It has been researches that most of the organizations do not reward their employees well, the reward that they deserve, and the value that they should get. Manage performance and track outcomes in today’s tough economic climate, businesses are searching for more creative ways to generate profits. The age-old strategies of focusing purely on the numbers are no longer effective. Smart companies realize there is untapped profitability in a resource they already have – their employees.
Employees have the potential to maximize profits in ways that number crunching never will.Recognition and rewards can be anything from verbal praise and acknowledgement, trophies, employee of the month programs, financial bonuses, tickets, experiences and perhaps the most sought after reward, trips.
But for an incentive program to work, a company must be committed to seeing it through. Companies that have successful programs follow five basic concepts:
Be Strategic
Companies that offer rewards that directly tie in to their own mission see results. An example of this is a company selling whirligigs gives a bonus to not only the team that sells the most whirligigs, but also to the team that develops new whirligig clients. Manage your entire performance to develop a good strategy if you are one of the top managements.
Be Personal
Companies at their core are made of people. Give people a chance to express themselves in programs they care about and reward them for doing it. Recognition for the department that puts in the most hours for The Special Olympics is an example even better if that company manufactures athletic shoes.
Be Flexible
Employees are all different, so celebrate those differences. Give employees choices in the ways they can make a difference such as choosing to bike to work or adopting an urban garden and then give them a choice of reward as well. A stressed-out mom may love a massage, the mechanic may want to see his name on the company sign and a dad may jump at the chance to take his family to Disney.
Be Simple
Make your program easy and one in which everyone can participate. Create easy to understand benchmarks that contribute to your overall company goals such as entire departments turning off their computers when they leave or ride sharing programs. Manage your entire performance and the performance of the employees as well.
Be Intentional
An incentive program that is thrown together will not last. And a lasting campaign is the most effective. Commit to an overall program that employees can buy in to, knowing there are real and track able records, Manage performance and track outcomes could be easy then.
A company’s most valuable asset is their employees. Smart companies invest in their employees using rewards, incentives and recognition programs. And they, in turn, are rewarded with low turnover rates, higher productivity and higher customer satisfaction which all contribute to the best benefit of all higher profits.
