“Show your employees appreciation and let them know that they are valued.”
Why?
The number one reason people leave their job has nothing to do with the money they earn. For many, it boils down simply to the fact that they feel unappreciated and under-valued. Consider an employee incentive program to impact employee behaviour.
I know many professionals, even with top tier performance that feel like ‘they just can’t do enough’, even though they receive a regular bonus. How is this possible?
Call it what you will; incentive program, rewards and recognition, employee engagement, awards and incentives, premiums – the objectives are all the same. That is to encourage (and reward) specific behaviour and attitudes that will further the company’s goals.
When it comes to incentivizing employees to work harder, produce more and be happy while they do it comes down to one thing. Adequately motivating them to act in a particular way. What can be so hard about that?
“Adequately motivating them” aptly identifies the difficulty in setting up an incentive structure. This means that decision makers must decide what incentives will be offered to employees and managers in hopes of encouraging them to act a certain way that is beneficial to the organization. This alone may explain why only 27% of companies have a formal program in place.
Most companies agree that recognition programs are important but struggle with the details. What will the program look like? How will it be facilitated and managed? What should the budget be? What will the delivery mechanism look like? This is where Online Company Stores comes in. Custom online company stores provide an easy platform to manage promotional products, corporate apparel, uniforms and yes employee incentive programs.
Employee Incentive Program
One critical piece to ensure success is to provide a program with enough choice that it appeals to everyone. Consider this true story.
A sales manager wanted to reward his sales team for exceeding quarterly revenue and gross margin goals. He chose an extremely high end name brand jacket to express appreciation on behalf of the company. The jackets would be handed out during an awards ceremony. This particular sales team was predominantly male and for them this gift was highly regarded. However, for the two ladies that were part of the winning team, walking on stage in a men’s size much too large for them was more an embarrassment than reward. The managers heart was in the right place and with professional guidance a more suitable gift may have been chosen. At least the ladies equivalent would have gone a long way.
A points-based program where participants collect and redeem points for rewards is one approach. For example;
- Branded and non-branded merchandise – high quality name brand jackets, polos, luggage, electronics, jewelery or watches.
- Why not sprinkle in non-monetary rewards – like flexible work hours, educational training, day off etc.
*73% of respondents agree that merchandise provided a more memorable program as opposed to cash rewards.
But there are several other factors that contribute to the how and why many well-intentioned programs fall off the rails.
There are many different types of rewards programs, Years of Service being the most basic and simple to start with. With distribution rights to over 300 brands and a catalog of over 4,000 carefully curated rewards, Proforma SI offers the most diverse portfolio of best-selling merchandise and digital rewards from categories such as electronics. fashion, travel, home appliances, decor, and much more. From Apple to Zippo, our team will guide your team through product selection for each milestone according to your budget and preferences.
An employee incentive program, has many moving parts if it is going to be a success. Creating, managing and communicating the program will require commitment and buy in from the highest level in the organization.
Often thrust into the hands of the HR department to solve, more is needed. Don’t get me wrong, HR is a good place to start and they are typically the driving the force, however without intense buy in from the very top it, the program will not reach its full potential.
Speaking from my own experience, I have worked for many organization’s over the years. Some did a really good job of recognizing employee contribution and those that well….missed the mark completely.
In fact, I am living testimony that a high paying job alone is not reason to stay. I am one of the above statistics.
Proforma SI can guide you through every step of developing and managing a successful incentive program. We have outlined some discussion questions to get you started and you can download it now.
Download your free copy of our e-Book “Employee Engagement Ideas”
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