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Every company needs motivated employees; they are the employees who are the most valuable in terms of their output and loyalty. In a multi-level company as well as a small business, this can often be an overlooked aspect of employment. Focus is often so set on profit and turnover, that staff relations can suffer. It may only be when staff start leaving the company in growing numbers that the employer may realise - too late - that something is wrong.

Much is said about team work within the business setting. Much has also been written about how to craft a good team, from the business perspective. However, teams are made up of individuals who can come from a myriad of backgrounds. These individuals may not fit the standard human resource-led theories of how a team should be constructed and function. This does not make them bad teams, it just means the individuals need to be handled as individuals and not as mechanisms to aid productivity. Managers need to get to know their staff, and understand their strengths, weaknesses etc but also their likes, dislikes, and previous or outside experience. Any way that these things can be brought into play in the workplace will make the staff feel valued and motivated. For example, you are considering a new contract with a company in a French-speaking country. Before you go out to an agency and recruit a new member of staff who speaks French, think about asking your current employees. You may find that one has spent their youth in the vineyards of Bordeaux, or that they studied French at evening classes because they take their annual summer vacation there. These are things that the employer may not necessarily know from the curriculum vitae of the staff, but that will help the business and motivate the employee because they feel valued if the skill is exploited.

Staff not involved with human resourcing and management are generally not enthusiastic about anything a company proposes to make staff work better together. Team-building exercises are often seen as excruciating forms of torture, and "away days" can be viewed as time that could be better spent just doing the work that employees are paid to do. Often, staff can feel that management do not understand the work of those employed lower down the food chain. A good way to motivate staff is to spend time with them, learning about the job from their perspective and understanding how they feel about the processes they do every day. Talking one-to-one is a far better way

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