Companies - whether they are large or small - each have their own challenges that they face. I can speak on both with some level of expertise as I have worked for both small companies and large organizations - so large, in fact, that I never even met half of the people with whom I worked. I know that - large or small - companies have to make sure that they deal with their employees with professionalism and a solid plan in place. For those companies who are managing thousands of employees, in fact, it’s extremely important to ensure that their employees feel engaged and recognized for their work. An employee rewards program works very well in this regard.

In the small company in which I worked we utilized an employee recognition program and I can say from firsthand experience that it worked amazingly well to keep management connected to its employees. Those employees who reached particular goals that the company had set out were given access to chose from among a host of prizes offered through the rewards program. We had everything from jewelry to electronics.

When I first came to this company - while it was much larger - I knew that an employee recognition program would be just as effective. In fact, I was convinced that an employee program would work in an even greater capacity in reaching out to employees in an environment where management was not able to see their employees face to face on an everyday basis simply because of the scope of the workplace. Employees often felt like a number; like they were easily replaceable and that their contributions didn’t mean anything. An employee recognition program, however, would give these same employees the confidence of knowing that the company for which they worked so hard was behind them just as solidly.

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Our company first instituted an employee recognition program three years ago when we wanted to let our employees know that we recognized and appreciated their hard work. Because our company relies on the performance of our sales team we first implemented an employee program for this specific department. Those who reached the particular sales goals that we set forth were eligible to receive prizes – incentives – that we had chosen to offer through our program. We didn’t have a huge budget and initially chose prices that were on the lower end of the spectrum but were still quite effective. Our employees were thrilled with the idea and happy to be able to work towards the prizes that they wanted. They felt empowered and appreciated that we were taking their efforts seriously.

Now that we’ve seen the success of the rewards program firsthand we know the benefits it can offer our company as a whole and we are happy to continue to use it in the years to come. In fact, now that we have a little bit of a bigger budget we decided to change the prizes that we offer in our employee incentives program. While we were able to initially offer electronics and gift cards we are now able to improve the incentives that we were offering – taking them to the next level. We can now offer things like trips and jewelry; incentives that will further enhance our employee recognition program.

More than anything this program improved the morale of our sales department and they were thrilled to see that the prizes would continually change as the resources of the company changed. We figured if it worked so well with the sales team then it would work with the manufacturing division and employees across the board. So this new round of changes will include us offering the employee recognition program to the entire company.

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When you have a huge project at hand you need to make sure that your employees are focused and up to the challenge. We certainly did have a huge project at hand and as manager it was my job to make sure that everyone was on the same page in getting it done. I was not, however, convinced that everyone was in fact focused and up to the challenge. In fact, I was more than a little worried that our employees were decidedly not up to the challenge. The past year had been enormously difficult on everyone; we had had a multitude of layoffs and were still just trying to keep our heads above water. But regardless of the atmosphere at work we still needed to come together to make this project successful. It was up to me to make this work which was when I decided to implement an employee recognition program.

A rewards program would give our employees a greater sense of control and allow us to set specific goals for the company as a whole. We put together an employee incentives program with benchmarks and coordinated prizes that we could adjust as the company grew and we had more money to invest in the program. But for now we would have the ability to recognize those employees that had gone above and beyond in working toward the project goal.

Incentive programs are a great way to keep employees in the loop and help to improve morale across the board. I can say from firsthand experience that the implementation of the employee program had a wondrous effect on our employees who were instantly drawn into the process. They were finally focused and involved and working hard towards making our project a success – success that I hope will continue well into the year ahead.

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Motivation comes and goes in every facet of life; we’ve all been there where one day we were all pumped up and the next we find it difficult to focus. This is certainly true in the world of business and most assuredly true for employees who are challenged to keep their motivation on an even keel each and every day so that they can be as productive as possible – and deliver what is expected of them. We worked hard every day to try to maintain the morale within our company but it had gotten to be difficult in light of the current economic conditions. We noticed that our employees were struggling; seeming tired and unfocused. It was time to liven things up and put a new goal out there towards which everyone could work. That was when we decided to implement a rewards program.

An employee recognition program allowed us to pre-determine objectives that we wanted to reach as a company and those goals that we wanted our employees to reach on an individual basis. We were then able to choose the prizes – the incentives – that worked for us and were within the budget that we wanted to keep. We chose a variety of really great prizes – that got better and better depending on the prize tier that the employee reached.

Before we knew it morale was back up as employees not only worked towards these prizes but talked about them and engaged in friendly competition with each other. Our employee incentives program really worked to refocus our energy and get people moving in the right direction again. Best of all, this was a program that we could continually adjust according to our needs – something that we could utilize for years to come but changing the prizes to keep it new and exciting.

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In the last post we talked about how an employee incentives program is typically thought of as a program instituted by large corporations as a reward for reaching particular sales goals. While an employee recognition program has certainly shown that it’s effective in this capacity, the truth is that it is also quite beneficial in other respects, including motivating employees to deliver better customer service. This was something that we were demonstrating in our own office environment – a busy medical practice that employs a variety of key personnel that handle everything from medical care to appointment setting. We found that patients were often much more dissatisfied with their interaction with office staff than they were with their experience with the actual doctor, leading us to believe that we were falling short of our customer service goals. We decided in a practice meeting to put together an employee recognition program with the help of a professional organization that could guide us in the appropriate steps.

We didn’t have a lot of cash to work with so we started with an appropriately priced rewards program that includes gift cards and electronic gifts – things that we can afford but that are still very nice gifts for our employees to receive. We set up an outline of goals that we wanted our employees to achieve in terms of customer service and we asked our patients to help out by filling out quick surveys following their appointment. Those employees that really distinguished themselves in terms of professional and courteous customer service were given their choice of prizes from the employee incentives program.

Obviously receiving this recognition motivated employees to continue working their hardest; but it also encouraged those who had not received a prize to do their best to be noticed – a bit of friendly competition among co-workers which is never a bad thing!

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When most people think of implementing a rewards program in their company they think of incentive programs that reward the reaching of sales goals; that motivate employees to reach particular sales numbers - after which they are rewarded with a variety of pre-determined, tiered prizes. While employee recognition programs are certainly worthy in this respect, they can also be used in a different fashion – in helping to motivate employees to deliver great customer service.

I am an office manager for a large medical practice and my role includes overseeing a variety of office staff whose positions range from dealing directly with patients in a medical capacity to handling paperwork and insurance issues. As you can imagine there are a multitude of tasks that must be coordinated on a daily basis and ensuring that they are done efficiently is a part of my job. One of the biggest complaints that patients have about the medical practices that they visit is not their interaction with their medical practitioner, but rather the interaction that they have with the staff. Difficulties with appointment setting, billing frustration, and overall misunderstandings can color the way in which the patient views the entire practice and overall influence their experience. The front desk personnel are the face of the practice and, as far as I’m concerned, they need to step up to the plate in that capacity. It was for this reason that we initially instituted an employee recognition program but we kept it going because of the residual benefits that it had for the rest of the staff as well.

In the beginning I sat down with the doctors in the practice to discuss the potential of an employee incentives program. We worked with a company that helped us put together an easy-to-manage and affordable program that worked best for our needs. More in the next post…

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Businesses today have a lot on their plates in terms of making sure their operations run smoothly and within budget. Many things must be accomplished in a manner that still honors the bottom line and it is the responsibility of each company to bring into the mix those tools that allow them to do both. When it comes to improving morale – and as a result, operations – there’s much that can be said about incentive programs. Not only do they offer companies the tools to get their employees involved and improve their overall operations but they offer a serious bang for the buck.

A well-constructed rewards program offers significant value for any company because of its:

• Ability to be scaled according to company size and budget. Not every company can support the same employee recognition program. While one company may be financially comfortable with offering trips and higher end rewards for their employees, others may be more comfortable with electronics and smaller ticket items that will cost the company less but still offer their employees something special. The great thing about incentive programs is that they can be scaled according to what your company wants and they can always be adjusted according to your growth or change in financial situation.

• Ability to lift morale and improve company productivity. You can offer your employees all the accolades that you want but when you put your money where your mouth is with incentive programs then your employees really know that you mean business.

• Ability to map out a goal. In business you need a goal to work towards in order to be most effective. An employee recognition program allows for a well-defined roadmap for goals to be achieved, ensuring that everyone in the company is always on the same page.

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In my line of work – manufacturing – safety means something. Our operations not only include the manufacturing of several lines of products but the packaging and shipping of those products. Those who operate our machinery are experienced and safety-conscious to be sure but safety is also a topic that is discussed constantly. We have set very high standards and our employees understand our expectations. We wanted, however, to implement a program that would encourage our employees to not only meet those exceptions but exceed them; so we began researching incentive programs.

Once we found the right team to help us with our rewards program, it was easy from there. We immediately went to work setting up an employee program that would help us further our safety track record. By offering incentives we could involve our employees on a deeper level and give them some ownership in the process that went above and beyond their salary and benefits.

Our employee recognition program has been a huge hit. We set up specific criteria to help us determine which employees would be eligible to receive the incentives we put in place. We chose those incentives that we knew would be best received by our employees but would not be out of our budget – including such items as gift cards, electronics, and even weekend trips.

Those who are able to maintain a safe workplace within their department for a specific period of time – meaning no accidents or anything of that nature – are eligible for incentives along the tiers that we have established. This has been a terrific way to further promote our safety standards and involve our entire team in order to best reach our goals. A rewards program has been one of the best things we’ve done in helping maintain our long standing reputation for vigilant safety standards.

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