Genesis Associates, a British-based recruiting firm focusing in the sales, engineering, and creative sectors, recently surveyed employees to try to determine exactly how important incentives were in the workplace. Their findings were astounding. 85% of responding workers indicated that they do their
best work when an incentive is involved. That’s not just better work, or they work harder, that is their best. Don’t you want their best all the time? This survey adds to the proof that incentives are no longer an option but a necessity to maintaining a positive work environment. Of those surveyed, 73% indicated that their work atmosphere was good or very good during an incentive period. So what do you give employees to properly incentivize them? The survey also went into the incentive itself. They saw:
- 40% of employees wanted money
- 29% wanted a free vacation
- 23% wanted more paid time off
So how do you decide? Well, for one, keep the rewards consistent with your inventive program. If you give individual rewards (and depending on our audience)money, travel or PTO may be good options (although we prefer gift cards to cash). However, the British survey also indicated that 71% of respondents were also looking for team-based incentives. The “succeed together, fail together” motto drives employees to not only work hard but to work together to ensure organizational success as well as personal success. Team incentives can also help to engage the un-engageable, when feeling the encouragement of a group many tend to rise to the occasion because they don’t want to be the one to let their team down. Incentives used to consist of a plaque for a big work anniversary or a staff lunch around the holidays.
Now, incentives are a critical part of employee compensation and really need to be treated as such. Make the investment in your employees and maximize productivity at your organization through individual or team employee incentives.
