After COVID, I believe the best motivation for employees is Flexibility & work from home facility.

Lately, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding WFH, and that's a good thing. However, I think that the real motivation comes from good interpersonal relations in the company, and having everyone work on something they're passionate about. I feel like the second point is especially important, because when looking at things long-term no amount of money, bonuses, or benefits is going to help someone if they don't like what they're doing.

Pay for performance if the job function is sales, starting salary below market, upper bound of salary 2x market top KPI based bonuses for technical SMEs stock options for value alignment across all roles Growth opportunities- make people better than they were when they joined Proper pay or flexibility- startups (like mine) dont have the capital to do both at the moment Awesome discussion idea Daniel

If we are talking about the motivation to join the project, then I'd go for flexibility. If it's about the motivation to do your best day in day out, I've seen stock options do well. To me, it's about the team and the culture - when everyone around you is doing their best, the desire to do the same is contagious.

If I had to choose one, it would be flexibility and work from home, but only if I had a great team with open communication. I'm very motivated to go the extra mile when I have the freedom to organize my time in the most productive window of the day for me. And knowing that my team and CEO trust me to do the work I have been assigned is genuinely inspiring.

Thank you so much for the insights. One of the most interesting discussions I had on Product Hunt so far. @marina_djuric @sophia_emma @new_user_11620223ff4de5436 @ac_walraven @nabeel_amir @jennifer_123 @ankur_mehrotra1 @alexandergridnev1 @rahul_mohanachandran @bhav_singh @vofeld @hemantwarier @dylan_merideth @aleksdahlberg @enola_vedovotto @excellentweb_australia @rucha_joshi8 @avi_agr @harshit_chawla @alex_leroy @aron_roy @aleksdahlberg @8apixel @varun_kodnani @madaras

Mission and values for sure, this steams into things like giving them leadership or ownership over projects, give them opportunity to see value and then back that

I think values and making a good and fun working environment. People will leave if they are not happy at work even though they are getting paid well.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the best way to motivate employees will vary depending on the individual employees and their specific needs. However, some common methods of motivating employees include providing them with clear and achievable goals, offering them recognition and praise for their work, and providing them with opportunities for professional development.

I can see I'm in the minority on this, but here's my reasoning. If your crew doesn't believe in you (and your product), then none of the first three options matter. Why? Because they'll have doubt in the success of the product. That makes the first three options irrelevant. I definitely see flexibility being important, but again if your crew doesn't believe in you, (or your product), then they'll constantly be thinking about another employer in case you go through rough times (which face it - you will), and that's when it's all about the people who believe in the mission and value. Nothing else will matter, and you'll start hemorrhaging staff and you'll start the spiral downward from there.

I don't think of 'flexibility & wfh' as motivation - more a cultural benefit. For me, the team is the motivating factor. Knowning everyone is pushing as hard as they can to build something amazing is what makes me want to be better.

Hi Daniel, great question! I believe that most people get the answer wrong. When I was working in the tech industry, the HR department was always trying to make us believe that the ultimate motivation for employees is an amazing company culture. BUT... When the rubber hits the road, nobody cares about company culture. Employees, and people in general, are usually looking for a great answer for the following question: "What's in it for me?" And most of the times? It's financial compensation. Money in their pockets. Food on their tables. Yeah, company mission & values, and work flexibility are nice, but everything has a price. Try to answer this question: Would an employee agree to take a 90% cut in his salary, in order to improve his working conditions? Most likely - not. But: Would an employee agree to reduce his working conditions for a 90% salary raise? Most likely - yes. Obviously, the salary you earn also plays a role. If a person makes $1,000,000 per year, maybe they would not be ready to sacrifice working conditions for a 90% salary raise, because they are very well established and money is not supposed to be an issue. But if a person makes $50,000 - $100,000 per year, a 90% increase is a life-changing amount in most cases. Now, we're not robots, and we do have our needs, and even $1,000,000 per year is something you get used to and then (sometimes) want more. And this is where the culture and work flexibility comes into play. So from my personal experience? Money always comes first, second, and third. Money is the only REAL means of showing REAL appreciation to your employees. Then comes the culture and flexibility and everything else.

I still come back to article by Katie Dill — people are motivated by different things. https://medium.com/@katiemdill/t...

For me, when your employees come to the office daily, there must b gratitude for them like you can place a piece of chocolate over their table. It'll motivate them because I'd be happy with this.

All of the above, as you rightly said. Plus, I'm adding another, a bit novel, option to the discussion: A share of future cashflows, like a royalty, limited based on the employee's contributions in the past and the present. This is enabled by VenEx, a SaaS product we just launched to this community today! I'm not sure if this is "the best benefit", but it could be one of the best ways to build motivation and ownership in a way employees can visualize real wealth-creation from the company's growth, esp. if the returns from stock options are too far out and unpredictable. Let us know what you think of it!

We have had so many ups and downs in our startup. All our employees had to make some major comprises on things ranging from work responsibilities to salaries to shifting cities. But motivated them to pull through the hard times was the mission we are working on. Everyone we have currently in the team deeply cares about mental health.

The real key, I think, is to customize these things so that you're appealing broadly to employees. First and foremost, invest in them and show them that you as a founder value and trust them. Create a company that values its employees and they will rise to meet the challenges. Of course, incentivizing is important (and tying their interest to those of the company through equity stakes and options is ideal). But, money doesn't matter if they don't feel committed to the company and that only comes through building the relationships and investing in them as individuals.

It is super difficult to choose between KPI-based bonus and Flexibility & Work from home. I chose KPI-based bonus option for one reason, other options on the list like Higher base salary, Flexibility & Work from home can give a boost in motivation when an employee receives it for the first time. Once the employee gets it that will soon become the new normal and the baseline for their employment so the motivation from these two factors can diminish over time. KPI-based bonus will be a good way to keep the employee motivated as there is consistency and the KPIs will be readjusted regularly.

A long commute sucks the life out of people. And some of us can be much more productive without an hour spent on hair/makeup every morning. I think managers underestimate both of these things. Designate a day for cameras on and keep them off the other days.

I've stayed so much longer in our company because of the WFH option + flexible hours. It's really life-changing and creates a healthier lifestyle for me.