Avoid the Pitfalls of Employee Recognition Programs. By: Joseph Grenny, co- author of Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change (Mc. Graw Hill, 2. 01.
To many employees, being singled out in front of and compared to peers might not be all that rewarding. It could be just the equivalent of saying, “Congratulations! Here’s a hundred dollars, a beautiful plaque with your name engraved on it - - and four weeks of unrelenting ridicule from your coworkers!”Comedian Demetri Martin summed up the way a lot of employees feel about such programs when he said, “I think employee- of- the- month is a good example of when a person can be a winner and a loser at the same time.”Why Rewards Can Backfire. Organizational scholars have long found that many employees leave corporate award ceremonies not motivated and excited as intended but with exactly the opposite reaction. They exit demotivated and upset because they themselves weren’t honored.
In fact, many see the whole ceremony as a sham. Interviews reveal that typically half of those who attend corporate awards programs believe that they were far better qualified than the person who was honored but that they didn’t get picked for political reasons. And it’s not just token awards that can go amiss. You could fill volumes with stories of how carefully considered incentive schemes have run amok.
Optional Employee Benefits. The following are just a few of many incentive programs your small business can offer employees: Flex time.
Employee Reward and Recognition Systems. In order to develop an effective recognition program, a small business owner must be sure to separate the. Both reward and recognition programs have their place in small business. Small Business Awards. The Mobile Area Chamber runs several award programs to recognize its member small businesses. One of the easiest motivators that a company can use to boost morale, productivity, and profitability is employee recognition. Everyone loves to be. OSHA's Small Business Assistance provides numerous OSHA resources and information designed specifically for small business employers, including safety and health tools and publications, easy-to-follow guides for. Employee Incentive Plans For A Small Business. Small businesses have many options to provide their employees with meaningful ways to participate in the success of the small business, including stock options, rights plans.
A well-executed employee recognition program can encourage people to stay with a company for the long haul which is a win-win for you as a business owner.
One hospital, for example, found that anesthesiologists who were paid based on personal production were less willing to jump in and help one another when someone else’s patient was reacting badly. Drilling for a Bonus. Consider a couple of the former Soviet Union’s attempts to dabble in incentive schemes. In the energy sector, rubles were literally being thrown away in the search for oil reserves because Soviet workers received bonuses according to the number of feet they drilled. It turns out that it’s far easier to drill many shallow holes than to drill a few deeper ones - - which is exactly what happened.
Instead of following the geological advisories to drill deep to find existing reserves, workers were happy merely poking the surface over and over - - turning up very little oil. After all, it’s what they were rewarded for doing. Employee Incentives Gone Askew One woman we worked with - - a manager at an internationally renowned company - - decided that her employees lacked business innovation, so she instituted a simple suggestion program. What could be more innocent? To encourage creativity, she asked each work group to meet for at least a half hour per week to brainstorm new work methods, solutions to longstanding problems, and possible new products.
To put teeth into the new program, she put together a committee that reviewed submissions and then awarded cash prizes to employees who came up with ideas that were judged as “real moneymakers.”Within a few months the cash- for- ideas program had completely broken down. In fact, members of one work group ended up beating up one of their own team members as a result of the program. It turns out the team came up with a really good idea, and Charlie, the aforementioned team member, promised that he’d take care of the paperwork. He then submitted the suggestion under his own name and kept the $5,0. When his teammates found out about the deception, first they confronted him, then someone shoved him, then a melee broke out and Charlie ended up in the emergency room.
To avoid further injuries, the owner did away with the incentive program. Of course, she still invited suggestions, but none came in.
Employees now believed that she was shorting them by asking for ideas without offering incremental pay. She had hoped to use the suggestion program to stimulate innovation, but she found that by paying people for their thoughts, she had inadvertently sent the message that making suggestions was outside a person’s normal job requirements. Now employees believed that if they came up with a good idea, they deserved to be paid a bonus. Otherwise, they were being exploited. A More Rewarding Approach. So, the question is, how do you use incentives wisely?
Take care to ensure that employee rewards come soon, are gratifying, and are clearly tied to vital behaviors. When you do so, even small rewards can be used to help people overcome some of the most profound and persistent problems. When you do want to provide a supplemental reward to help shape employee behavior, as the much maligned adage goes, it’s often the thought, not the gift, that counts.
That’s because the thought behind an incentive often carries symbolic significance and taps into a variety of social forces that carry a lot of weight, much more so than the face value of the incentive itself. So, as you think of awards, don’t be afraid to let the thought behind the award carry the burden for you.
Author Bio: Joseph Grenny, along with Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron Mc. Millan and Al Switzler, are authors of Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change (Mc.
Graw- Hill, 2. 01. They are the leaders of Vital.
Smarts, an innovator in best practices training products and services that has taught millions of people worldwide and that has worked with more than 3. Fortune 5. 00 companies.
Rewards and Recognition. Rewards. At CIBC, we’re committed to providing employees with fair and competitive compensation that reflects individual contribution, business performance and related markets. Our total compensation programs are comprised of direct and indirect components. Together they reward employee capability and performance and promote employee well- being. Benefits. CIBC offers a benefit package that suits the unique needs of you and your family.
Benefits options include medical, dental and insurance (life, accident, travel). Employee Share Purchase Plan. This plan provides a way for you to acquire CIBC stock at a competitive rate. Employee Banking Offer. CIBC employees are eligible for the employee banking offer whether they are full- time, part- time, temporary or permanent, or CIBC retirees — regardless of job level, salary or years of service.
The offer includes special interest rates, special services and lower transaction fees. Recognition. At CIBC, there are formal and informal methods available to acknowledge employee and team contributions throughout the year. Formal recognition programs recognize outstanding performance by individuals and teams at CIBC. CIBC’s formal programs include the CIBC Achievers Program, e. Achievers and the Chairman’s Council and President’s Council Awards in Wood Gundy. We developed these programs to reward those who demonstrate our core values of Trust, Teamwork and Accountability.