In the last post we talked about how our company had come to a place that so many eventually do - where our production was way up but our morale within the company was way down. We had experienced tremendous growth very quickly which was great in terms of the bottom line and our growing reputation in the industry but our employes were bearing the brunt of the additional work and were feeling very much out of the loop in terms of communication. We had found all these great ways to communicate with clients around the world but we were having trouble communicating even the simplest ideas to our employees. They felt cut off and as if their ideas were being overlooked as well as their needs. We implemented our employee program about this time with the help of a great company that helped us put it together and manage it.
We rolled out big with our employee program, offering vacations and big electronics to those employees who met specific goals in terms of production and safety. It was a huge hit and went a long way towards repairing employee/management relations. Plus because we were always changing goals and incentives we worked directly with employees to learn what they considered to be appropriate goals and interesting incentives - thus improving communication on a daily basis.
The program was in effect - successfully - for about a year when the economy crashed. We knew we had to make some adjustments but - because the program was already in place and they had experienced our commitment towards honoring their work - employees were nothing but supportive when we adjusted the prize incentives to a slightly less dramatic scale to account for our minimized budget. We are happy that incentive programs can be adjusted according to our needs and we’re equally thrilled that we can continue to offer our employees merit-based incentives.
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Most companies - regardless of size - experience at one time or another a breakdown in communication with their employees whether they have a dozen employees or thousands. In such a fast paced world, as we continue to do business faster and faster, we have learned to adapt through advanced technologies that allow us to communicate with our clients and our vendors at a rapid clip and in the most efficient way possible; but we have somehow failed to extend that level of efficient communication in-house amongst our team of management and employees. The result can often be a disenfranchised employee base who feels as though their needs are not only far from being met but are also being completely ignored. This was our story almost two years ago - the result of a combination of several different factors if I’m being honest but most stemming from our rapid growth. It was great to experience that level of growth and to have the opportunity to reach out to new sectors of business but in-house we were experiencing some pretty significant growing pains without a whole lot of ideas about how to manage them. The answer came in the suggestion to implement an employee program - a way that we could let our employees know that their ideas and needs mattered to us and something that could be controlled fiscally by growing or shrinking the program according to our budgetary situation at the time.
We began our employee recognition program on a pretty big scale. We were doing well and had the money to spend so we set up - with the company that helped us manage the program for our nearly 1,000 employees - a tier of management-determined business goals and prize incentives that would be offered to the employees who reached those goals. Again, we started strong with some incredible vacations and even flat screen televisions. It was the right thing to do and it would pay off in big ways when the economy crashed around us. More in the next post…
Popularity: 26% [?]
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The choice to even enter into an employee recognition program - for our company - was a long time in coming. We had known for some time that we needed to up the ante when it came to taking care of our employees. We spend a lot of money finding, training and grooming the right people so that they will one day become seasoned members of our team; but what we had been finding is that we were dropping the ball past this point. That once they were trained and were “in the groove” so to speak most employees felt that they were left out to dry. They were unhappy and felt unheard; and unhappiness among employees breeds high turnover; plain and simple. We needed to step up the plate in terms of taking care of the people that mattered to us and we needed to do it quickly We chose incentive programs.
A rewards program would allow us to stand behind our words with our employees. We could say how great they were doing, how much we appreciated them until we were blue in the face. But what did that really mean in the end? Our employees needed to see something from us. Salary increases and bonuses were great but what could motivate them on a daily basis to keep up the good fight?
We knew many other businesses that had benefited from their own employee program and they did not have to make a huge financial investment in order to make it happen. This was important for us; we needed to be able to hit the ground running with this but we didn’t have a lot of cash on our side - at least not right now. So we set out to talk to the professionals who could help us set up incentive programs that would work for our current circumstances and ultimately grow with our company.
Popularity: 35% [?]
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In the last post I talked about how successful incentive programs had been in our company. We had implemented our employee recognition program some time ago and it had been well-received from the start. At that time we had not been able to come out of pocket with substantial raises for our employees and morale was down across the board. We were still, however, trying to increased productivity and light a fire under our employees. Our initial employee recognition program included jewelry and smaller, less expensive electronics; but we have moved on to a higher level with our rewards program and we were happy to see that it was most definitely working. The weather at this particular time surely had a lot to do with the success of the program since several of our prizes are weekend trips in far warmer locations.
The way that the employee recognition program has worked and continues to work is like this: management identifies several goals that we would like to work towards. We have set sales goals as well as safety goals and even profitability goals. Those employees who are standouts in achieving these goals are identified as those who are eligible to choose incentives from our employee program. Obviously it’s not easy for someone to win a trip and in fact no one has done it yet. The frigid weather, however, has really amped things up in our company as all of the employees are now more motivated than ever - especially now that the holidays are over - to win a trip where they can find some peace, quiet, and warmth!
We are anxious to see how the these employee incentives work to further motivate our employees this winter and how the program will continue to evolve and inspire employees in the future.
Popularity: 38% [?]
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What do you do when production in your company is at an all time low? Aside from looking at economic factors on a large scale (something we can do nothing about), you look at operations within your company. What is working and what isn’t? What changes can be made to loosen things up and get things moving? What’s clogging the system? For me it was employee morale and if I had been more on top of things I would have seen that coming. This was a bad year - a year without salary increases or bonuses; a year in which my employees went above and beyond in getting everything done when they had no help. They were worn out, strung out, and not very motivated to continue moving. Then I put together an employee incentives program.
This was just the spark my employees needed to stay on track - to stay motivated. An employee recognition program, as its name suggests, recognizes employees’ worth by allowing them to choose from among a group of set prize incentives. These are totally customizable programs that can be arranged to meet your needs and your budget - and can be changed just as easily when your needs or budget changes. I put together a small, but interesting, employee program that offered prize incentives for employees that reached particular sales goals, production goals, and safety goals. It caused a big stir when I first announced the rewards program and I could tell right away that it was going to ignite the competitive spirit in my employees. More importantly, however, the employee program was going to assure them that management was watching and was thankful for all that they had done and would continue to do. There’s not much I can do right now for my employees but this was a great way to say thank you and it made all the difference in the world.
Popularity: 62% [?]
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When you own and operate a small company like I do you tend to come into contact with all of your employees in some capacity or another on a daily basis. This is certainly a perk of size as it allows you to have personal conversations with people and to tell employees face to face how much their work means to you as a company and to discuss with them any issues that may arise. But sometimes even that is not enough. Words are great in terms of employee recognition and it has been something that I have taken quite seriously in my role as owner. I try to reach out to employes as often as possible and to let them know that I notice what they are doing and the times in which they go above and beyond to help our company grow. But I felt like there was something more that I could be doing and I found it through an employee incentives program.
A friend who also owns a business of the same size implemented a rewards program last year and has raved about it ever since. I couldn’t do much in the way of bonuses this year because of the economy but I could figure out a way to put together an employee program that made sense for everyone; so I called the company with which my friend had worked.
It’s been several months now since I started an employee recognition program and I can’t say enough how much it has helped to raise morale in our company. I have put my money where my mouth is in terms of telling my employees that I appreciate their work - giving them clear cut goals to shoot for and a host of prizes to choose from when they reach those goals.
Popularity: 61% [?]
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Starting a business - especially in this economy - wasn’t an easy decision; but the fact of the matter was that the process was already well under way when the economy crashed. We had already taken out loans (before lending became so difficult) and we were building our company one leg at a time in the spirit of entrepreneurialism. Now that we’re here and operating we are just trying to work as efficiently as possible - keeping a very diligent eye on our bottom line. We are operating with what I would consider to be a skeleton crew. Our staff has made the commitment to do what needs to be done in this fledgling operation and they are most certainly taking on far more responsibility that they had initially intended and without complaint. We can only do so much in terms of salary - at least right now - but we wanted to at least let our people know that we recognized and appreciated the effort they were giving to the process; and in this case how much they were going above and beyond what was originally asked of them. This was when we decided to implement a rewards program.
Incentive programs were never anything that I had considered because I didn’t know they existed before I began in business. But when we were looking for options for trying to raise morale and give our employees some sort of incentive for continuing to work so hard we came across the option of an employee recognition program.
Through an employee program we could show our employees how much their efforts meant to us as a company and reward them in a way that was not going to break the bank. There are many ways in which incentive programs could increase our effectiveness as a company and help our employees continue the good fight until we could have more help on our side. More in the next post…
Popularity: 50% [?]
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Your company doesn’t operate like just any other business, so why would you want to consider cookie cutter incentive programs to reward your workers? When it’s time to show them you appreciate their efforts, make your program as distinct as your business.
When you tailor an employee program to meet your specific needs, your workers will take notice. To get this job done right, you can work with a professional facilitator to draft up a plan. Some of the things you need to consider when doing so include:
The format – Pay close attention to what it is you want to put a rewards program in place to honor. If it’s productivity or sales, consider setting levels at which honors might kick in. If your program will focus more on behavior and integrity, decide how workers will be nominated and awarded. Having clear-cut rules for giving out employee recognition rewards can help keep a program fair and prizes attainable. These are both things workers will appreciate.
The budget – You probably don’t want to hand out employee incentives that came from a dime store. Still, you need to be realistic about the budget. Set one that fits your company’s needs.
The prizes – A professional facilitator can help immensely on this front. Make sure to consider prizes your workers will enjoy and gain inspiration from. If you work with a facilitator, you might even find you can offer your workers a variety of prizes that fall within your budget that they can choose from. The best facilitators can provide you access to thousands of prize options, which can be a real boon for a program. A tiered structure is also worth looking at. This can enable you to honor the highest achievers with bigger prizes and great performers with something a little less expensive.
Creating your own employee program from the ground up will let workers know they matter to your company. Going cookie cutter just won’t always provide the same results. It can help to work with a facilitator who knows how to guide the process and offer you and your employees access to a variety of rewards.
Popularity: 68% [?]
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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.
Popularity: 63% [?]
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In the last post I talked about how the company for which I worked had found itself in the same position as many of its corporate peers. Facing financial difficulties throughout the year they had needed to layoff many good employees. Those of us who remained were called upon to handle a greater workload at the same – if not less – pay. It has been a tremendous strain for all of us. Now, while we were doing a little bit better and things were essentially stable we found that morale was at an all time low. Employees were nervous and mistrustful; they worried about their jobs, their families, and the fate of the company itself. After much discussion we decided that the modest investment in an employee program would be well worth our time and effort in order to raise morale.
We worked with a professional company with solid expertise in implementing incentive programs in industries across the board. They helped us put a rewards program in place that – while not extravagant financially speaking – was enough to really motivate our employees. We found that our employee recognition program did several things including:
• Increased morale. We had just come off of many months of stress and anxiety. For employees who were unsure if they were even going to have a job in the weeks and months to follow, the implementation of an employee program gave them newfound confidence that the company was doing okay and that, in turn, their jobs were secure.
• More connection with management. When employees fear for their jobs they tend to go out of their way to avoid management and ownership. We had always been a company that operated without boundaries but the last several months had seen a real separation in the workplace. The employee program united us once again in a common goal.
Popularity: 83% [?]
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