During these recessionary times, I often counsel frustrated business owners trying to find ways to give their employees incentives other than money but that are also effective in promoting the behavior and results that the business is looking for.
For instance, the owner of a yoga studio wanted her employees to sell more yoga apparel but she was already giving employees a 20% discount without requiring them to meet any sales goals to receive that discount. Our solution: revamp the program to give the employee discount only after a certain level of clothes sales had been met. It’s a win-win with employees receiving the discount and the business receiving increased sales.
Keep in mind that different incentives work for different employees. What’s important to one employee is not necessarily important to another and, thus, the solution oftentimes is to offer more than one type of incentive program. The goal, however, is to find a win-win solution that gives the employees something they want and at the same time the business gets what it wants.
Some other examples of non-monetary incentives include:
1. Recognize and thank good performance; don’t wait for a performance review to acknowledge good performance. Many employees truly appreciate the recognition and the business gets a continuation of the good performance.
2. Give employees extra time off with pay (assuming you or other staff can cover) but make sure you tell the employee(s) in advance; nothing ruins extra time off faster than simply springing it on employees and they have not had a chance to plan or make necessary arrangements with family and the like. Even a few days advance notice is usually adequate.
3. Seek employees’ opinions and ideas. According to many experts, a large proportion of employees leave their jobs not because of low wages, but because they feel overlooked and neglected; that their voices are not being heard. Take advantage of your employees’ experience and ask for input.
Just because employees are staying in their jobs doesn’t mean businesses are getting full productivity from them. Most businesses are continuing to function on bare minimum staffing but that doesn’t mean business owners can’t be creative in providing incentives to get the most out of their staff. And in doing so, employees can be given the opportunity to get what’s important to them.
For more assistance and ideas tailored to your particular business, contact Rhonda Shelton Kraeber, Esq. at Alvis Frantz & Associates, (925) 516-1617. I have been assisting employers with these types of issues as well as all aspects of the employer-employee relationship for 20 years.
