by Stephan Jenson

Created on: May 15, 2008

In the work force today one of the most common problems is motivating employees.Several years ago my brother in-law call me up and ask me if I would be interested in a job at his company,the firm he worked for had been trying to break into a market that had some major competition.I went in and spoke with the general manager, and told him I would try selling some of his product over the weekend and let him know on Monday. The weekend was rather successful and on the Monday I informed them I would join the sales team and generate some new business. the company it self was in the mat rental business,you will see these mats in most entry ways when you go into any store or business.

At the end of the first week there was a sales meeting, I informed the managers that they were approaching things in the wrong manner, trying to sell your product cheaper in order to gain new customers against a larger firm who can easily match prices isn't going to allow you to make a fair profit and maintain efficiency, you need a different approach. I presented them with an idea,instead of just renting mats for the entry way, allow them to advertise on it, put there company name,what ever they wanted you can put anything you want on it,and yes I'm the person who started what you see today,in banks with the arrows grocery stores etc.

Now the problem was that it got so busy that the production part couldn't handle the demand, hence my second position with the firm.On conclusion of a meeting with the General Manager I decided to take over production and the first night there was a disaster, I had a meeting with the production people, approximately 35 staff members,during a late evening break and gave them there pays, that were not required till the next day,finished the meeting and after I had concluded some work in my office,I went to production and discovered that every one had gone home.

The next morning I called everyone into the lunch room and asked them what happened and why they left. It was then I was informed that they had already been working 12 to 14 hours and this was common for them and production was still behind constantly. Now one of the hardest things to do is to motivated hourly staff especially when the salary is barely above minimum wage.I informed the staff that I couldn't increase their salary but I would give them an opportunity to make their work place more effective and enjoyable. I told them you know how much production has to be done each week,I also told them

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