How to Incentivize and Reward Employees for Job Performance

Reward Employees for Performance

Managers and supervisors are continually looking for ways to provide incentives to reward employees for superb performance. The challenge is that all employee incentives don't necessarily fit the motivation of all employees. A particular incentive may do well in motivating one employee to perform at peak levels, while the same incentive for another employee may draw no enthusiasm at all. Managers can create an employee recognition and rewards program that serves the interests of the employees, while providing incentives for increased employee performance.

Instructions

1. 

   Determine what's important to your employees. Part of being an effective leader or manager is getting to know what motivates your employees. Depending on the size of your organization, this may be a challenge. An effective way to solicit this information is through employee surveys and suggestion boxes. These are great tools for getting employee input for use in building a successful program.

2. Create a program that is broad and flexible. Times change and so does employee motivation. For instance, an award for an extra day off may be appropriate for a new employee with less tenure, but may not be as attractive to a more senior person with plenty of vacation time. The employee recognition program created must be flexible enough to add new incentives, but must also be broad enough to address the desires of the entire employee base.

3. Use creativity in choosing employee rewards. Money doesn't motivate every employee. Not everyone enjoys sporting events or tickets to a show. Maybe gift cards to popular stores are in demand. Many employees enjoy public recognition and would like to have a luncheon in their honor. Use the feedback solicited from the employees to develop creative alternatives.

4. 

   Communicate awards throughout the organization. Employees will be motivated if they believe the rewards are real, and they actually have an opportunity to receive one. As part of the program, make sure program communications describe the award winners, the work accomplished to gain the award, and what the employees received. That gives other employees a clear understanding of what is required and the possible outcomes.

Tips & Warnings

• Creating an employee committee to lead the employee recognition program is an excellent way to your empower employees and allow them to participate in building a program that benefits the entire organization.

• Go out of your way to reward employees. It not only improves the business bottom-line, it creates an environment in which the employee is motivated and excited to perform at a high level.