Business leaders and managers across all industries are turning to employee incentives as a method to build employee motivation momentum in spite of the poor economic conditions. Nathan Jamail explains in his article on employee motivation momentum, “A leader needs to focus on what he or she can do daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly to achieve the goal: to maximize their team’s motivation.” I wanted to share what some of my clients are doing daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly to create and sustain employee motivation momentum through the use of employee incentive programs.
Daily Employee Recognition and Praise
Howard Hyden, author of Seven Ways to Fuel the Fire in Employee Performance, provides this advice on regularly motivating employees, “In tough times it may be even more vital to use W.I.I.F.M. [What’s In It For Me] to stoke the fires in your employees.” Morning meetings or email communications are a great way to transmit some positive energy to your team while giving you a chance to link what employees can do to help themselves and the company on a daily basis. Spotlighting desired employee behavior is a great way to thank an employee while letting co-workers know what they can do to benefit the company and earn similar recognition. Introducing new incentive program goals and different kinds of award merchandise available for employees to earn is a great way to entice participation and increase motivation momentum.
Weekly Incentives based on Job Performance, Communicate the State of Business
Awarding your team with employee incentives for reaching weekly job-related goals is one method clients of mine use to consistently create employee motivation. Generally, clients will award points weekly to employees who reach job-specific goals such as completing reports on time and correctly. Staff members then accrue points over time and are able to select rewards from variously priced collections of award merchandise.
I recommend notifying participants when points are awarded weekly via email or mailed incentive program statements, depending on employee preferences. These communication devices serve to draw attention and traffic to the online employee incentive programs where employees are able view personal account information, available gift merchandise and general program details. When an award program functions this way on a weekly basis, employees are motivated to work towards earning enough points to redeem the gift of their choice.
Monthly Incentives based on Job Performance, Attendance, Anniversaries
Similar to awarding points weekly for job-specific goals, monthly incentives can be given to employees who have perfect attendance for the month (usually defined as on time and at work every day). In addition, some companies will award employees who reach milestone anniversaries and achieve monthly team-based goals or broad company objectives such as meeting budget targets.
Goals or objectives that take a month or longer to achieve should involve public and/or personalized employee recognition via the morning meeting or in private. Employee recognition packages are popular among my clients because personalized recognition is one of the best ways to sincerely award staff members while maintaining a small budget.
Quarterly Employee Recognition and Incentive Program Review and Impact Results
As long term goals are achieved, organizations are making strides in creating employee motivation momentum. Companies need to take steps however to ensure that the incentive program is leading the organization in the intended direction. Online incentive programs enable administrators to access reportinganytime and easily download the desired data into a spreadsheet format for award program review.
Once a quarter, administrators should review what goals are being achieved or not being achieved and also need to evaluate employee feedback on the incentive program. By arming yourself with this information, you are empowered to create or redefine award program goals and consider feedback from your staff to transition the incentive program into a mechanism for sustaining employee motivation over the long term.
Employee motivation is created and sustained through instilling confidence in employees and by linking the knowledge of what an employee’s goals are and how he or she personally impacts the organization through consistent communication and employee incentives. By implementing an incentive program, an organization can combat the difficult economy and work towards sustainable employee motivation momentum.
Robert Wilson, author of The Un-Comfort Zone: Keeping the Ball Rolling as featured on ManageSmarter.com sums it up, “The best thing about Momentum is that once you get it, motivation becomes self-perpetuating. Momentum is energizing. It keeps you on your toes. And the rewards come quickly and regularly.”
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