Motivating your staff when raises are impossible can be done, and it can be done without giving a raise.

As a business owner or manager in the world of custom integration, I’m sure you’re in the same boat as I am: You’ve been forced to whittle down your staff to a core group of indispensable employees. Some of your staff reduction or “right-sizing” has been painful, but I’m guessing, for the most part, that those who got kicked off the bus weren’t the most productive employees under your roof.

So now you have your superstars to work with—the people who make you shine and perform on the frontlines everyday. These are the folks you entrust to turn ordinary clients into raving fans. It’s a terrific scenario to be in with one exception: You, like everyone else, are experiencing a 20- to 60-percent decrease in revenues. Your margins are shrinking and cash flow has turned into a cash trickle. You can’t afford to give raises or bonuses this year, and in some instances you may have had to make salary reductions to keep the doors open.

So how do you, as a company owner or manager of your troops, keep your employees happy and motivated since you don’t have additional financial compensation in your arsenal of rewards and morale-building tools? 
The answer is simple: Transparency!

Transparency means moving your employees out of the dark and into the light by letting them know about the problems you’re facing in this economy—and the steps you’re taking for economic survival. Today’s climate calls for a team approach to economic survival. This is something can’t do it all by yourself. Employee buy-in is crucial in every economy, but it’s paramount in the way you have to do business now (ie: getting lean and mean).

Keep in mind that your employees see the company from a very different and typically a much more narrow perspective than you do. You need to enlighten them. Show them the 50,000-foot view of the company. Don’t be shy about opening up the accounting books and sharing the company-wide expenses with your team. This will be a huge eye-opener for most of them. My guess is that a greater understanding of the big picture will create a new expectation about what they should expect as employees in this miserable economy. It should also instill a sense of gratitude for having the job that they have.

So what other tools do you have? Let’s start with recognition.

In most cases, employees would rather receive appreciation and respect over money (every survey on this topic supports this fact). I’ll be the first to tell you that you can afford appreciation and respect. When was the last time you reached out to your employees and let them know how much you appreciate their talents? A pat on the back is good, but a lunch with the boss is better. When you deliver a compliment, don’t be a generalist—be incredibly specific. “The way you handled Mr. Jones when he was upset about his broken projector was incredible.”  “Your rack wiring is the best I’ve ever seen. The Smith rack is a work of art.”  “I can't thank you enough for going the extra mile and handling that Sunday evening service issue for the Millers.” 

When was the last time you received a hand-written thank-you note from a client? How did it make you feel? I suggest that you sit down and write a thank-you card to every one of your employees and point out the great things they do for the company. Do it twice a year. And don’t stick it in their truck or office. Lick a stamp and mail it to their home. It will have more meaning and impact than you can possibly imagine.

Your next weapon: Flexibility !

Flexibility is free and it can be priceless. Every one of your employees has personal lives, so do your best to work with them to create a flexible work schedule. Whether it’s a child’s band practice, dropping off the kids to school or night classes, free your employees from the stress of having to juggle their work and private lives and create a schedule that works for both of you.

Believe it or not, low- and no-cost rewards do exist. Other free or semi-free rewards you can award to your superstars include:

• reserved parking for a month;
• an extra day off on a long holiday weekend;
• additional vacation days for a long trip;
• Friday afternoon barbecues (what’s the cost of some hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings?);
• putting that scratch-and-dent LCD player you had to eat in the breakroom;
• rewarding a star employee with some of the dead gear that’s been taking up real estate in your warehouse for months;
• not everyone can afford to bring the entire staff to the CEDIA Expo, so create a contest in which the winner gets to attend;
• for employee birthdays, we give out gift cards to local commercial cinemas—it’s inexpensive to do and employees appreciate it;
• including your employees in a vendor lunch (it’s a nice perk to be included in these important meetings, and the best part is someone else picks up the tab);
• allowing your programmers or accounting people to work from home one day a week (this is good for the environment and terrific for employees since they don’t have to lose work time to meet the plumber);

Another employee perk is investing in your employees’ personal growth and taking the time to train them.  Reserve the time to teach your employees the skills they need to have to get to the next level. They’ll value every minute you spend with them, and when the economy bounces back, you’ll be able to charge more for them and, in turn, pay them more.

At the end of the day, keeping your employees motivated and happy is about much more than just writing a check. In the boom days it was easy to throw cash at problems, but we’ve all learned that can be the least effective solution in reversing an employee’s bad attitude or work ethic. 

To be honest, I’ve learned more about human behavior from my pre-school kids than from running a business for 16 years. It doesn’t matter if you are 4 years old or 40: The basic set of human needs are the same: We want to feel appreciated. We want authority figures to approve of us.  We want to be listened to. We want to feel like we have a purpose. We want to know what’s expected of us and if we’re meeting expectations. We want understanding and reassurance. We want to be challenged and treated fairly.  These are the simple keys to happiness for every one in life, including employees—regardless of the industry. And you, as an employer, can give your employees everything they’re looking for without breaking the bank.

Don’t get me wrong, meeting all of these needs can be difficult sometimes, particularly if you have a lot of employees. But chances are that any energy you put forth in these areas will be an improvement on the past.

Eric Thies co-founded DSI Entertainment Systems in Los Angeles in 1994 with Roy Glasner; they outlined their business plan on a Cheesecake Factory napkin. DSI, with offices in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, has won more than a dozen national awards in the past year, including CEA’s 2010 Tech Home Integrator.