If there were a surefire way to encourage employee engagement and increase company productivity, you’d want to know about it, right? Well, here’s some good news – there is!
It’s called an employee incentive program. Before you say the idea is nothing new, consider this: Not all incentive programs are created equal. The difference between an incentive program that tanks and one that works lies in the program’s specifics. To create the kind of incentive program that gets results, you need to think strategically.
So, how do you do it? What is the secret to moving your employees toward greater engagement, motivation and results?
To help answer these questions, here is a look at some top tips for creating the kind of incentive program that will draw in your employees:
1. Start with the end game. Before doing anything else, determine what you want your incentive program to achieve. Name your goal, tangibly and specifically, in order to let that guide your efforts. Whether you’re looking to draw in lost leads, improve customer service, increase revenue by a certain percentage or something else, make sure you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve with your incentive program. This way, you don’t waste time motivating employees to churn out a certain number of new proposals, for example, when what you’re actually after is the one proposal that works.
2. Get super specific. Once you know your end game, ask yourself how you can motivate your employees toward it. Are you looking for sales to increase by a certain percentage? Are you setting a goal of boosting service rankings by a certain amount? What goal do you want to set for your workers? Keep this goal as simple as possible, in order to make it easier for you to promote and employees to remember.
3. Offer enticing incentives. Incentives have no power when they’re not incentivizing to your staff. Ask yourself, what do your workers want? What would be a desirable reward for them? Because no two employees are the same, it’s a good idea to use various reward options or programs that let employees pick the rewards that suit them. Gift cards, for example, are a versatile choice that can be catered to the interests of individuals.
4. Reward often. While a yearly bonus is good, monthly or even weekly incentives feel more urgent and are therefore more memorable. Frequent rewards mean frequent attempts to earn them. To keep your employees motivated, continually provide opportunities to earn special perks. You might use a points program where employees keep getting updates on totals every week, with prizes once a month, or a weekly contest where everyone who hits a goal earns a perk. Whatever the case, keep your incentives coming.
5. Reward many. Rather than rewarding one top performer in each incentive cycle, look for ways to reward many workers instead. This makes employees feel like they have an actual chance to earn something, motivating them to make the effort to win. You might reward everyone who meets a specific goal, for example, rather than the top two or three rankings.
6. Promote, promote, promote. Keep your incentive program front and center in employees’ minds by promoting it often and everywhere. From office posters to reminders in email newsletters, keep talking about the potential for earnings, in order to keep employees working toward their goals.
When you’re looking to boost business productivity and results, try a strategic incentive program, using the six tips outlined above. When your workers know you’re paying attention and rewarding good work, they’ll be much more motivated to stay on task. Then, with your more motivated, focused employees, you’ll be so much more capable of targeting and reaching your specific goals.
Author bio: Julie Feece is Vice President North America – Marketing for RPG Card Services, a sales and marketing organization specializing in offering gift card program services to nationally recognized retailers for their incentive programs. She has held various leadership roles in the incentive gift card industry for over 17 years.
