Taking training and rewards out of the black box -Part 1

In my previous post, I talked about making training into a reward. One of the biggest obstacles to doing that is getting the word out about:

1) Training needed/wanted
2) Training available

Without opening up these two things, your training program -- along with all the good it could do your company -- will remain in a black box. And we all know that the only time someone actually looks into the black box is after a disaster.

Here are some tips to open that box, and get training out where it belongs:

1) Find out what kind of training your employees want.

Oh, this sounds sooooo simple. Starting with the employees. Asking questions. But in reality, it is almost never done!

Training is fed to people, top down. With a "We who sit off in our offices and never do the daily work..." directive behind the training choices, is it any wonder that most training has little or no impact on learning, and is in fact dreaded by employees? Where did we forget that employees are grown-ups, and are perfectly capable of knowing what interests them, what would make their jobs easier and what questions they need answered!

2) When in doubt, ask why.

OK, let's say you asked what kind of training people want and you got the following list:

• Chinese language (from a salesperson)
• How to be a good manager (from a machine operator on the factory floor)
• Microsoft Office skills (from the Art Director)

Wondering why a machine operator wants a management class? Or the Art Director wants training in office? And the Chinese language training? You have no idea!

Traditional black box thinking would be to say no to all of them.

But if you ask, you may discover that the machine operator is taking night classes, and hopes to become a manager or supervisor some day, the Art Director needs help setting up spreadsheets to track projects, and that salesperson just noticed a growing demand for products like yours from Chinese buyers, and wants to be able to open that market.

3) Take away the stigma of asking for training

In tooooo many companies, asking for training in anything directly related to your job is seen as an admission of incompetence. So even employees who really need the information, and who would benefit from the training are afraid to ask for it.

Letting employees know it's a strength to ASK for training in your field will open the door to a better trained, better performing, and (incidentally), more committed workforce. And what employer wouldn't want that!

Tomorrow, I'll talk about getting the word out about training.

Training + technology = Satisfied customers

Throughout the recession, companies across all industries have been working harder to improve customer loyalty and satisfaction. For many, that hard work has been paying off.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index and other major surveys are hitting record high numbers. Experts say employee training and improved technology are two major factors contributing to those impressive levels, according to a Wall Street Journal article published online today.

Such high customer satisfaction numbers are abnormal during an economic downturn, when business’ cost-cutting strategies tend to cause them to plummet. But today, many businesses are using improved service to find cost-savings.

Executives at Sprint began a service improvement plan at the end of 2007 to turn around the company’s repeated poor customer satisfaction marks. Along with other improvements, call-center operators are rewarded for solving a customers’ problem during the first call. Before the new plan, operators were once commended for keeping calls short.

Other companies, like the Cheesecake Factory, are using customer satisfaction surveys to improve service. Customers’ online survey results have been used to better estimate waiting times for tables, improve food quality and are now used as a factor in determining employee rewards.

"If they don't like you, it's that much easier" for customers to switch to a rival, says Rick Germano, Comcast's senior vice president of customer care. (WSJ.com)

Last year, Comcast installed software that helped identify network problems before they affect service and alert call-center operators of customer problems before the calls come in. They’ve cut repeat service calls by 30%.


Has the recession impacted your company’s customer satisfaction ratings? How big of a role does employee training play in improving customer satisfaction?

No money? No problem. Motivate without it.

Times are tough out there, you don’t need to tell us twice. Our budgets are strapped, employees are stressed, and layoffs are looming (if they haven’t happened already).

Instead of just worrying about your lack of money and employees’ low morale, why not look for a cashless way to get employees motivated?

Some think it can’t be done, but motivating employees without spending money is possible and a recent BusinessWeek article explores how many businesses managed to do it.

Here it is in four manageable steps:

Step 1: Managers must be self-motivated. How do you get employees to rally around you if you’re in a bad mood and locked up in your office all day? It’s easy for managers to hide behind email, what’s tough is connecting on a personal level. Even the busiest manager can find time to connect with and recognize employees every day.

Step 2: Get creative. Companies with the resources, like Google and Starbucks, offer employees option-exchange programs where workers can trade “out-of-the-money stock options” for new ones. For companies without that luxury, consider moving annual programs up a few months, like how software developer Intuit was able to do earlier this year.

Step 3: Make it personal. Since stock options and bonuses aren’t an option for many of us, you’ll have to find a way to recognize employees without money. Find out what each employee values and give it to them. We’re not talking about a new car or plane tickets to Europe, but something as small as a gift certificate to a fancy new restaurant for a food aficionado in marketing can make a big impact.

Step 4: Focus on intrinsic rewards. While extrinsic rewards can give employee morale a quick boost, internal motivators will have the longest-lasting effects. Show employees how their work has had a direct impact on customers and the success of the business. Whether it’s through peer recognition or sharing positive customer reviews, recognize their hard work regularly.


Keeping employees engaged is essential during an economic downturn. Not every idea will work for every business or employee. Put in the effort to find what works and run with it, your business depends on it.

10 low-cost employee incentive ideas

These days, employees are taking on more responsibility and working harder than ever. You want to recognize your staff for all of their efforts, but your budget doesn’t seem to have any room for new ideas.

The good news? Most workers don’t need a high-priced award to feel appreciated. A January 2007 survey by Accountemps found that “frequent recognition of accomplishments” is the most effective form of non-monetary compensation named by full- and part-time office workers.

Even if you don’t have a lot of money to go around right now, there are still ways to treat your employees right and show them that you appreciate the extra effort they’ve been putting in recently.

Use a few ideas from this list of 10 low-cost employee incentives to show employees you care without breaking the bank:

1. Hold an event for no reason. Come up with a themed event each month, even if there isn’t a holiday to celebrate. Some examples: Crazy Hat Day, Favorite Sports Team T-Shirt Day. Have employees bring in some snacks from home and treat them to a few pizzas on the company’s tab.


2. Allow employees to take family days. For those days when kids may be off school, but parents may not be off of work, allow employees to work from home. Whether it’s a school half day or snow day, let employees skip the commute and spend more time with their kids, while getting work done.


3. Create a contest. Hold a contest that everyone can get involved in - post a trivia question on the company intranet or fill a jar full of thumbtacks and place it on the receptionist’s desk. Let employees guess the answer and give a small prize to the person who guessed the closest.


4. Celebrate small achievements. Reward employee achievements with small tokens of appreciation. Give a set of movie tickets to someone who went over their sales goals this month or present a small gift card for coffee to an employee who went above and beyond to help out a colleague.


5. Give a discount on what you do. Give employees a small discount on the products or services you sell. Encourage employees to pass the offer along to friends and family. It’s a partnership that benefits everyone involved.


6. Free food. Hold a pizza party on a Friday afternoon or bring in a few dozen bagels one morning. It’s a small gesture that everyone will enjoy and a simple, low-cost way to show your appreciation.


7. Have employees recognize each other. Ask coworkers to write something they admire about an employee on a small piece of paper. Frame their message along with a photo of the employee and hang them along the hallways.


8. Create a VIP parking spot. Reserve one of the best spots in the parking lot for employees who have done something outstanding. Give a new employee VIP parking privileges each month.


9. Turn the break room into a game room. Stock the break room with some classic board games - Chutes and Ladders, Sorry!, Operation, even checkers. The games don’t cost very much and provide some entertainment for employees when they take their break.


10. Say “thank you.” Leave a handwritten note at an employee’s desk telling them ‘thank you’ for a job well done. They’re two small words that can deliver the highest ROI when it comes to employee incentives.

Improve the productivity of your staff by showing them some well-deserved appreciation from time to time. Even the most simple employee incentive ideas can be just as effective as other high-priced options when you want to show how much you care.

Check out these related posts for more ideas:

5 tips to build employee morale in a down economy

Employee incentive ideas on a budget

Looking for new employee incentive ideas? Listen to Aretha Franklin

Incentives and rewards: Now is the time to act

Incentive programs: Where’s your follow-through?

Employee recognition ideas on the cheap, it’s easier than you think

Actually, the best employee recognition ideas don’t have to cost anything at all. Forget about big bonuses and expensive gifts, all you have to do is say “thank you” ... and say it often.

According to Bob Nelson, the “guru of thank you” and author of the bestselling 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, organizations must do more to thank employees and show their appreciation often.

“The number one reason people leave their jobs today is that they don’t feel recognized for the job they’re doing,” Bob said in an interview about a year ago with The Power of Goodwill.

Bob, who has worked with such companies as FedEx, Time Warner and IBM, believes that paychecks alone don’t make people happy.

“Peter Drucker, who’s the father of modern management, once said that money is always used initially to reward performance, but in no time at all it becomes an expectation and eventually it becomes an entitlement. People expect to get a raise just for sticking around another year. And in the typical organization, only three per cent of the base pay separates average from outstanding performers; there’s no alignment of compensation around performance. But not everyone gets recognition, and that’s partly why it means so much.”

“You get what you reward,” says Janet Smith from The Power of Goodwill. She expands on the basic management principal, explaining that if you want more outstanding work from an employee “say thank you the very next time that employee performs an iota of outstanding work.”

Do whatever feels right the next time you want to recognize employees and demonstrate appreciation, Janet said. It can be as simple as writing the employee a note, taking them to lunch or acknowledging their work in a staff meeting.

Even when times are tough, employee recognition does not have to suffer along with your budget. According to Bob, it’s usually the times when we need to recognize employees the most is when we tend to do it the least.

With a few modifications, employees will still appreciate signs of recognition, no matter how small the package. There are special considerations to delivering recognition when budgets are strapped and economic situations are tough, Bob said in an article from Harvard Management Update. He offered this example:

“Say you give a team award that used to come with $250 but because you can't afford the $250, you stop giving the team award anymore. I say still give the team award. Say something like, "We've had to drop the financial aspect to hunker down, but it doesn't diminish the value of the job that this team did, especially at this time." When we are up against it, just a word of support, a team lunch, a "hang in there," can go a very long way.”

There are countless ways to show employees you appreciate and value their work. If you need more ideas take a look at an older post on the topic, or check out Bob’s 1001 Ways to Reward Employees.

However you choose to do it, remember to thank your employees and thank them often.

What is the most effective way to recognize and reward employees?

Yesterday, Greg Ryan posted a great question on the HRM Today Social Network Forum asking: “How do you recognize and reward your employees?”

Because employee recognition is a popular topic here at Training Time, I thought it would be interesting to share what some of today’s HR professionals had to say.

A few of the responses support the idea that rewards don’t necessarily have to be grand, lavish gifts. If employees are self-motivated, small and inexpensive forms of recognition like simply telling someone "thank you" can work just as well.

The conversation leads to another question: Can verbal recognition motivate employees just as effectively as expensive, monetary rewards?


From the HRM Today Forum:

Ron explained how no one can motivate others and that motivation must come from within themselves.

“If you hired the right employees into the right jobs and kept a positive motivational environment, they will remain motivated. I always thought that the intrinsic rewards were way more powerful than the extrinsic. Simple thank-you's and immediate verbal recognition works great.”

Dan expands on that idea, saying that a sound compensation strategy is the most important form of employee recognition next to verbal feedback.

“If everyone thinks they are getting a fair shake at the outset leaders only need to maintain this by remembering to give POSITIVE feedback on a consistent basis. I am always amazed how much of a difference this makes.”

Aimee takes a balanced approach:

“A well-deserved "good job" especially in some kind of public setting is great, but when it comes down to it, there should be a system in place to give monetary rewards for going above and beyond. A previous employer of mine had a program where someone could be receive a cash award as recognition for outstanding work on special projects, etc - which was a big motivator for those of us who were not eligible for the company's regular bonus plan.”

And Laurie will take the money whether she’s motivated or not:

“I am definitely rewarded by more money. When I'm no longer motivated, I either ask for more money or find another job that pays more money.”

What do you think? Does employee recognition have to be loud and full of extravagant gifts? Or, can effective recognition be as simple and quiet as saying thank you?