Sales Incentives Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Employee Loyalty’

“Employee Incentive Programs”: Do they work?

Employees need to be motivated to perform well. Every now and then they should be spoken to and appreciated, this will make them happy and they will stay focused. There are various ways to motivate employees and one of them is employee incentive programs. It is a very good way to motivate employees.

The main aim of employee incentive programs is to make the employees happy and feel they are part of the company. Appreciation can help employees go a long way and also assist them in doing their work properly. Employee incentives can be of different types such as cash, bonus, rewards – for example – providing a cell phone etc.

Cash is a very good way to motivate employees and in today’s world nothing works like cash. Companies have used cash in employee incentive programs for many years. The employee incentive program should be the same for every new employee in the company and it should be different for old employees. Old employees not only look at incentives, they also seek appreciation, which would motivate them and make them feel secure.

All the employees should like the employee incentive program. It would be best if they are asked about their thoughts on the incentive programs and then if the employee incentive programs are implemented according to the employees wishes it would motivate them to work even harder.

Apart from employee incentive programs, appreciation now and then is a very good way to motivate people. Small words like “Thank you”, “Great work” etc would motivate the employees. Going for skating, bowling, and watching movies once in a while is a good way to build teams.

The incentive programs should not be changed often. The employee incentive programs should not only be for the sales team, it should also be designed for all the staff in other departments too. If sales persons were provided with employee incentive schemes then other department staff would also demand some incentives. The employee incentive scheme should fit all the departments.

Incentives or gifts on birthdays would also boost the morale and motivate the employees. Every employee would love to have something more than a paycheck; and if they know that they can get that extra, they will go the extra mile to achieve it. For every employee cash might not be a motivating factor, so it is best to judge the employees preference and then reward the person. You should also provide the necessary freedom and motivate the employees whenever you get the opportunity.

“Employee Attendance Incentives”

Employees have been known to take excessive days off leading to production problems for many companies. One of the solutions is employee attendance incentives. These are usually rewards given to employees as an incentive to limit their absences from work to a specified number of days.

The perceived benefits of employee attendance incentives are to give the employee some control over their income, and give them a greater sense of responsibility for their jobs. They are also meant to stimulate the employee to work harder than they might otherwise and perhaps find a more effective way to get people to go to work more consistently.

However the employee attendance incentive has to be something of value to the employees it is meant to motivate. Without a sense of value, the desire to do better will not be there and attendance will not improve.

Many companies run employee attendance incentive programs on a quarterly basis to retain interest year round. They realize that if you run the program yearly, many employees will loose interest before the end of the year and the program will not achieved have the desired results.

Control over income is a persuasive argument for employee attendance incentives. However this motivation is only temporary, since money is an ineffective long term motivator for a lot of people. Also employees have little ability in reality to alter their behavior significantly in order to affect their earning potential. However employee attendance incentives are meant to provide employees with a motivating factor to avoid unnecessary absenteeism. They are meant as rewards for reducing absenteeism.

The types of incentive programs used by companies are numerous. Some popular employee attendance incentives are things like cash bonuses, gift certificates, travel rewards and big ticket items such as electronics. Some companies allow employees to cash-in unused sick days at the end of every quarter, others give an employee two hours of bonus pay for every month of perfect attendance; and still others provide employees with a buffet lunch, a certificate of achievement, or even a scratch-off card concealing prizes.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that the employee attendance incentive program that is used should be catered to your company and employees. This is easily accomplished by allowing employees to help you develop the incentive program. Furthermore, their participation in the inception of this employee attendance incentive may very well be a motivator in and of itself.

The duration of the employee attendance incentive program is also vital, and allowing your employees to help determine the length of time between incentives. Some companies find that simply rewarding employees with perfect attendance once a year works for them, while others decide once a month suits their situation better, and still others decide once quarterly or even once a week works best.

The general rule of thumb is to reward workers more frequently the younger they are and the more difficult the work is to perform, however knowing your employees is what best determines what duration to put on your employee attendance incentive program. Also, it is best to start with small incentives and work up to larger ones if necessary, since if you start with the larger ones, what more can you add to make the employee attendance incentive program more attractive after the novelty has worn off?