Motivating, inspiring and engaging your staff shouldn’t be an onerous task. It should be part of your corporate culture. After all, your staff should be viewed as your most prized assets.
However, all too often staff engagement is not an everyday occurrence, and as a result we see endless surveys on how disengaged and demotivated many workers feel.
A simple “thank you for a job well done” is a great place to start your culture change. It doesn’t cost a cent and it is a fact that the sender of the message as well as the recipient feels the benefit.
Many organisations consider the implementation of a reward and recognition program, but are put off by the apparent high cost and perceived lack of business benefits.
However, the high cost of ownership and the lack of return on investment are really a myth. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on reward and recognition programs to inspire staff or deliver business improvements.
If you consider four key principals before you implement a reward and recognition program your chance of success will rise significantly.
The key principals for success are:
1. Programs should be fun to participate in, and your recognition procedures should deliver instant notification to the recipients. Use of social media technology can play a big role here.
2. Make the rewards inspirational. Money alone has become less effective as an incentive. Involve your staff to learn what will motivate them. It shouldn’t cost the earth.
3. Make the targets, KPIs or corporate values that you measure achievable and realistic. Setting the bar too high will be a disincentive.
And perhaps most importantly…
4. Ensure that the program can measure the improvement to your business and deliver a return on investment to ensure that your ROI is visible. A well planned reward and recognition program will pay for itself many times over.
A reward and recognition program that delivers on the above will go a long way to ensuring that your staff are motivated, sales are increased, customer service is improved and staff turnover is reduced, resulting in a significant return on your investment.
