SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR |  RSS | | REPRINT
|
Incentive Primer: The Three Dimensions that Make an Incentive Meaningful to an Employee
October 01, 2008
What makes an incentive meaningful?
By Bob Nelson, Ph.D.
How can we add meaning and thus value to an incentive, regardless of the cost that is spent? I've seen employees who were thrilled with a nod and a smile from the right person, while others were chagrined when the CEO handed them a check with the words, "Here's your bonus. Do you think you deserve it?" What guidelines exist that can help enhance value in the selection, presentation and memory of any incentive? Richard Clark, a professor at the University of Southern California, has suggested three criteria that can help to determine the value of an incentive to an employee: 4
• Interest—Is it something the employee has interest in receiving?
• Importance—Does it represent an honor deemed important to the recipient?
• Utility—Does the incentive have usefulness to the recipient?
Rabindra Kanungo, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, offers four elements to consider:
• Salience or "Top of Mind"—Does it stand out and become memorable?
• Valued by the Recipient—Is it something they feel has value?
• Performance Contingent—Is it an earned award, based on achievement? 4Performance Sensitive—Does it increase in value with the level of achievement?
For my part, I've found three dimensions that can help make any incentive more meaningful to a recipient: origin, choice and context.
Origin: Did you start with what is important to the person you are trying to motivate? There's no use offering a travel incentive to someone who doesn't want to travel or a nice watch to someone who already has four or five.By asking employees what things they would value, you increase the odds of being on target.
Lesson: Don't have the recognition committee select items from a catalog that employees can choose from. Ask your employees directly what things they'd most value.
Choice: Is there variety and choice, so that the person has a say in what he or she gets? Whenever you provide choice to the recipient of an incentive, you increase its value. Having a say in what she receives is empowering, and allows the individual to select something that best aligns with her interests, family situation or personality. This applies to activities as well as merchandise. Giving someone additional time off increasingly is a more cherished incentive than a simple cash substitute, such as a gift certificate.
Lesson: Add choice points for employees whenever possible to make recognition and rewards more meaningful to those you are trying to motivate. Context.
Context: Is the incentive presented in a way that adds to its value, making it truly an honor? It's the sizzle more than the steak that sets the tone and enhances the memorability of any award. Who presents the incentive? Is it someone the recipient holds in high esteem (it often can be a colleague as much as the person's manager or someone higher in the organization)? Whom is the incentive presented in front of? As a rule of thumb, public recognition in front of one's colleagues tends to be powerful—but this is not always the case. (Check with the person!) What words are said in the presentation? Is the achievement tied to a company value or larger goal everyone is working toward? Is a story told to show the obstacles that were overcome or creativity the honoree displayed?
Lesson: If done well, recognition sends a message to everyone who is present, and is not just about the person being honored. It says through your actions that: "These are the things that get noticed around here," and causes others to want to emulate those being honored.
Meaningful incentives are much more than the money that is spent. Think through the elements that can most add value to the overall experience, and strive to make those a part of your recognition plan.
How to Present an Award
Regardless of what forms of incentive, recognition or rewards you are using in your organization, you will achieve higher value if you are mindful of how such items are delivered.
Take, for example, a five-year service award. I contend the activity of personally recognizing that employee milestone is many times more meaningful than the specific token gift that may be received. Instead of receiving a five-year pin, logoed jewelry or a choice of gift delivered to your desk with a form letter several months after your anniversary, most employees would be far more touched to get a personal call or visit from their manager on the day of their anniversary. Their manager could say something like: "I noticed it was your five-year anniversary today. Can you believe how fast the time has gone? I can still remember your first day of work!I was excited about having you on the team then and I'm excited about having you with us today. Thanks for confirming my good judgment in hiring you!"
Of course, the manager would have to take some initiative to mark his calendar in advance and take a few minutes to connect with the employee on that day (or get a reminder from Human Resources!), but it's exactly those personal actions that give the interaction so much meaning for the typical employee. The thoughtful, personal touch tells the employee that although you are busy, you are not too busy when it comes to taking time for him or her.
In another example, I know someone who had been a part of a project team that lasted for quite some time. The team members worked hard and they achieved significant results. Many weeks after their last meeting, coffee mugs imprinted with the name of the project mysteriously appeared on each member's desk. My friend's reaction was "I guess this is for all the overtime I worked on that project. Some thanks!"
Needless to say, the lack of context given to this recognition item undermined what otherwise might have been a very thoughtful gesture of thanks and teamwork. Whoever went through the effort and expense to provide the coffee mugs could have pulled the group together—perhaps for a celebration lunch—and distributed the mugs at that time as a memento of the team project with individual words of thanks for the contribution of each team member.In that instance the coffee mugs would have been more likely to serve as a symbolic reminder of the shared team effort for years to come.
Besides making recognition more meaningful, providing a context adds a practical element to the activity as well. It gives you a chance to: 1) specifically identify the desired performance, thus eliminating any guessing on the part of the employee and creating a strong link between the desired performance and the reward; 2) generalize the specific performance to a larger category of desired behavior such as teamwork, a company value or organizational initiative, and 3) set a public example for other employees as to what things get noticed and rewarded in your work environment. Taking the time to personalize the delivery of any achievement award adds to its value for everyone. It creates an emotional impact that seems rarely felt today in the workplace.
Bob Nelson, Ph.D. is president of Nelson Motivation Inc. (www.nelson-motivation.com), cofounder of Recognition Professionals International, a frequent speaker to management conferences and associations and a best-selling author of "1001 Ways to Reward Employees" (now in its 52nd printing), "1001 Ways to Energize Employees," and "The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook," among others. You can register for Bob's free Tip of the Week at www.1001rewards.com or e-mail him directly at bobrewards@aol.com.
|
SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS |
|
|
| Back to Incentive Index |
|
|
