The best ways to motivate employees in 2026 are much the same as they were 50 years ago, but many employers continue to rely on tactics that have "zero" long-term impact, according to a performance specialist.
High anxiety rates among younger employees are now having a major impact on both the feedback managers give to teams, and how it's received, a leadership specialist says.
Encouraging employees to use AI without teaching them how to do so properly won't just compromise the development of new skills, but will cause existing skills to atrophy, a workplace thought leader warns.
The "silly season" can be a hectic time for all employees, and especially for working parents, but it is possible to maintain high performance without burning out, a mental skills coach says.
Employees feel more rewarded for their work when they can perform at their best, and that requires a return to strengths-based development, according to an expert in human flourishing.
When people start "editing" their commitments, responsibilities and inputs, "not out of guilt but out of focus", they become more effective, respected and fulfilled, a productivity expert says.
Paying employees fairly is an obvious starting point when addressing the psychosocial hazard of inadequate reward and recognition, but employers shouldn't overlook the simple step of expressing feedback and appreciation, a wellbeing specialist says.
"Human resources could have intervened more effectively" when an employee's concerns about her performance rating continued to escalate, the Fair Work Commission has found.
Organisations that hold their people accountable are more likely to sustain revenue growth, but accountability should be driven by leaders, not HR, new research suggests.
After an inaugural survey revealed how much its people "wanted to have a say", an employer has won an award for its culture and achieved significant lifts in key engagement metrics.
