17 Mar

5 Ways To Run A Fair And Unbiased Incentive Program

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 17.03.15 by John Meloche

HelpNot everyone likes award shows. “I never watch them,” commented one of our clients yesterday, “I’m really not into being told what the ‘best’ this or that is. I have my own opinion. And honestly, none of my favourites ever win anything so I can’t be bothered to watch any of that stuff.” Evidently, the Grammys, the Oscars and even this past weekend’s Junos aren’t for everyone. In some cases, it just seems as if they’re “playing favourites”.

This is why it’s incredibly important to be fair and honest when providing awards to your staff members based on their performance. In yesterday’s blog, we revealed a few statistics about how beneficial it can be to offer incentive programs at your workplace. Tom Armbruster of UniTwin.com warns, however, that you should avoid bias at all costs. You don’t want to alienate any members of your staff.

“Employees will be watching carefully to ensure that all co-workers are treated fairly,” he writes, “It should go without saying that favouritism, cronyism and nepotism should be avoided at all costs. Whatever strategy you use to choose your award recipients it should be based on merit.” So what you should you do to ensure that your incentive program treats all employees fairly and equally? Armbruster offers up some sound suggestions. Here are five.

1. Have a specific goal. When your employees are receiving their awards, they should know exactly what the awards are for. Therefore, it’s important to outline specific goals that you wish for your staff members to achieve. “This goal should be especially meaningful to your organization, this may mean that you want to encourage teamwork or innovation, or maybe you want to improve the safety of the workplace by encouraging employees through a recognition program,” suggests Armbruster.

2. Acknowledge tenure. In yesterday’s blog, we pointed out that awarding performance over tenure is most effective. But that doesn’t mean that you should avoid acknowledging those who have worked for you the longest. It’s important to recognize the contributions of your longest-standing employees. “While this doesn’t have as tangible of an effect on productivity, it will encourage employees to stick around if they see that the senior employees are being treated well,” Armbruster insists.

3. Make everyone eligible. As mentioned, your reward program shouldn’t serve to alienate anybody. Everyone should be given the opportunity to benefit from the incentives that you offer. You’ll end up getting more productivity out of it. “Make sure that your reward program uses an open-ended, quota-based, or piece-rate structure,” says Armbruster, “This will ensure everybody has a chance at success and will therefore encourage more people to actively participate.”

4. Allow for choice. Perhaps, the best way to motivate your staff is to allow them to decide what the incentives for their efforts will be. Getting to choose your own prize is a great way to inspire a worker to be productive. “Consider letting employees choose their own rewards, based on a previously constructed options list,” Armbruster suggests, “This may end up saving you money in the long run, and will encourage employees to participate because they can work towards something they are guaranteed to want.”

5. Make it easy on yourself. Your rewards programs should be fun when it’s all said and done. Your mission is to boost employee morale and increase productivity in the workplace. It should be an enjoyable venture for all those involved. “A major complaint in workplaces that do provide reward programs is that they are not implemented properly,” Armbruster informs us, “A program’s success and return on investment depends on how well it’s operated so be sure that you’re tackling something you can handle.”

Call Synergy Marketing at 1-877-748-9884 to order the promotional gift of your choice today. They often make the best employee rewards!

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16 Mar

5 Telling Statistics About Rewarding Employee Performance

Posted in Synergy Suggestions on 16.03.15 by John Meloche

Businessman awarded with star awardThis past weekend, Canadian musicians were celebrated as part of the annual Juno Awards. The ceremony, as you’re likely aware, doles out awards to the nation’s top musical performers. It’s the Canadian version of the Grammys, if you will. This brings to mind an important question. What is your company’s version of the Junos? Do you dole out awards to the best performers at your place of business? If not, there’s no time like the present to get started.

Offering your employees incentives for jobs well done is an excellent way to promote productivity in the workplace. For many years, the great promotional products offered by Synergy Marketing have been used as ways to award top performances in offices all over Canada. And you don’t just have to take our word for it. “When it comes to incentive programs, they have some significant positive effects on employee performance,” writes Tom Armbruster on UniTwin.com.

Here are five telling statistics about rewarding employee performance:

1. It can increase interest in work and therefore, performance. It has often been said that a happy staff is a productive staff. When you give your staff members reasons to enjoy their jobs, they will be a lot more likely to be better workers. Armbruster reveals that offering employees incentives based on their performance can increase their interest in work and cause an increase in performance by as much as 22-44%.

2. It makes employees feel valued. Most people like to know that their contributions to the companies they work for are of significance. Making your team members feel like they matter – because they do – is a great way to inspire them to be loyal. Armbruster writes that “98% of employees value award programs”. With a mere 2% of employees still unhappy with such incentives, it seems hard to go wrong with introducing a recognition program of your choice.

3. Awarding performance over tenure is most effective. Armbruster warns that you shouldn’t just award staff for good behaviour. This is what is expected of them. As well, providing an award based on tenure may have some value, but it won’t be as valuable to your company in the long run. He notes that “it is more effective to use recognition programs over tenure based programs by 14%.” In other words, don’t make it seem as if you have to be working at your business for a long time in order to be recognized.

4. There are benefits to longer-term programs. When you introduce incentives into the culture of your workplace, make sure that they exist for the long haul. You want to be sure to reward performance on an ongoing basis. Your employees will appreciate your commitment. “Longer-term programs produce an average of a 44% increase in performance, versus a 20-30% average increase in short term programs,” writes Armbruster.

5. There will be less turnover. You don’t want to lose employees who are contributing to your company’s bottom line. This is one of the most important reasons to recognize good performance. As you know, it is both time consuming and costly to hire new staff. “Employee recognition programs lead to 31% lower employee turnover than companies that don’t use them,” Armbruster reveals.

“Awards should only be given to those whose work goes above and beyond the call of duty, not just that which is required in the job description,” he continues. At Synergy Marketing, we offer the best promo products in the business. And as mentioned, they very often are used as awards to employees who are performing above and beyond the call of duty. Order yours today! Give us a call at 1-877-748-9884.

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