When you have your head down doing a job day in and day out, you oftentimes lose perspective of what it is that you are doing. I had been doing my job for so many years that I have to admit that I was on autopilot - going through my day with little more thought than driving down a straight highway. I knew what to do and how to do it and that was all I thought about - nothing more and nothing less. Incentive programs, however, changed all that.

When our company instituted an employee recognition program, I had no idea what it was or how it worked. I know it sounded good but I thought it was just another way for management to say “thank you” without it really meaning anything. We had gone several years without bonuses but the economy was what it was and I was just happy to have a job to be honest. The employee program, however, turned out to be so much more than I thought it was.

So here’s how it worked. Management put together a goal board and told us what they were trying to accomplish over the next several months. They broke it down into short term goals and long term goals - achieving such and such over the next couple of weeks means meeting this monthly goal and meeting this monthly goal means putting us in the position of reaching our yearly goal and so on. Of course a great year for the company meant bonuses and jobs for us so we were all for it, plus it was nice to see - on paper - what we were all working to achieve. Then they told us about the incentives that we would be eligible for if we reached particular goals and that’s where things got really interesting. More in the next post…

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In the last post, I talked about the tremendous growth of my company and how happy I was to have seen it flourish over the years. The downside, if there had to be one, however, was that I was less in touch with my employees. While we used to be a small but solid team that worked together shoulder to shoulder in the trenches everyday, today we were a spread out by size. My company had tripled in size over of the years and while this was amazing from a business perspective, I had to admit it made me miss the old days in terms of the personal relationships I had with my employees.

I had taken steps to make things better by reaching out to my employees in a number of ways and one of those ways was through the employee incentives program that I put in place. Through a rewards program, I could set and define the goals that I wanted employees (and the company at large) to reach. By reaching these important goals, employees would then be eligible to choose prize incentives from the rewards program that we set up.

The employee program has been amazing on so many levels and has brought about great change in our company. The benefits have included:

A change in morale. A bigger company is harder to gage in terms of employee morale day to day. When morale is high, however, a positive spirit pervades the entire organization and that is what we were seeing everyday.

Higher production. It’s not a surprise that happier employees mean better production. They come to work ready to do the job and they are excited about the goals they can reach and what they can accomplish both individually and as a team.

Reconnection. I had found that our employee recognition program had opened a dialogue again between me and my employees. It wasn’t just about the job anymore; we were connected through something fun and meaningful to everyone.

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When you have a small company it’s par for the course to see most if not all of your employees throughout the course of one day - to say hello to them, to catch up, to see them face to face and stay connected. I took that for granted when my company was small. We were like a family ourselves, in the trenches building this business and spending more time together than we actually did with our own families at home. It was hard work but I treasure those time because I had a relationship with my employees that went beyond business.

Today it’s harder. My company has grown by leaps and bounds and I’m thankful for that. There is, however, always a price to pay for growth and my price has been the disconnection from my employees on a personal level. Sure, we see each other from time to time but it’s not the same as it once was and it’s unfortunate in a lot of ways. I decided to do something about it and I’ve really made an effort to put more events on the table - making sure that we get together and do things that are beyond business. This was a family business to start and for me it will always be a family business.

One of the other things that I did was to institute employee incentives - a program that rewards my employees for particular goals that they reach. This has been fruitful on a lot of different levels but, for me, the great part about it has been the ability to connect with my employees again over something that is fun, motivational and companywide. In the next post I’ll talk about the benefits that our employee program has brought to the table for our company…

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In the last post we talked about how our company was growing by leaps and bounds, after being the underdog for so many years. The economy had changed things and now, while other - bigger - companies were closing up shop, we were able to take the steps that we needed to grow our business. As more work came our way, we were able to bring on additional employees and this growing staff meant different challenges for our company. We needed to make sure that we put very detailed operations in place to ensure that we were able to keep pace with our growth and an employee program was one of the things that we did right off the bat.

Our employee program, as we discussed earlier, allowed us to provide incentives for new employees and keep turnover at a minimum, provide motivation for existing employees and give ourselves the opportunity, as a company, to discuss and identify the goals that were most important to us going forward. Some other benefits of our employee recognition program include:

Promoting teamwork throughout the company. Because our employees essentially work in teams in order to get particular projects completed, there is a certain amount of cooperation needed to reach some of the goals that we have set forth. Achieving a level of accomplishment that gives employees the option of choosing from our incentive programs means making sure that everyone in the group is pulling their weight.

Improving morale all around. It is important that our employees know that we are listening to them and that their work means something to us. Our employee program is one way in which we can communicate this message.

Improving production. With so many people working so hard towards common goals it only makes sense that production should increase in our company and it has.

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We were mostly considered a dark horse in our industry; the new kid on the block that couldn’t hold a candle to the big guys - the established companies with the huge staff that had been in the game for decades. The economy, however, had leveled the playing field and suddenly we found ourselves very much in the game as companies bigger than ours closed their doors. We flew under the radar and were already operating on a shoestring budget when the economy got really bad. This meant that we were somehow able to survive and even continue to grow and as a result we were able to bring on more employees. This was when we first established our employee program; something that gave us the tools that we needed to further grow our company from the inside out. The reasons that we chose an employee recognition program included:

We were growing at a fast rate and this included bringing on additional employees almost on a monthly basis. If we weren’t careful we were going to face possible turnover. We needed to make sure that every new employee was properly trained and given the opportunity to earn incentives for a job well done.

We knew that a rewards program would give us the ability to offer incentives to our existing employees as well as our newest employees. By setting up a tiered employee incentives program we could give our entire employee base the motivation they needed to achieve spectacular goals.

We needed to be able to discuss and identify the company’s goals. With so much going on and so much growth happening on a daily basis, things could get scattered easily. Having an employee program in place gave us a reason to discuss goals and priorities and articulate those objectives to our employees.

More in the next post…

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There is so much to consider when you open a business; you have to look short term as well as long term and it often gets overwhelming to keep track of the many details. The details, however, are crucial for survival; every piece of the puzzle must be accounted for, so to speak, in order to know where you have started and where you need to go - as well as gauging your level of success along the way. When I opened my business I put many things on the back burner, so to speak. I figured there was only so much that I could handle in terms of time and finances and there were things that were going to have to wait. A rewards program, however, was not one of them; I built my employee recognition program right along with my business.

There were definitely things that I didn’t know about running a business but this much I did know: my employees were going to determine the success and long term health of my company. Anything that I did to promote a healthy morale in my workplace was going to pay off for me along the way; I wanted a company where employees enjoyed coming to work and where they felt that their ideas were met with respect and their hard work was appreciated. Incentive programs are fantastic ways to communicate with employees on another level; their work means something and does, in fact, bring them rewards over and above their salaries.

Through our employee program we established short and long term goals for employees that coordinated to particular prize incentives. We definitely started out small because our budget wasn’t big but we have grown the employee recognition program right along with the business, expanding it as we have more money to invest.

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In the last post I talked about how I had been involved with an employee program back when I worked for one my old employers. I had long since lost the passion for doing my particular job but the fact that my employer gave us the opportunity to earn prizes over and above our salary and benefits - and great prizes at that - kept me around for much longer than I think I would have ordinarily stayed. Now that I was running my own business, I had made the decision to implement an employee program. We put together those goals that we wanted to achieve in the coming year - goals that could be achieved by all levels of employees in our company - from sales figures to production numbers - and assigned particular prize incentives to each goal. As I said previously, my budget was strict at that time but it didn’t stop me from choosing interesting but affordable prize incentives for my employees. I knew that I could adjust the prizes as my budget grew; that was one of the best things about such a program.

Now, six months into the program I am here to tell you how happy I am to have made the decision to go for it. We are a relatively small company with great dreams of expansion. I want to have my core people around me to see this company flourish under their knowledgeable protection. I know the way to keep great talent is to respect and acknowledge their work and I’ve made every effort to do that - both in the way I interact with and talk to my employees and through the compensation that I offer them - their salary, their benefits, and now, the participation in our companywide employee recognition program. Putting this program into place will always be one of the best decisions I made as a company owner.

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This is not the first time I have been involved with an employee program. Back when I worked for someone else, rather than ran my own company, I was a participant in an employee recognition program. I wasn’t very happy in my career at the time, but I hung in there much longer than I think I would have because of the rewards program. I felt like my employers were at least making an effort to reward our hard work and I loved being able to win great prizes. It kept me working hard and fast even when my passion for what I was doing had long since evaporated. Now that I run my own business I always look for ways to reward the work of my employees. I know that an employee program can’t stand on its own for the long haul. Employees want to be feel acknowledged by their employers, not just a program that is put in place. I make a real effort to tell my employees how much I value their work and I pay close attention to salaries. I just felt that this method of management - combined with a really great rewards program - would go a long way towards a successful company.

That’s when I made the decision to include an employee recognition program in my day-to-day operations. I, along with my management team, sat down and identified those goals that we wanted to see reached as a company. We then communicated those goals to our employees along with the introduction of the employee recognition program - attaching prize incentives to the reaching of particular goals. In the beginning, I didn’t have a large budget so I kept the prize incentives relatively modest but still chose things that I thought my employees would like the chance to win.

More in the next post…

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In the last post we talked about some of the reasons that companies - in all industries - choose to implement an employee recognition program. The benefits can be extraordinary - to both the employees who participate in the program as well as the company as a whole. Company ownership and management are able to communicate the goals that they would like to see met; program participants are then able to work towards those goals with a clear understanding of what they stand to win by meeting those objectives. In the end, employees are recognized for their hard work with something substantial and of value. Employees who are valued are more likely to work hard for their company and are less likely to leave. The payoff for the company, of course, is a happy, motivated, enthusiastic workforce, increased production as a result, and lower turnover in the long run.

Setting up an employee recognition program, as we discussed, involves determining what goals are to be set, which employees are eligible to participate, and what prize incentives they wish to offer through the program. This all comes down to knowing your employees and picking those prize incentives that are most interesting and ultimately coveted enough to strive towards winning. Some other things to keep in mind when setting up an employee recognition program include:

The company that you choose to work with. Do you want a company that sets things up and lets you run with it? Or do you want more hands-on management; a team that can manage the day-to-day of the program? Be sure to determine what you really want and communicate those needs to any company that you consider.

Remember that a successful program grows and changes alongside a company. Don’t just pick your prize incentives and be done with it. Reexamine your goals going forward, change what needs to be changed and freshen up the prize incentives to keep employees engaged in interested.

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It’s no secret that an employee program can have an enormously positive impact on those businesses that chose to implement them. Employees themselves certainly are bound to feel as if their employer is invested in their hard work and their efforts are being rewarded by something that is more than just the standard salary and benefit package. Employee recognition programs can benefit employees as well as companies as a whole that see results in improved employee morale, higher production rates, lower turnover, and a happier, more enthusiastic workplace. So how do companies know how to choose an appropriate employee program and how do they go about implementing it into their everyday operations?

There are certainly many incentive programs from which to choose. Ultimately, finding the right program is a matter of personal choice. You need to know your company and you need to know your employees. It is up to you to choose the benchmarks for prize incentive eligibility. Do you want to determine a specific number in sales that you would like each employee to strive for? Are there production goals that make more sense in your line of business? Will all employees be eligible for the program or will only a particular group of employees at a particular level in the company? These are the details that will define your personal program.

Choosing actual prize incentives also comes down to knowing your employees. Which prizes would be most appealing to them? Which are they likely to work towards? Do you want to set prize incentives for a longer period of time or switch them up frequently? Also, obviously budget is a consideration here. The great thing about an employee recognition program is that it can be adjusted at any time to meet your needs - budget or otherwise.

More in the next post…

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