One of the biggest demands we face as managers is that of motivating our subordinates to work together. While it's difficult enough to motivate the experienced, career worker, many supervisors find themselves especially perplexed when it comes to encouraging production from minimum wage employees--people who tend to be younger, less experienced, and less inspired to stick with the job as part of their career path.

There are a lot of these workers to be motivated every day, too. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 5.7 million U.S. adults earning at or below the prevailing minimum wage. These employees constitute a large segment of the working population--more than 9 percent of the nation's total "hourly worker" population is working today for minimum wage.

Some managers just "write off" the whole issue of motivation when it comes to minimum wage workers. They expect--and plan for--high turn-over among their minimum wage staff. They refer to minimum wage employees as "grunts"... they refuse to offer these employees professional recognition commensurate with other workers... they may even resist allowing minimum wage workers to socialize with the rest of the subordinate staff.

This treatment, I believe, has come about because we tend to expect less from minimum wage workers based simply on the fact that they're paid less than others whom we employ. We've conditioned ourselves to believe that these workers cannot be adequately motivated to perform well- -and, thus, we presume that we should just tolerate whatever performance level we get from them as long as they show up for work and don't cause trouble.

My experience as a manager of minimum wage workers, however, has demonstrated that this kind of short-sighted attitude won't serve anyone well. It doesn't encourage the minimum wage worker to produce well or to remain long within the organization. It discourages other employees from producing well because it establishes an unspoken double standard about company expectations. And, it does a dis-service to the organization by setting the stage for high turn-over, overall employee dissatisfaction and high levels of subordinate "burn out."

The minimum wage worker can be motivated. It's a difficult task and there are no easy answers. But here's some suggestions that have worked well for me in the water conditioning business--and continue to work well in my direction of student staff in a large regional university broadcasting and communications program:

Let employees participate in decision-making

The people in your business who actually do the work are often best qualified to judge how it should be done. Let them have a voice in making decisions. This is not to suggest that you should let them have the final say--after all, you are the manager. But their input is important. Not only will they provide you with good suggestions, but they will feel a part of the process (which is critical if you want to maintain high morale among your subordinates).

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. These days in many customer service businesses, a lot of the minimum wage route driver and warehouse/plant personnel positions are being filled by people who don't speak much English--and you may not speak fluent Spanish! But a friendly "hello" every morning, a smiling face, and a pat on the back transcend all language barriers... they'll do wonders to show the minimum wage worker you care.

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. It sounds simple--but there are so many managers who spend all their time trying to manage people by telling them what not to do: "Don't do that!"... "Stop doing this!"... "Don't ever do that!"... et cetera. Extensive research into human behavior has shown that people respond to this negative reinforcement in a negative way--after a while, they start looking for ways to subvert everything the negative-reinforcement supervisor says or does. Why would you allow that to happen? Why make things more difficult than they have to be? If you want an employee to do something for you, just say so--politely, but firmly. Chances are, they'll do it.

Try participative leadership

Along with positive reinforcement comes participative leadership. Behavior studies have found that people learn best when they are mentally and physically active toward a task... in other words, someone shows them how to do it. 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 a university where I once taught, we were firm believers in a mentorship system for our student employees. We assigned our advanced student broadcasters to work with less-experienced students, and train those less-experienced workers in the techniques they needed on the job in our broadcast center. We found that students learned faster and retained skills better when they were learning from their peers. Also, we found the system built camaraderie among the student staff.

A mentorship system works well in the private sector, too--as long as you make sure that the more experienced employees are passing along valuable skills to the new recruits (and not passing along traits you don't want to see repeated!). A mentorship system is also something that will work well if you have employees who speak little English. Assigning those minimum wage workers to a senior employee "mentor" who speaks their native tongue will assure that the new employees have a good role model to follow... and that they will be able to communicate effectively with the rest of the staff.

Little rewards go a long way

So many employers think that rewarding employees has to be expensive. Not so! When I worked in the water conditioning industry in California, it was our office policy to have a little party for each employee on their birthday--complete with a cake and soft drinks (occasionally, ice cream, too--depending on how much money we had in petty cash!). It wasn't a big expense item, and it didn't take a lot of time away from the working day. Once a year we took everyone (and their "significant other") out to dinner at a nice restaurant. We also bought each driver a new pair of boots every few months... and bought sweatshirts, gloves, hats and other items that they could use on- and off- the job. We made sure the secretaries had comfortable chairs, plenty of coffee--and donuts on Fridays!

These kinds of things didn't cost much, and attending to them didn't take up a lot of my time as a manager. But they made workers (especially lower-paid minimum wage people, some of whom had few family members in this country) feel cared for and important. It made their working experience more pleasurable and productive. And that, in turn, made our company work better.

Guide the minimum wage worker toward a career

It's important, too, for you as manager to show the direction the minimum wage worker needs--to sort our whether he (or she) should stay with your company and pursue a career in your professional field. So many minimum wage workers are recent high school graduates, and unsure about where they're going. Others are college students who may be undecided about career options. They may be new in this country, or have just had a couple of bad employment experiences in the recent past. They may have talents and abilities that would be of great value to your company and your profession--if they were encouraged to consider a career in the field. Taking time to give that encouragement will benefit your firm and your profession.

The minimum wage worker may not make the most important decisions or do the most important jobs within your business. But this worker is still important because your accomplishments hinge upon his (or her) success.

If you'll follow these suggestions, and raise your minimum wage workers' expectations (instead of lowering them) you'll be doing a great service for your workers, yourself, and your company.