Many companies spend an awful amount of resources and focus on trying to motivate their employees. This is of course I theory a great thing which should benefit employees. There is however one thing every company should look into before looking at how to motivate:

What are we doing which demotivate people?

Are there hurdles in our organization which prevents people from doing their job? Is there something we’re doing which drive people nuts? Having leaders who recognize and remove obstacles which are making employees frustrated is the best thing you can do to motivate.
Spend time analyzing your company and talk to them about what drives them crazy. This is more important to them and will make them happier in the long run than any gimmicks.

A counter argument I often hear when uttering this viewpoint is that some people aren’t motivated by work alone and need gimmicks to be motivated. The question then becomes: why spend time motivating those who aren’t motivated by work? Are those the ones who have a big impact in your company?

Stop making people loose their motivation, remove obstacles which are preventing them from doing their job. That should be your strategy for making employees motivated.