It happens to every company, regardless of size, there can be easy communication breakdown between employer to employee when it comes to expectations versus empowerment.

As the business world spins even faster, innovative solutions can be used to properly facilitate the gap between what you as the company expects in terms of performance against employee motivation and engagement.

This gap can be bridged by implementing a simple employee program - a solution that communications to your employees that they are appreciated and their hard work matters to the organization as a whole.

The right program should allow your employees the ability to give / receive recognition not only from the top, but also from their peers.  Employee programs can be customized to meet a company’s specific objectives, culture, and budget constraints.  It is also important to design your rewards program with the employees in mind.  Make sure you understand what will motivate them the most before you go and start spending capital on such a big project.

Popularity: 11% [?]

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Ok, I’m not insinuating here that you make your customers go through hard labor in order to stay loyal, but empowering them to work towards a goal will keep them in your program for longer.  It seems there are two different strategies when it comes to loyalty programs within the market-place.

Reward Them NOW - here is a simple scenario…you go into a store and purchase and item to which you get an instant prize.  Perhaps buy one get one free, or instant savings.  This is definitely a smart strategy in getting new customers, but does it really prove successful in keeping the customer loyal?  Sure it the instant savings may make a customer choose a product over another, but certainly doesn’t entice them to buy the product again.

Reward Little By Little Over Time - now let’s take the same scenario as before of a customer purchasing a product in the store and add in that the customer can get points for that purchase.  The points awarded for this particular purchase might not add up to much, but every time the customer buys the product, they get more points.Now throw in the concept that they can use those accumulated points for something meaningful - a reward.

By offering a points-based loyalty program will entice your customers to purchase your product time after time, because they are working for a goal…more points.  More points can add up to something greater for them over time.

Popularity: 12% [?]

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Do you ever sit and read the yearly list of companies who land on the Fortune 1,000 companies list and wonder, ‘how do they do it’?  Perhaps there is some explanation in overlaying the Best Companies To Work Force list overtop.  What you will find is there are a large percentage of companies that will appear on both.  Why?  They are running effective employee incentives within their culture.  When employees are happy, and love what they are doing…it produces results.

Happier employees you say?  How?  Offering solid employee incentives within your company’s culture yields rather amazing results.

Opens Doors Of Encouragement - when employees are recognized by their peers (and their supervisors) for a job well done, it can go a long way.  Employees feel that what they do within your company matters and is appreciated.

Increase The Rate of Retention - if employees are happy and appreciated, they are less likely to leave.

Better Cost Savings - yes, implementing an employee incentives program in the beginning is going to cost some money.  When employees are better engaged and happier, it leads to increased productivity.

Popularity: 12% [?]

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It seems now that EVERYBODY is offering their own type of rewards program to either retain their existing loyalists and entice new customers.  The key is, however, making your rewards program stand out from the crowd.

By its fundamental roots, a rewards program should reflect the very audience you are trying to motivate and change behavior.  Here are a few concepts to keep in mind:

1.  Listen to your audience - find out what they want or what would motivate them?  How would they see themselves using the rewards program?

2.  Make your rewards program is accessible - if your audience can’t easily participate in your program, then what are you doing?  Going online, for example, allows your audience to come to you, anytime, anywhere.

3.  Make your benefit offerings exiting - when considering what type of rewards to offer to your audience, think of it this way…if you were throwing a party from your friends, what would you like them to bring?  Would you rather they bring over a fruit cake or better, a bottle of wine?  Keep in mind that the perception of how you value your target audience is pretty transparent.  They’ll see if you value you them as much as a key chain or much more.

4.  Let them choose - in addition with offering a exciting array of benefits in your rewards program, it also important to let the participant choose for themselves.

Keeping these pointers in mind, implementing the right rewards program is an excellent way to motivate your audience and let them know you appreciate their loyalty and will keep them coming back for more.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Let’s take a look at some statistics regarding employee engagement and its impact in the workplace:

-  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, last year (2010), combining the months of February, June, and October, the number of employees who voluntarily quit their job far exceeded the number fired or let go.
-  Gallup recently reported that the US economy spent approximately $370 Billion in lost productivity due to actively disengaged employees
-  Of those employees who are engaged, 67% become valuable advocates to their company as an organization (Gallup)
-  According to ACCOR, 75% of leaders have no formal strategy when it comes to employee engagement (it’s stunning to note that 90% of those same leaders recognize the importance of employee engagement to the success of their business).

The truth is in the numbers.  Having a formal employee engagement strategy, or employee recognition and rewards program is critical in today’s corporate culture.  Rewarding your employees can be as simple as a ‘pat on the back’, a ‘high five’, or a ‘kudos to you’, or more with employees working towards achieving performance goals for a nice reward at the end.  Either way (or both), implementing a rewards program into your corporate culture will empower your employees to work smarter, produce more, and with greater quality.  Why?  By creating an exciting and rewarding environment for your employees, they WANT to work for you because they feel appreciated, and at the end of the day, their contributions to the organization not only matter, but are noticed.

Popularity: 18% [?]

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