Retaining & Motivating Survivor Employees with Incentive Programs

When employers face economic uncertainty and declining demand they are often forced to cut back on labor costs- leaving the workforce composed of an organization’s most loyal and talented employees. Thesesurvivor employees are left with concerns about their job security while employers reportedly worry most about retaining survivor employees.

The start of a new year presents an opportunity for businesses and nonprofits alike to implement employee incentives as a tool to manage company performance during economic decline. Many of my new clients, for the first time in company history, are offering incentive programs to retain and motivate survivor employees while cutting costs. Employee incentive programs often have high returns and help a business to establish a competitive advantage and achieve organizational objectives.

In order to create or sustain a competitive advantage, many incentive programs are built to reward job-specific objectives, health and wellness achievements, perfect attendance, service milestones, innovation and teamwork. By targeting these areas, companies are able to increase performance in multiple areas for each level of employees thus maximizing employee potential.

I have heard a lot of positive feedback from my new clients because their employees, many for the first time, feel reassured about their jobs because they are able to link company objectives to their overall compensation and benefits package via the incentive program.

“It may seem counterintuitive that organizations are more concerned with retaining key employees in a down economy. But, when the economy is tight, company leaders realize that the best and brightest talent can give the organization a competitive advantage,” said Simon Callow, managing director PDI UK, as featured on WorldatWork.com.

David Granirer listed out many of the side effects of continually laying off employees in his article featured on About.com. Survivor employees tend to feel powerless, translating eventually to increased stress, decreased wellness, demoralization, absenteeism and lower productivity, all of which adversely affects employee retention. By implementing an incentive program, a company can increase employee motivation, maximize employee retention and create a competitive advantage.