Real Rewards
April 13th, 2010
Money isn’t everything when it comes to motivating employees to reach targets.
Reward is not the word that comes readily to mind when business trainer Jason Ash reflects on an incentive program offered by a previous employer.
“I was with an organization that offered personal development training as a reward for performance, but the downside was that I had to take holiday leave and pay for my own transport and accommodation to undertake the training,” he recalls.
It’s a different with this current employer MRWED Training & Assessment in Caboolture, north of Brisbane.
MRWED – named as one of the top places to work in 2009 by BRW – has introduced a “frequent flyer” style of incentive scheme that enables employees to accure points when they achieve certain milestones. The points qualify them for rewards such as extra days off, plasma televisions and a free day at the spa.
Ash says he prefers such rewards to cash bonuses.
“There are times when money isn’t everything. I’ve got a young family and I can use points I accrue to win time off and take a family holiday. The program gives us [employees] the opportunity to work towards a particular goal that’s important to us.”
MRWED, which offers certificate and diploma courses for vocational and workplace trainers, introduced its reward program this year. Employees receive a set number of reward points when they reach performance indicators that they negotiate directly with their employer. Once accrued, employees can redeem the points for their preferred reward.
MRWED founder Marc Ratcliffe says he introduced the program to acknowledge the contribution of staff to the success of his business.
“Without them we don’t have a business. It also recognizes that everyone has their own individual tastes, preferences and wishes,” he says.
“The benefit for staff is that they are working towards something they really want. For the business, the benefit is a highly engaged and focused workforce going above and beyond to achieve the set goals.”
Ratcliffe says many companies reduced their spending on professional development in 2009, but with the economic recovery under way companies will need to review their strategies for attracting and retaining the best staff.
“Predictions of growing competition for staff this year will force business to take action or lose employees,” he says.
Growing competition in a resurgent economy also heightens the need for companies to boost the performance of their employees.
Dominic Toledo, Australian general manager of United States-headquartered rewards company, The Mint Organization, says reward programs provide employees with incentives to achieve performance levels in a range of areas. They include productivity improvements, loyalty, cost reduction, professional development and, most commonly, sales performance.
Toledo says non-cash, tangible incentives are more likely to motivate employees to achieve sales targets and business improvement objectives than cash.
“We you ask someone to choose between cash and non-cash rewards, the majority of employees will request cash because they have more familiarity with cash [as a basis for remuneration],” he says.
We advocate the use of non-cash rewards because they are more likely to emotionally engages people. We find that when organizations use cash bonuses employees tend to view them as part of their salary and don’t have the same emotional commitment to achieving behavioural change.”
Written by: Leo D’Angelo Fisher, BRW Magazine, April 1-7, 2010
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