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Employee Incentives
Jul 27, 2021 4:58:00 PM
The imperative for business owners looking to curb attrition and improve performance? Employee happiness and motivation matter. All of which begs the question of how to motivate your business staff. Read on for five employee incentive ideas aimed at cultivating happy and motivated business employees toward a better bottom line for you.
1. Applaud attendance and loyalty
When your business is short-handed, service is likely to suffer. But that’s not all: A consistently understaffed business may also lead to low morale and, ultimately, attrition. Creating an attendance-based business employee reward system can motivate employees to show up as scheduled, thereby minimizing call-ins and absences.
Rewarding loyalty is also important. Is there a particular employment milestone you’re looking for staff to reach? Rewarding employees who meet this benchmark can motivate others to stay.
Keep in mind that while cash awards are always appreciated, other awards, such as paid days off and flexible schedules, also have value.
2. Implement team and individual incentives for performance
Wondering whether to set staff incentives according to team or individual incentives? There are pros and cons to both. While the former motivates staff to work together toward a common goal, the latter lets business celebrate their highest-achieving employees while facilitating competition. Implementing a mix of team and individual performance incentives is a best of both worlds’ solution.
Again, while monetary awards are popular, there are less costly (and even free!) ways to motivate and reward staff for their performance, such as by assigning them preferential parking spots. Post a thank you note on their door in their honor. Write about them in a company-wide email or invite them to a one-on-one lunch.
3. Establish short term goals
How can your staff know whether they are meeting performance expectations if you haven’t provided clearly defined goals? While long-term goals may make sense from a management perspective, small, short-term, and achievable goals work well for empowering and motivating business staff.
But goal setting isn’t just about letting employees know how they’re doing. It’s also a motivational tool in and of itself. Setting specific and challenging goals (and providing appropriate feedback) directly correlates with better task performance.
4. Acknowledge their efforts
Praise seems like a natural extension of establishing goals and implementing performance incentives. However, many business managers and owners fall short when it comes to offering staff the positive feedback they crave. Positive feedback is a logical motivator of performance and yet praise is painfully absent. Not only that, but it costs you nothing.
The takeaway for business owners and managers looking to keep their employees motivated with business employee incentives? Because of its power, ridiculously low cost, and rarity, praising employees is one of the greatest lost opportunities in the business world today.
5. Show them their value
Speaking of showing them you care; today’s workers are looking for more than a paycheck. They’re also looking to be part of something. Giving employees a voice helps them feel connected, valued, respected, and engaged. There are many ways for businesses to do this and create a win-win situation, including offering professional development opportunities such as training courses to help with employee advancement.
Staff retention and poor employee performance are major pain points for businesses. However, they don't have to be. Investing in employee happiness and motivation by adopting these five incentive tips is also an investment in the comprehensive well-being of your business.
Previous Updates
The short answer is yes. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has indicated in their guidance that it is generally permissible for employers to ask employees about COVID-19 vaccination status.
There may be reasons why employers want or need to know which employees have been vaccinated. For example, to aid in return to the office from remote work planning or to administer a leave program for vaccination. Employers are permitted to ask employees if they have been vaccinated and to ask employees for documentation. Most vaccine providers provide documentation relating to the shot, and this should be readily available to the employee.
One area of caution, however: employers should avoid digging too deep into other health inquiries to not run into conflict with other employment laws relating to discrimination and disability. For example, if an employee states their health provider has instructed them against getting vaccinated, management should not ask why the employee cannot receive the vaccine or ask questions regarding the employee’s underlying health condition.
Likewise, the employer should remind employees not to provide vaccination documentation that contains the vaccine recipient’s personal medical information. Once the employee provides the documentation, it should be stored in a secure location, separate and apart from the employee file, similar to other medical records.
While you may ask employees if they have been vaccinated, asking about why they have not been vaccinated may elicit information about medical status so you should only ask that question if it is “job-related and consistent with business necessity”. Per the EEOC, you meet that standard if you have a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that an employee who is not vaccinated would pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others or themselves. This is a tough hurdle to clear.
Decide if you need to know workers’ vaccination status and which company representative is responsible for this request for information. As we have seen with other issues related to COVID-19, many vaccination scenarios will require consideration of various factors. Reach out to your FrankAdvice HR Consultant for guidance as needed.
