Points Programs

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Employee Training Reward Programs: Setting yourself up for Success

When it comes to earning incentives for completing, attending and participating in training, the best ways to motivate people does not include cash. Author Lorri Freifeld explores this topic in her article, “Why Cash Doesn’t Motivate…” in the July/August issue of Training Magazine. Freifeld interviewed several experts for the article and brings a lot of new research together to show what some of the key concepts are for successful training reward programs. I would like to examine this article and present some of the basics for setting up a training reward program in your organization.

What gets people interested in completing training?

The WIIFM principal is essential to getting people involved in training programs. Roy Saunderson points out in Freifeld’s article that when encouraging people to attend training, managers should convey the benefits and establish learning goals. Letting people know what they will take away from a training course and how it might impact their work day is the best way to pique interest and gain attendance in a training program. Furthermore, Saunderson recommends that public recognition and rewardscan be integrated into a training program. If you offered office workers a course to decrease the amount of time they spend in Excel every day by more than twenty percent and give them a reward for completing the course, you make attending a course very enticing. In addition, those who complete the training course are likely to increase productivity and enjoy freeing up some time at work for other projects.

Who should be eligible to participate in a training reward program?

Depending on what kinds of training courses you have available for employees to complete, you may be able to invite all workers to participate in a training reward program. Sales people can increase their product knowledge and selling strategies, customer service representatives can learn new techniques and anyone who needs credits to keep professional licenses current might appreciate being invited to participate.

Research in Freifeld’s article shows that the top fifteen to twenty percent of your employees will complete training on their own because of an inherent desire to do better and understand more. However, most people will not follow through with training without something to help them keep focused on a goal. This is where incentives and rewards can be used to motivate employees to follow through. One company is quoted in the article to have had their enrollments increase tenfold with the help of an incentive program.

Why choose tangible rewards over cash or gift cards?

The article cites many reasons why training reward programs should feature something other than cash or cash equivalents. We tend to feel guilty when we spend on ourselves and this fact can turn a bonus into regular compensation. I feel this is one of the main reasons my clients opt to use brand name merchandiseinstead of cash. The author provides a good example of this: would spending extra time at work to complete training be worth it when all you will do with the cash incentive is pay off a bill? Cash alone is not enough to make people want to “go above and beyond the call of duty, to go the extra mile and really push our limits.” Alternatively, non-monetary rewards entitle a person to order something or go somewhere without the sense of guilt.

How should training reward programs be structured?

Peder Jacobsen, vice president of Learning & Organizational Effectiveness at BI Worldwide was also interviewed for the Training Magazine article. Jacobsen advocates an ongoing, points based programbecause of their flexibility and power as opposed to a onetime gift or cash incentive. I really thought one tip in the article was essential to making a successful training program, if you give minor incentives for completing training but reward more when learned behaviors are applied and used in the workplace, you can have the most impact on business results.

An ongoing incentive program allows you to accommodate for follow through in a training reward program. Not only should your employees be attending training, they should also be taking something away from it that can be applied and practiced in the workplace. After all, that is really the purpose of training and why companies put so much emphasis on it. You can reward employees for attending and completing training and then give additional incentives to participants for demonstrating their new learned behaviors. For example, one client of mine awarded points for sales people completing training on products and then acing a short quiz. When the sales people used this knowledge to increase sales of the products they received training on, bonus points were rewarded. Best of all, the training rewards were only one aspect of the company’s overall incentive program which included recognition awards, safety compliance incentives and employee performance rewards.

We all work in exchange for cash, but what keeps you working and engaged in the workplace goes far beyond a paycheck. Lorri Freifeld expresses this well in her article along with real examples and research to back up everything. If you are interested in setting up a training reward program, her article is an essential read.

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