Managing appreciation in business

15th
JUL

Posted by Michael under awards, Business Growth

An article by Gillian Hasley, eBusiness Manager at Monster UK, suggests some ways of demonstrating appreciation and support for staff without necessarily getting into classic incentive and bonus systems. It could be said that her solutions are somewhat simplistic but they do at least offer different ways of thinking and that’s vital in a recession when any organisation needs to balance the need to recruit and keep the best staff, while ensuring that spend on personnel issues is not excessive.

It’s a fact that incentives work: psychological studies have revealed that employees who receive a reward for their efforts will make continued future efforts and will tend to stay with their employer longer. Similarly, we’ve all heard staff who gripe and grumble about their employer and can’t wait to get away. Not only does the company lose those people, they infect others with their discontent and create a bad reputation for the organisation.

‘Thank you’ or ‘well done’?

Saying thank you is nice but saying well done is better. At a basic level, ‘well done’ encourages the individual, team or department to explore, explain and expand on what they did well – this makes them more likely to repeat the behaviour, makes others more likely to copy their actions and drives transferable skills through the organisation.

Match rewards to culture

In a formal business, having the CEO high-fiving the staff around the water cooler is not likely to boost company morale, while in the creative industries this is likely to create a warm fuzzy glow in all concerned! Getting the reward to fit with company culture is important or it can alienate key staff.

I happened to be at a charity fun-run recently and overhead a team from a major UK bank complaining about the thank you lunch that had been laid on for their department – some were women who were dieting for their summer holiday bikinis, others were undertaking a cultural fast day when the buffet was organised and another group were training for a marathon for charity and as a result were eating carefully as they were undertaking a long run that day. In all, from what they said, nearly a third of the hundred-strong department had felt that they were excluded in some way from enjoying the meal. From their grumbling they felt unrecognised and isolated, as if ‘they didn’t fit in’ or ‘weren’t part of the team’ – the opposite effect to the one intended.

Creativity can be its own reward

Asking your employees to suggest a reward system can be the best way to reward them! Designing their own rewards is an incentive in itself and gives those who don’t ‘win’ a feeling of being involved and included, as well as those who do. Be prepared for whacky suggestions and to explain why good ones are too expensive to fund: that too can build team spirit, because understanding why they can’t have what they want might encourage people to strive harder to improve business profits.

Explore IT

Many organisations fail to see what they already have in terms of incentive infrastructure. Risk can become endemic in businesses that run incentive packages for senior staff, as trying to ‘win’ the higher compensation levels leads to misconduct or risk-taking. Using IT systems like intranet and regular posting of returns from departments can allow everybody to scrutinise behaviour as well as results, allowing risky practices and potential frauds to be spotted by others working in the same area, who are most sensitised to unusual patterns in business.

For small scale rewards that improve business performance, consider setting up quizzes on the intranet or other work-based systems such as business apps for mobiles to ensure senior managers are up to speed on mandatory requirements and all staff are aware of changes to legislation or business practice. These little tests can have little rewards – a printable ‘free lunch’ ticket or an hour’s Time Off In Lieu: small gains that can really encourage people to invest in best practice.

Bilingual thank you cakes by clevercupcake

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