Recognize, Incent, Reward…and Inspire Your Employees
At GCP, we typically blog about how gift cards are being used to incent and motivate employees, customers, or partners, as well as trends around incentives. However, this article by Roy Saunderson of the
Recognition Management Institute has motivated me to highlight the importance of not just recognizing and rewarding your employees, but… inspiring them. “How do we get them to commit their hearts and spirits to the mission of the company?” Roy asks…we love his answers and we hope they inspire you to truly influence the workplace in a meaningful way all year long. Click here to read:
Incentive Magazine’s, 10 Ways to Inspire Employees at Year End
Targeting Smaller Workplace Incentives as a Strategy
In this slow recovering economy, trends in the incentive industry are leaning towards caution and scaled back rewards programs. Safety rewards, which used to garner large incentive travel programs, or other large rewards, are now are being scaled back to much smaller incentive rewards programs. According to the latest Incentive Research Foundation survey, incentive rewards program administrators' confidence levels are down to lows not seen since 2008. The survey indicated the following specifically about travel rewards programs:
Employee engagement is down...what does this mean for your business?
It is widely known and accepted that employee engagement is critical to productivity and improving your company's bottom line. As 2011 draws to a close and we look to 2012, and a (hopefully) improving job market, employment agency Randstad released some concerning numbers this week. In their annual "Employee Attachment Index" survey, which measures employee-employer attachment, it appears that employee engagement is decreasing and that many employees are looking to move on, as soon as the market is more stable.
Are Year-End Rewards Coming Back?
As the economy starts to recover and 2011 comes to a close, more employers are bringing back the year-end reward. This often comes in the form of a bonus or a small gift. These types of rewards had tapered off during the recent recession, but are now coming back to the workplace. According to a new Careerbuilder.com survey, 40% more employers are planning to give bonuses this year, which is a 7% increase from 2010. What is almost more compelling is that 73% of that group is giving the same amount of year-end reward as last year, with 14% of employers giving an increased reward from 2010. This survey and similar research have proven that simple rewards are appreciated and motivating to employees. 81% of employees think that rewards are a nice thing to do for employees but should not be expected, so giving small simple rewards such as small bonuses, or a small denomination gift card, will still provide the motivation and desired outcome employers are looking for. So, as 2011 winds down, make your employees a priority in planning for 2012 and let them know how much they matter to your company.
To learn more about the comeback of year-end rewards check out the ThomasNet News article.
Making Rewards Work
When rewarding employees it is important to be as effective as possible. Here are some tips from the Washington Post on making rewards work for you AND your employees.
Find out what rewards are attractive to your employees- giving employees a reward they actually want and can use will be more effective than a reward that the company wants to give (tools like
surveymonkey.com allow employees to answer anonymously)
Explain to people how rewards are determined- making the rewards process clear to employees is key in making rewards an effective tool (placing guidelines and performance structure in the employee handbook puts the criteria in writing)
Distribute rewards in a fair way- if the distribution system is not fair it can ruin the employees opinion of the rewards program, and the company (making the earning criteria for rewards clear will always make the system seem fair)
Provide rewards in a timely manner- providing rewards as quickly as possible makes employees appreciate them more, spot rewards (small, instant rewards such as a small denomination gift card) can be very effective
Use rewards to reinforce constructive behaviors- rewards should both reinforce desired behavior and motivate employees to repeat it
Consider flexibility- employee backgrounds can differ significantly, so it is important that rewards vary accordingly. Having a variety of gift card brands provides convenience for the employer and choice to the employee
Vary the awards- vary external rewards such as gifts and bonuses, with internal rewards such as autonomy and varied projects (indicating these options in the reward criteria will make employees aware of their options)
Periodically check employees’ perceptions- this ensures your rewards program remains effective (
surveymonkey.com, and other similar tools can be helpful for this as well)
