Unmotivated, unengaged employees can cost your dealership significantly. A few of the major reasons why employees become unmotivated are lack of engagement, no incentives, feeling unimportant, and the general daily or weekly slumps. Studies show that around 3 p.m., specifically 2:55 p.m., is the least productive time of the day, and Thursday and Friday are tied for businesses’ least productive days of the week.

While there are several steps your dealership can take to motivate employees during their least productive times, also consider focusing on ways to take advantage of times when employees are most motivated.

What Your Dealership Can Do to Create Motivation

Several ideas to spark motivation throughout the dealership will create a more productive and upbeat environment for your employees, and in turn, increase sales and engagement for your dealership. Try implementing some of the following to spur motivation and get your employees excited about day-to-day tasks:

Engage your employees. It’s been proven over and over again that disengaged employees cost your business money. Employees who don’t feel engaged end up costing their dealership an average of $3,400 for every $10,000 in annual salary. Disengaged employees also reduce earnings growth by up to 11% and operating income by up to 33%. So, it’s important to make sure you’re including employees in what’s going on with the dealership. Ask for employees’ input and make sure they know it’s good to get involved in social media and share content through their personal outlets. When employees feel engaged, they want to generate sales through their personal online accounts, receiving eight times more engagement than content shared through your dealership’s channels.

Take notice. Employees who feel like they’re contributing and their contributions are being acknowledged are more likely to stay at their dealership and maintain above-average productivity. Letting your employees know they’re doing a good job or even offering assistance to help them reach a goal often motivates them to continue striving for better results and stronger work. Giving employees confirmation they’re on the right track creates a sense of purpose and satisfaction, and it’s important that leaders in the dealership take notice and communicate, acknowledge, and offer confirmation.

Competition is healthy. A fun way to motivate employees is to offer incentives for meeting goals and rewards. Many businesses have implemented gamification in order to encourage engagement and foster a healthy atmosphere of competition. Consider motivating employees with prizes for sales successes, customer acquisitions, and other important dealership activities. Not only will you see friendly competition spark; you’ll also notice that employees are interacting and motivating each other.

Focus on the productive times. A study from Accountemps shows Monday and Tuesday are the most productive days of the week, while a study from londonservices.com shows around 10:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. are the most productive times of the day. Use the times when employees are most motivated to your dealership’s advantage. Monitor your staff and determine the most productive hours specific to your culture and dealership to enhance those times.

Keep track of your dealership’s customer engagement. It’s beneficial to have a system that keeps track of when your customers are engaging with your dealership most—whether that’s online or on the lot. This way you know what times of day it’s important to have the most employees freed up from other tasks and available to customers on the phone, online, and on the floor. Interacting with others is also a beneficial motivational tool for your employees. According to Economic Theorist Dr. Robert Akerlof, studies show social motivation facilitates cooperation within a network or business.

Create a team environment. Studies show there are benefits to feeling like a member of a group or community, and more specifically, that even simple relationships between people, for example in the workplace, increase feelings of motivation and problem-solving. A simple way to build this type of environment within your dealership is to have a weekly or monthly company lunch, host events for employees, or find team-building exercises to have employees participate in from time to time.

How to Take Advantage of the Proven Most Productive Times

It can also work to your dealership’s advantage to take focus off of the least productive times, and instead, focus on what days or times studies show employees are most motivated.

The most productive days of the week are Monday and Tuesday, and 39% of human resource managers believe employees get the most work done on Tuesdays. Use these days to your dealership’s advantage by focusing on large projects or preparation for a big event during employee motivation peaks.

Considering 4:15 p.m. is one of the most productive times of day—but is also so close to the end of a typical work day—it may not be a good idea to start on larger projects. Instead, think about using that time to brainstorm with employees on new ideas, improvements, or plans for the dealership, or have your employees wrap up loose ends and paperwork during this time of day.

Finding ways to motivate your employees and knowing the statistics relating to the most and least productive times can always work to your dealership’s advantage. Your dealership has nothing to lose by creating a social and motivational environment that engages your employees and ups your employees’ productiveness.