Let employees see your concern Take an interest in your employees. Try to engage each one of them in a brief conversation each day. It makes them feel part of the corporate family. Motivate with positive reinforcement Generally, people will do what you ask them to do. So, when you want employees to perform in a certain way, make sure you tell them explicitly and specifically what it is you want them to do.
Chances are, they'll do it.
Try participative leadership Along with positive reinforcement comes participative leadership. If you want to be an effective motivator of minimum wage workers, you need to be willing to train them by showing them how to do the task yourself. Managers who aren't willing to roll up their sleeves and participate as part of a team effort don't keep their teams together very long. Use a mentorship system At the university where I teach, we're firm believers in a mentorship system for our student employees. We find that often students learn faster, and retain skills better, when they're learning from their peers.