How to motivate non exempt employees (on the clock)

[Anonymous]

I have hourly employees recently assigned to me.

I found out they are in a catch 22 situation. OT is very rare and must be pre-approved. So they all “punch the clock” exactly their work hours.

Now my firm does pay a bonus. But mainly exempt employees. The on the clock people often get like $200 to $1,000 a year. The catch 22 bonus is paid for added work but they don’t get paid OT so all leave on time each day and illegal to make then work unpaid OT.

How do you motivate them? For instance if I take then to lunch they got to punch out so just adds to work day. They also have set breaks and lunch periods. It seems very outdated.

[Anonymous]

Make it a fun and pleasant place to work.

[Anonymous]

Show them your nice car and tell them that if they work really hard, you'll get a big enough bonus to buy another one.

If you supervise hourly workers with no incentive to work harder, you'll get what you pay for. If they work harder, what do they actually get? If there is no room for promotion or advancement, no real bonus, and no OT, working faster just means you get rewarded with more more

[Anonymous]

They need to be motivated by money, promotion, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP there is no room for promotion as it is hard to break the “on the clock” mentality.

For instance we have a few corporate events on the weekend or after work each year.

I noticed the on the clock people don’t go. But it is only chance to interact with sr. Mgt. which would help their case for a promotion.

I have no clue how to make it a nicer place. They have tasks to do and a set time to do it. To be honest I would tell them to quit if I was giving career advice.

[Anonymous]

Can you get approval for them to stay on the clock for a meeting that happens to be a lunch where not a lot is discussed?

[Anonymous]

So do they perform the assigned tasks on time? If so what is the problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So do they perform the assigned tasks on time? If so what is the problem?

This. You want them to work harder right? Why should they? They have no room for promotion, no bonuses, and you seem to look down on them.

[Anonymous]

If you have no positive motivators then you can use negatives like threatening their job. Here's a notorious motivational message for slackers in sales: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=czOpDN8Knr4&pp=ygUnZ2xlbmdhcnJ5IGdsZW4gcm9zcyBhbGVjIGJhbGR3aW4gc3BlZWNo

[Anonymous]

I was an hourly employee (contractor) and when my manager took me to lunch I absolutely charged it as work time. Ditto evening work events. Can you clarify the policies regarding these hours for them?

But also—do you have the discretion to let them leave early if they complete their work?

[Anonymous]

Seems like the obvious solution is to make it salary.

[Anonymous]

My friend's job offers bonuses to their employees for getting things done by a certain amount of time. Seems to motivate people well. If I was hourly I wouldn't be going above and beyond for nothing. Upper management should be taking time to get to know these workers without burdening them.

[Anonymous]

Fix the policies that make it a catch 22 for them.

[Anonymous]

At some point, just be grateful that they are satisfactorily doing their jobs. I used to be upset that a few of my employees weren't motivated to move up. Now I'm just happy that they like their jobs and are very good at them. If everyone was like that my job would be easy. Plus, when employees move up, it means you have to hire new ones, which is a drain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At some point, just be grateful that they are satisfactorily doing their jobs. I used to be upset that a few of my employees weren't motivated to move up. Now I'm just happy that they like their jobs and are very good at them. If everyone was like that my job would be easy. Plus, when employees move up, it means you have to hire new ones, which is a drain.

OP just wants them to work harder for nothing. They said there isn't even room for advancement