Q. A 25-year employee at a mid-sized company remarked, "I can remember when we were small enough that we had time for water cooler talk! Sometimes I wish we could go back a few years when everyone liked being here. Now, we seem to be more excited about our next raise rather than our next product launch!" According to Spotlight on Small Business Box, "Big Motivators for Small Business", small businesses seem to be better at motivating employees with open communication also more broad-based responsibilities, where employees exchange ideas also become generalists at illustrate what they do.