In my January 24th blog, I talked about the critical importance of keeping a solid hold on employee incentives post a company-wide Reduction in Force.  After the fire lifts, the employees who ’survived’ are left with an increased work load but with less workforce resources.

The right employee incentives program will help empower your managers to step up and recognize their employees; singling out exceptional performance and commitment to the company.

They Are Worth It - in my opinion, keeping an employee incentives budget alone during cuts is mission critical.  The lack of any type of incentives within an organization can perhaps be one of the largest demotivators a company can do.  Offering rewards allows employees to feel valued within the company along with the re-assurance that they are worthy of investment.

Everybody Stay Calm - the first smell of a reduction in force can lead to widespread panic, mis-communication, and damaged morale.  Those who are truly valuable to your company’s sustainability should be appropriately rewarded to offset any uneasiness they may be feeling.

The biggest misconception is that employee incentives is the real reason why a company has to do major budget cuts in the first place.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite in the fact it will work positively in keeping the right employees around for a long time.

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As of December, 2011 the current unemployment rate in the US is at 8.5%, which is the lowest it’s been in the past 5 months, but the general workforce population could still use some comfort.  Many companies, to tighten their belts have had to do massive reduction in force to just keep in business for some.  The damage of a company-wide RIF can leave the rest who are standing uneasy and afraid that they may be next in round 2.

This is where having a solid employee incentive program within the fabric of your company’s culture is uber-critical.  Offering those employees a little something of appreciation, recognition, not only will incentivize them to work harder, but will also decrease the probability that they, themselves, will start to look elsewhere.  Employee incentives can take many forms, but it’s important to keep in mind that you don’t go overboard and destroy the year’s worth of budget in the first 30 days.

Plan your employee incentives carefully and consider those who will be participating in the program in the first place.  Survey your workforce to gather information on what their thoughts are.  What are their biggest concerns - is it the uncertainly of having a job tomorrow, or perhaps it’s that they’ve been working 80 hours the past 4 weeks straight with not even an extension of a hand in thanks.  What you’ll soon discover is that the challenges that are revealed by your employment staff directly affect the performance and longevity of the company as a whole.

Also, don’t be afraid to seek outside consult or invest in a 3rd party provider who might be better equipped to run your employee incentive program for you.  This not only will streamline to processes into one centralized solution, but in the long-term will return huge dividends to your company and to its bottom line.

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I recently had lunch with a friend who just recently (this last year) started up her own business.  The concept her company brings to the market has been wildly successful, but demanding, so she’s hired 15 employees by the end of this year.  Having trouble keeping up with all it takes to run a successful and fast-paced business, my entrepreneurial friend just experienced the loss of 5 of her employees.  For those of you reading that belong to large corporations, you might think that losing 5 employees is not much, but when you put it perspective of percentage of total workforce, then losing over a third of your workforce is certainly significant.

When I asked my friend what she thought the reasoning was, she responded that while the company was growing in leaps and bounds, she totally forgot about tending to the needs of appreciation and value and morale her employees were desperately seeking.

The lesson she learned is that no matter how young the company may be, or how fast it grows, without the employee incentives hard-wired into the culture, there is no real generator for motivation, or tie-ins to performing to the best of one’s ability and being recognized for those achievements.  For those who are in the midst of starting their own business for this next year, just keep in mind…just as it is critical to have a solid business plan to present to investors to get your company off the ground, so too is it equally as important to have a solid employee incentives program to keep your workforce around.

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The Holidays on a personal level can be stressful enough when it comes to getting all the shopping done, the house prepared, etc.  So too, the pressure adds up on the job with many companies driving towards year end goals, revenue numbers, the bottom line, and submitting next year’s budgets.  With all the noise brought about during this last month of the year, the importance of having a solid employee recognition program in place is never greater.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) published several factoids on how several companies are doing to reduce the stresses of the season.  Of the over 360 human resource professionals who responded to an email survey, the following were discovered:
-  39% remind employees of EAP (employee assistance program)
-  33% recognize employees working during the holidays
-  32% encourage casual attire for holiday gatherings
-  23% give bonuses (if given) early in an effort for their employees to use for their holiday shopping

But perhaps, the most effective way to keep your employees feeling relaxed during the holiday mess, is to reward them…with a gift.  Many human resource professionals are turning to companies who provide incentive programs to help spread the holiday cheer and boost end-of-the-year morale.  Since many rewards programs are now available online, employers are finding out that it does not take much to get the right kind of employee recognition going for their workforce.  Whatever the type of program may be, it’s important to make your employees feel appreciated, comfortable, accommodated, and most of all rewarded.

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A recent survey conducted by Staples Advantage, the B2B division of Staples, Inc., found that “70 percent of employees at companies that do not currently offer incentive programs said they would love to work at a company that does”.  Further, “40 percent would be in favor of foregoing the company holiday party to implement an incentive program.”

What does the data show us?  That there has become greater need for employees to be a part of an incentive program than ever before.

So, if the data is right there in black and white, there should be a nearly 100% buy-in from every executive who wants to see their company succeed right?  Not so fast.  There is still a staggering percentage of companies not offering incentive programs even though they acknowledge the responses from their workforce.  One executive has commented, “Sure, I’d love to give each and every one of my employees a flat screen TV at the end of the year, but we just don’t have that kind of capital laying around.”

A key factor, however, this executive is missing, is that it doesn’t have to be a high ticket reward item to get the engagement flowing within your workforce.  Try starting with a simple incentive program is better than nothing.

Whatever form your incentive program may take, it’s important to keep in mind that:
Some type of program, no matter how big or how small, should be started as soon as possible
Encourage your employees to use and recognize others as frequently as possible
When recognition does occur, that a reward is received as immediate as possible.

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It’s being talked about in the news, written about on the Internet, and yes, even your employees are even talking about it.  Offering an employee incentive program within your company needs to be a high priority in driving morale, increasing performance, while decreasing attrition.  Even if you’ve never implemented an employee incentive or rewards program within your company in the past, here are a few simple points to keep in mind:

1.  Communication - encourage the lines of communication to be free and a two-way street when it comes to employees to upper management.  Employees should feel comfortable that their suggestions or ideas when it comes to policy, procedures, and strategies of the company, won’t be looked over or jeopardize their career paths.  Sometimes the answers do not lie with the leaders, but with those employees ‘on the front lines’.  One way to encourage open communication is to link it with an incentive, such as rewarding for submitting a innovative idea.

2.  Don’t Limit The Rewards - sure employees will feel appreciated just by letting them know publicly, but if they have a goal to work towards (perhaps a gift), then it keeps the employee constantly motivated to keep performing.  Many companies set up a point-based employee incentive program, which offers reward points to their employees bit by bit allowing the recipients to accrue points over time.  They can use those points within a rewards catalog containing a VAST array of merchandise items.  By offering a large base of items allows the employee to choose for themselves.

3.  Get The Employees Involved - before implementing your employee incentive program, its a good idea to ‘poll the audience’ to find out what is the best approach.  Customizing your employee incentive program to the existing culture of your organization is a great step in the right direction.

Don’t forget the most important factor, for an employee incentive program to work, it must spark engagement through positive and exciting experiences surrounded by meaningful rewards.

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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.

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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.

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Earlier this spring, the non profit organization WorldatWork, reported on their findings of a survey dealing with employee recognition programs.  They surveyed about 5,600 members across the US, and Canada, and measured their responses to their views as to where the trends are going with regards to employee recognition.

Of the 677 members who responded to the survey, WorldatWork reported that over 80% of their employers offered one or more type of employee recognition programs within the last 2 years.

With a median program budget 1% of payroll between the employers, over 50% of surveyed members responded that they felt their recognition programs had a positive impact on employee recognition, motivation, and engagement.  Retention, however, feel short at only 42% of respondents indicating a positive shift.

No matter what your budgets may be, its important to remember that just by offering any type of recognition to your employees will have a positive impact on your workforce.

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Over the past several years, many companies in the US have seen dramatic increases in the ROI of their existing wellness programs.  Much of the success can be attributed to a well designed health and wellness incentive program interwoven into the corporate culture.

Smart companies are realizing that overlaying an incentive program solution onto your existing wellness program not only engages employees with an increased program participation, but saves a huge amount of money in health care expenses due to a healthier workforce.

For health & wellness programs to be optimized, companies must celebrate with their employees for achieving their goals through exciting experiences and meaningful rewards.

One idea is to implement an activity tracker where employees may list the specific goals they would like to achieve for themselves against a period of time.  Perhaps a group of employees wishes to stop smoking within the next several months.  They may set a date within the tracker as to when they would like to be ’smoke free’ and monitor how they are doing along the way.  If they achieve their goal, you as the employer should celebrate with them by offering a reward.

No mater how large or small the incentives that are tied to healthy goal achievements are, its important to create a culture of engagement and celebration for employees wanting to live a well rounded lifestyle.

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