This Month's topic: Employee Rewards
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| This Month's Topic: Employee Rewards |
Each month, this area provides with a
number of my favorite and most helpful sites regarding the topic of the month.
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Management
Tip of the Month
Each issue, I start with a discussion
of my management perspective on the month's topic, and give you a few hands-on
ideas to consider.
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Recommended Publications
Here, I provide you with my
recommendations on the materials available that can help you
become more mission-capable in the area of Employee Rewards
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Technology
I provide you with some good ideas for
uses of tech to better your organization in the area of Employee Rewards
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Marketing
Tip
So much to say, so little space to say
it.....
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Next
Issue
In July, we'll examine an issue that is very important, very difficult: Saying "No" to Community Needs.
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Websites of the
Month
Here are my recommendations for websites of interest
on this month's topic, Employee Rewards
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Top
Management Tip of the Month
Employee Rewards
Here's the deal on employee rewards: done
well, they are a good thing. Done badly, the are counterproductive. If
you get staff input, design the program correctly, and implement it
fairly, you can really improve staff morale and employee retention. If
you mess it up, take two giant steps backward.
1. Reward what people in ways that they want, not what they need.
This is really a marketing technique, but it goes here since it is the
essence of a good program, and the bane of a bad one. I've seen
management team give "Employee of the Month" parking spots to a group
of employees who mostly take the bus to work; managers give restaurant
gift cards for steakhouses to vegetarian employees, organizations give
time off to people and then make their teammates make up the work. In
general, clueless behavior, because the managers "knew" what the
employees wanted but didn't respect the employees enough to ask. So
ask. See #2.
2. Get Employee Input.
Any good employee rewards program is designed by the employees, not the
managers. The managers can certainly set limits (on budgets, frequency,
criteria for awards, etc.) but then let the employees figure out the
rest. By doing this, you show respect for the line staff, and get much
more credible rewards than you would otherwise.
3. The Perception of Fairness is everything. If employees think
the system is rigged, then it is. Cut to the chase--take the
award/reward decision out of the ED's hands and put it into a group of
peers. Or, figure out some way that people believe the results.
Three simple rules: follow them and you'll have a much more rewarding rewards program!
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing, and
technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
And, remember to take a look at the
Mission-Based Management
Blog.
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Top
Print Resources
My recommendations for texts on employee rewards are
shown below. Click on the title to be taken to the title's page
on Amazon.com. There you can look at the book in more detail.
1001 Ways to Reward Employees, by Ken Blanchard
Make Their Day! Employee Recognition that Works, by Cindy Ventrice
The 1001 Rewards and Recognition Fieldbook, by Bob Nelson and Dean Spitzer
The Compensation Solution: How to Develop an Employee Driven Rewards System, by John Tropman
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Top
Technology Tip
How can tech help with employee rewards.
Your tech can help in a number of ways as you work toward a valued and effective employee rewards program. Here are some uses.
Polling:
You can poll to see what rewards employee value. Use email and HTML
surveys to do this, and allow long enough for everyone to vote.
Posting of award criteria, rules, and processes.
One of the worst things that can happen in a rewards program is the
perception of unfairness. If you post the rules, system, criteria,
process, etc on the employee part of your website, it will allow
employees to investigate the system on their own, and hopefully cut
rumors down in their tracks.
Allowing nominations.
Email or anonymous HTML sites allow for nominations for awards from a
wide variety of employees or managers, depending on your awards system.
Notify everyone of winners and awards. Whether
by email or on your website (or both), let employees know who has won
what each reward cycle. Consider posting their picture (if it isn't
embarrassing to the employee) as well.
Tech can help the awards process, but not replace the face-time required to develop a great, and effective rewards system.
If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more
management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
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Top
Training Schedule for Peter Brinckerhoff
Below you'll see the date, location, and topics
of public training I'm scheduled to do in the next few months. For more
information on a particular speaking engagement, get in touch with the contact
person listed in the right hand column, or
email me.
For more information on my availability throughout
the next 12-18 months, available topics, sample agendas, and fees go to
www.missionbased.com/training.htm
| Date |
City |
Topic |
Contact |
| 7/16/06 |
Chicago |
Board Stewardship |
Kellogg Executive Education
Ann Cohn Donnelly
a-donnelly@kellogg.northwestern.edu |
| 7/31/06 |
Chicago |
Mission-Based Marketing |
Annual Marketing/PR Networking Forum
Susan Hassell
susan_hassell@qhr.com |
| 8/03/06 |
Morgantown, WV |
Business Development and Marketing |
West Virginia Association of Rehab Facilities
Craig Greening
cgreening@wvarf.org |
| 8/8-9/06 |
Buffalo, NY |
Business Development |
NISH
Dave Wessel
dwessell@nish.org |
| 9/06/06 |
Ballston, VA |
Readiness for Business Development |
Workability International
Deborah Atkinson
datkinson@nish.org |
Marketing Tip
What can Marketing Do for Employee Rewards?
A lot. Of course, if you read the Management Tip, you already know the key: meet wants not needs, and to find out what employees want, ask. Pretty simple, and it's a mystery to me why more organizations don't do it.
Also, remember to individualize to the extent you can. We
are, after all, in an era of what I call MeBranding. To the extent you
can, target your rewards to what the employee likes, his or her
hobbies, activities, etc.
Finally, stay flexible.
If you can offer an array of rewards and let employees choose, you are
more likely to hit the sweet spot of a true reward, rather than just
something that will sit on the shelf and gather dust.
If you want to see more about this in detail, take
a look at more about my book
Mission-Based Marketing; Second
Edition
If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more
management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
Back to
Top
Future Topics for
The Mission-Based Management Newsletter....
| July |
Saying "No" to Community Needs |
| August |
Board and Non-CEO Relations |
| September |
Executive Transition |
| October |
Advocacy |
| November |
When Boards Fail in their Role |
| Send me
your topic suggestions at peter@missionbased.com |
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You asked, so here they are:
Past Single-Topic Issues of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter...
|
