Design an effective rewards programme
A WHOLE new concept is doing the rounds in corporate circles these days — manpower is your most precious asset.
So nurture it! Incentives and rewards, which hitherto were in the form of an odd bonus during a festive season, have taken a new dimension.
After all, dissatisfied employees can cost your company without either of you knowing it. Low productivity, high employee turnover, decreased loyalty and high absenteeism are all hidden costs of demotivation. There are companies that are doling out such exotic rewards like a chauffeur driven Mercedes at your door step to take you and your spouse on a dream date (all at the company's expense), alternate-day work for new fathers, etc. They organise regular get togethers, lunches, sports meets, offer incentives for every milestone crossed, best employee awards on a monthly basis, raises, promotions, positive performance appraisals — the list doesn't seem to end.
While the company's exchequer sure has to part with a tidy sum of money in pursuit of these ventures, do these measures always achieve the desired results?
Are the results commensurate with the resources spent? Is it possible that such reward programmes may not receive the desired response from the staff? If yes, why do reward programmes fail some times? It is a myth that good employees are only obsessed with monetary benefits. Of course, money is important, but in reality they are satisfied with a range of rewards that you can provide at little or no cost. Rewards give employees a sense of ownership of the company, which motivates them to see it succeed.
Meanwhile, the same rewards programme can go terribly wrong as well. Thus, when planning reward programmes, make sure they fit the culture and image of your company.
For any strategy to succeed, planning is important. To be effective, reward programmes should take note of the following five elements:
1. Achievability - set a standard that is within everyone's reach, not just the best of the team's;
2. Objective - make it clear what people must do to be successful;
3. Rewards - give prizes or payoffs that actually motivate the team;
4. Timeliness - the longer you wait to present a reward for the good work done the less impact it carries; and
5. Utility - reward should be such that it helps produce useful business results.
Make sure the Reward is Justified: Even though a reward may not involve money, it should be something that will be appreciated by the recipient. Keep strict controls on selection of the recipients; so that he deserves and earns it. Nothing demotivates employees more than rewards that go only to the blue-eyed boys.
Share the Benefits Equally: Everyone who keeps your company productive deserves a fair share of awards, interesting new assignments, honours or the other motivational treats that you hand out. Whether they are part-timers, casuals or telecommuting, make sure all are included. Employee morale will plummet if they see your decision as arbitrary or unfair. For example, if Tina gets a cell phone because of some outstanding work, Ahmed should also get a phone when he does the same. Do not give him a half-day off from work instead, unless of course that is what he prefers. Unequal treatment leads to "we don't care as we may not get it anyway" attitude among employees and that means your rewards programme is an utter failure!
Have individual as well as team rewards: When there are teams working for you, it won't help if you just have an individual reward. You need to have something that covers the entire team. Else, it may not motivate the employees; or worse still, it may turn out to be the bone of contention among the team members. The bottom line is, do not make it too easy to get the rewards — If things come easy, the value is lost!
At the same time, do not make it a next - to- impossible- to -achieve kind of a thing. They may get disgusted and say, Sour grapes! Either way, the rewards programme will be a failure.
A successful rewards programme should have the right amount of challenge, achievability, time limit and adequate recognition for the effort. If the programme has all these ingredients, you'll have the employee adrenalin levels pumped up; otherwise it would end up as a flop show.
MALLIKA JAYASHEELA
faqs@cnkonline.com
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