Points Programs

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Why Incentivizing Cash is Bad for Business

As a kid, birthday cards were the most exciting part of the festivities each year. Forget the sweet greeting that your grandmother spent half the evening in the card isle picking out, the cash inside is all that mattered! Counting up your final totals and planning your shopping trip, there was nothing better than cold hard cash. Fast-forward to adulthood. As useful as money is, a $20 bill in a cheap greeting card just doesn’t have the same appeal as it used to. With a shaky economy and employees that are worth more to you than a set employee incentive budget can afford, there are more than a handful of reasons why cash recognition programs are quickly being phased out of companies large and small across America.

A recent White Paper made a great case for businesses to reconsider the age old tradition of cash incentives. Check out the full paper here to get the full scoop on their study results.

With politicians going back and forth about taxes, and the economy leaving us all unsure how the new year will affect our businesses, any opportunity we have to give our budgets some flexibility is key. While the last thing you want to do is cut corners when it comes to your employee recognition program, if you go about it correctly, it can be a great area for working around financial strains. Handing out cash awards, especially for holiday gifts or years of service can really lock your business into a rigid, unforgiving budget for years and years. Employees will never forget how much you gave them last year and will expect a generous increase each year based on their continued dedication to your company. A great solution is simply awarding a selection from a gift catalog. Dollar signs are completely removed from the recipient’s mind and instead, they are wrapped up in choosing between the flat screen television and the summer BBQ set. The best part is if last year your 20 year employees received a $350 gift, but this year you can only afford $250, no one will be the wiser!

Ok, so maybe you have an endless budget and your motivation is making sure that your employees get truly rewarded for all their hard work. Morale in the office can really make or break your productivity and employee retention, two things that are paramount to a successful business. So what makes people feel appreciated? This is where the data comes in handy. Employees surveyed across industries and from companies ranging from 10 employees to 10,000 agree that two things bring success to employee incentive programs:

1. Merchandise

2. Intangibles

What does this mean? It means people don’t want to feel that they are just another expense to you when it comes to recognition. It isn’t personal and they will probably convince themselves to spend that money paying off bills rather than treating themselves to a gift. Your employees are more important to you than dollar signs, so give them things that show your sincere appreciation. Awarding parking spots, employee of the month, peer recognition, and even greeting/e-cards have all proven to successfully show your employees what they mean to you without limiting them to money rewards.

What’s the consensus? Take a new approach in 2013! Don’t push your budget beyond its limits thinking it’s your only option. Think outside the box and your employees will thank you for it. Make use of us here atAwards Network. Our staff is passionate about this specific topic, let us be a resource for you to jumpstart a new employee recognition program that will keep your company in the black and keep your staff satisfaction at its highest point yet!

 

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