Retaining top employees is always a
challenge. But as the country sinks
deeper into recession and corporate finances tighten, it’s imperative to
find ways to hang on to key people without taxing the bottom line.
“Incentive programs increase employee retention and help to improve work-place morale,” says Rob Wilson, president of Employco Group. “In this economic climate, it’s very important for
businesses to develop creative cost-effective programs that make key
employees want to stay.”
Smart Business asked Wilson how
CEOs can structure plans that keep
employees engaged and still maximize
the bottom line.
Why is it critical to develop cost-efficient
incentive programs?
They help your company stand out
against the competition when employees
are talking about their workplace in a
positive tone. It makes employees feel
good about walking into the office each
day. Let’s face it, work can be mundane,
and anything you can do to change
things up and get people excited is a
good thing. For example, you can let
employees wear Cubs or Sox gear on the
first day of the season. Or allow them to
wear jeans on some days. You might get
about 90 percent of the staff to participate. By doing so, you motivate employees without spending a lot of money or
giving anyone a raise.
What types of individual incentives can be
developed?
There are many things you can do. We
had an NCAA tournament pool here, and
our company not only paid out the top
three winners, but also the person who
came in last. We probably spent about
$300, but it produced a lot of excitement,
and people were talking about it
throughout the tournament.
CEOs can implement creative ideas like dressing up for St. Patrick’s Day or
Halloween. They can name an employee
of the week and month and put up their
picture and give them a special parking
spot. It costs the company nothing, but,
at the same time, it recognizes the
employees that do a great job.
You can do the same thing with gift
cards. These don’t cost a lot of money,
but the recognition that comes with
receiving one is priceless.
And there are incentives that do things
to help further employees’ careers, as
well. You can send them to outside seminars that aren’t very expensive but provide the tools needed to move up the
corporate ladder. You can let them take
college classes and pay for them as long
as they maintain a certain GPA. This is a
great incentive because, statistically
speaking, if you offer it company-wide,
not all employees will take advantage of
it. You might end up paying for a handful
of people to take classes, and the company benefits from the employees’
gained knowledge.
Another idea is to send people to
Chamber of Commerce lunches to represent the company in an official capacity. It’s work-related, but the employee
receives lunch and a day out of the
office networking. In some industries,
you can also give commissioned employees trips or vacations on top of their
commission. If it’s a group trip, you can
get a good rate.
When a smaller company offers a nonfinancial incentive, is it geared more toward the
individual or the company?
It can be geared toward both. With a
small company, you’re more likely to
treat incentive programs as a group.
Everyone is working together toward
the same goal, and everyone knows
what’s going on. However, as a small
company you also have the opportunity
to offer an incentive based on an individual performance.
In most cases, we recommend a company-wide policy even though people
end up being singled out. Overall, however, it should still be a company-wide
policy. You need to be careful on the
individual side so that you don’t run into
discriminatory issues or appear to play
favorites. For example, if you offer flex-time to a single parent, you need to make
it available to everyone.
Do these types of programs contain enough
meat to keep employees from thinking the
grass is greener elsewhere?
They do. You’d be surprised, but with
many employees, it’s not just about
salaries. For most people, it’s the environment. They want to be part of a company that’s considered a great place to
work. And a good incentive plan can be
a very important part of that.
ROB WILSON is president of Employco Group (www.employco.com), a division of The Wilson Companies. Employco handles
human resources outsourcing for 400 small and medium-sized Midwest companies. Reach him at (630) 286-7345 or
[email protected].