds team spirit, and enhances employee motivation.
So is food a powerful employee motivator? My experience unequivocally says “yes”, but I’d love to hear about what you’ve observed. Please share by commenting on this post.