Motivating Employees _ Bringing Out the Best in Your People - Barry Silverstein [22]
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CASE FILE
TRUE PERSONALIZATION
Marc Albin, CEO of Albin Engineering Services, Inc., believes his employees want to be recognized for different things, depending on their personal qualities, talents, and interests. He believes each person is different and therefore has different hot buttons.
At the end of orientation sessions, Albin e-mails each new employee and asks how he or she likes to be rewarded. Albin says his unconventional approach helps him understand what his employees “think of themselves and their abilities.”
SOURCE: “Managing One-to-One” by Leigh Buchanan, Inc. Magazine (October 2001).
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“We Do Enough for Our Employees”
Some organizations think their employees should be grateful to have jobs and to be fairly compensated for them. Additional incentives above and beyond pay and basic benefits are unnecessary, the thinking goes.
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Dos & Don’ts
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ESTABLISHING A REWARDS SYSTEM
The wrong approach to a rewards system can backfire. Paying attention to these tips should help you motivate your employees and recognize their achievements:
Do create a rewards system that is closely linked to your organization’s priorities.
Do recognize and reward the efforts of average employees as well as outstanding efforts by top performers.
Do ensure fairness and objectivity.
Do give impromptu rewards to keep employees from regarding rewards as entitlements.
Do allow employees to weigh in on the rewards system through surveys and focus groups.
Don’t exclude anyone from your rewards system by setting the bar too high.
Don’t assume that money is the only motivator that works.
Don’t implement a rewards system without associating recognition with rewards.
Don’t create a rewards system that is too rigid to be sustained over time.
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In such organizations, employee motivation is apt to be low and the turnover rate high. Investing in even a modest rewards system can have a marked impact on productivity and employee retention. In fact, in some business environments, potential employees will look elsewhere if your level of benefits is not on a par with what other companies in the field are offering.
SETTING UP A SYSTEM
In devising your rewards system, input from your employees is essential. Equally important, the system should be instituted consistently throughout the company. It should not only provide a way to reward worthy recipients on a regular basis but also allow for spontaneous recognitions. Surprising employees with occasional unanticipated rewards keeps the system fresh. As a result, employees will tend to view the rewards less as an entitlement and more as a privilege.
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Plan B
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WHEN REWARDS DON’T WORK
Rewards generally do not work when management misuses them. Recognition that is disingenuous or overdone can backfire. An “employee of the month” award can be ridiculed if it is not well deserved. Bonuses that are handed out to everyone at the same time each year may become perceived as entitlements and lose their effectiveness as rewards.
Be sure to keep rewards meaningful, special, and—at times—unexpected.
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Whether impromptu or planned-for, all rewards must be distributed with fairness and objectivity. Individuals, teams, departments, divisions, and entire organizations can be recognized, but for most employees, singling out only a handful of organizational celebrities on a consistent basis tends to defeat the purpose of the rewards program.
A rewards system can have formal or informal levels of recognition as appropriate to specific accomplishments. Recognition itself can play an important role in the system if managers are taught effective ways to show appreciation. A face-to-face thank you, public praise, a handwritten note, or other impromptu gestures are legitimate ways to reward employees