A Corporate incentive program can assure motivation in the workplace

Is your corporate incentive program effective?

Corporate incentive programs are effective ways to create motivation in the workplace.  Motivation in the workplace is what provides your return on investment for your investment in skilled staff.  There are basically two reasons to have a corporate incentive program.  First, there is on-the-spot recognition of a job well done.  Second, there is the company’s desire to engage employees in sustained behavior change.  Employee engagement requires an investment in people, establishment of a process and improved, positive communication.

What you should expect from a corporate incentive program

When tough times are upon us, more pressure is put on employees to perform, longer hours are expected, and the threat of being let go tends to have no boundaries.  Employees feel the push to spend more time, do harder work, have fewer co-workers for support, and see less return in their paychecks.  American business has been that way for the past two decades or so. It is a scary time for employees as well as the businesses that employ them.

What your employees are seeking for motivation in the workplace

What employees look for, whether they even realize it or not, is positive recognition of their efforts.  Without it, employees are left to their own feelings that no matter what they do, it does not really matter in the long run.  A corporate incentive program can go a long way in helping employees feel valued, as well as finding motivation in the workplace.  In a business climate where loyalty and commitment from an employer is getting tough to manage, that is exactly what employees want.

What your company is looking for

If you haven’t adopted a corporate incentive program to provide motivation in the workplace, then you need to consider it.  The return on investment (ROI) of such programs is without debate.  If you do have one, then a review of what it is accomplishing, versus what it is intended to accomplish, is warranted.  In these lean times, if you do not have an incentive plan in place, it can be an investment that you can ill afford.  Still, find a way to recognize exceptional work.  Use either time or award certificates.  Everyone likes to have his or her hard work recognized.

Typical set-ups of a corporate incentive program

A corporate incentive program is usually established with two methods of recognition in place.  First, manager-to-peer reviews allow a manager to put on paper observations concerning the productivity and success against goals of a staff member.  Second, peer-to-peer reviews are valuable where teamwork and cooperation is involved in the workday.  Sometimes positive recognition from a peer can be of a higher value to an employee that recognition from a manager who may be one step removed and detached from the day-to-day work the employee does.  Of course, these two methods are not mutually exclusive and can work well as elements of a general review of performance.  It is possible and often valuable to do both.  Companies should begin by detailing how each of the incentive program features will best suit their audience of employees.

What an incentive program needs to include

The real reason for a corporate incentive program (also discussed on our November, 2007 newsletter) is to be effective at bringing out motivation in the workplace and keeping the right people, (from September, 2008 newsletter) it must include all the behavior that should be recognized in any annual review including:

• employee motivation
• job skills and skill expansion efforts
• a demonstrated understanding of goals
• effective teamwork
• an ability to objectively measure and report progress

Measurements should include those against company goals and also those against personal goals.  Also, just because an incentive program works for one company does not mean it will work in yours.  You must include in your guidelines those items that are part of, and important to, the success of your company.

Focus on profitability for the company

Tailor your program to mutual interests of the company and the employee.  For example, one mutually common goal is having employees working on making themselves promotable.  Employees striving to become more effective sales people are practicing another mutually common goal.  Your incentive program needs to have several pre-determined elements.  That is why a detailed review of what features best suits the company should be done first.  Before proceeding with a plan,

• Define the rules
• Define objective measurements and metrics that declare “success”
• Define progress reporting and mentoring should be in review communication
• Define suitable rewards, significant enough to bring about long-term behaviors
• Define the type of rewards.

All people receive “payment” in 1 of 3 ways

People say there are really only three ways to be compensated.  It is up to everyone to decide on his or her balance.  All people receive their payment either by:

• Money
• Time
• Recognition

Some people work only for money. They do not care about awards or time they have to spend.  They will spend all the time needed in order to amass wealth at the expense of anything else.

Some people work so they can enjoy their time. They only want enough money to assure their comfort and ability to spend their leisure time in the way they want.  What excites them most is freedom to have more leisure time.

Some people want only recognition. These people are the volunteers who will do anything, how ever long, so they can get another award or plaque for the wall.  They do not want or need money; they only want people to think better of them.

All people have a balanced combination of these three motivators and you need to consider how your people wish to be paid.  Gaining balance is a major part of facilitating motivation in the workplace and it is the key to successful programs. Recognition is a major part of motivation, and motivation is a major part of economic success for any company.  Use cash awards when you can, but also consider time off and award recognition as viable alternatives for providing employee incentives.