Incentives and rewards: Now is the time to act

When is the best time to launch an employee incentive and reward program?

Now.

At least that’s what they think over at Incentive Intelligence and we agree. Here's a clip from a recent post on incentive and reward programs:

The one thing every company needs right now is an initiative that clearly spells out what you want your employees and your channel partners to do to ensure success in the future.

You need to establish an influence initiative that clearly delineates the things that you want your business to accomplish and outlines the behaviors that will get you there.

Creating a program that clearly outlines your organization’s goals and the actions that will get you there creates certainty and eliminates poor decision making. Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option, you can only “act your way out” of a business issue, according to those at Incentive Intelligence.

Implementing an employee reward and incentive program will help you show everyone, from top executives to sales callers, what you think needs to be done to ensure success in your business’ future.

With that said, here are some tips and employee incentive ideas to get your program off the ground:

• Identify goals. What business goals do you wish to accomplish and how will and employee incentive program help you get there? Set goals that are realistic and measurable.


• Determine appropriate incentives. Incentives that work for one business may not be right for another. It all depends on the nature of your business and the size of your budget. Incentives and rewards don’t have to be expensive to be effective, explore our list of employee incentive ideas on a budget and also take a look at how key motivators differ across generations at work.


• Communicate objectives clearly. If employees don’t know what is expected of them, how will they know what to do? Clearly outline objectives for your employee rewards program, the correct actions employees should take and how they will be rewarded for quality work. Effective communication is essential to the success of your program. Remember to give employees feedback on their progress at every step of the program.


• Measure results. How is your business performing after implementing the rewards program compared to before? Identify what worked and what failed to help tweak your program in the future.

An effective employee incentive program will help your organization reach business goals by engaging and motivating employees. Only with clear goals, effective communication and constant feedback can your program be a success.

How does your organization use employee incentive programs to create results?