Motivated employees are the cornerstone of a truly successful company.
Total Rewards sustains a motivating work environment for driving employee performance. The key word is sustainability. Companies need to sustain great business performance which requires sustaining employee performance. The task won’t be easy but below are some important areas to consider for this strategic challenge.
Key areas to consider for an effective and sustainable total rewards program are Professional Growth, Aligned Values, Recognition, and Rewards. We will discuss more about recognition and rewards in this post.
Let’s take a step back and understand why rewards are effective in motivating people and sustaining great employee performance.
There is the science behind rewards. The neurons in people’s brain fire-up when people anticipate a reward and when people receive a reward. People get excited. This is how people are wired to respond and behave with rewards. Rewards become reinforcers and can motivate employees to perform and achieve desired outcomes.
Now why bother. Some may say just give them more money or restaurant vouchers.
It might be helpful to know that non-cash rewards are better “carrots” for the following reasons:
- Hold people’s interest stronger and longer
- Get people excited on the possibilities
- Gives an emotional connection
- Share the reward or picture of the rewards to friends and family (via Facebook or other Social media)
Know that we know that non-cash rewards are better “carrots” or motivators, the questions some may ask is “what rewards do we give?”.
It is extremely difficult if not impossible to know what a person will want as a reward at any given time. It is unreasonable to expect HR or managers to know what employees want as a reward. Furthermore, it becomes nearly impossible to know the reward that the employee wants to give for her/his husband, wife, child or other relative.
An effective and sustainable rewards program is not easy to build and develop. The key to a successful total rewards program is to provide rewards employees want. Thus, offer variety of meaningful and relevant rewards.
So now what can we do? One approach is to start small and evolve. Build the foundation of your total rewards program and find a strategic partner who can handle the rewards sourcing, procurement, logistics, delivery, and support in a seamless manner. Find a partner who can make the program accessible to employees anytime and anywhere. Furthermore, the available rewards should be diverse, constantly updated with new items, and can be delivered to any location in the Philippines. If you are interested to know more about a strategic rewards partner who can meet your needs, checkout www.carrots.ph.
Another strategic area to consider is what your employees and future employees look for a company. You want to retain your employees and hire talent as you grow. A recent study about Filipino employees or prospective employees mentioned that:
- Individual Rewards vs. Fixed Group are more valued
- Less than 60% believe they receive recognition for their efforts
- Less than 65% believe their employer rewards cater to their need
Lastly, do not implement a Total Rewards program manually. You are heading towards failure. Your total rewards program should be internet accessible and scalable. Make it self-service with very minimal effort and manual work by HR. Having a digital platform for your reward program allows visually offering the rewards (saving money on printing of paper catalogs) and gets people excited for the rewards they want. Let your rewards provider handle the complex tasks of procurement, inventory, and fulfillment. Leverage the scale and pricing power of your rewards provider to reduce cost of rewards per item over time (no need to ask for more budget every year).
HR should help managers focus their time on employee communication. In addition, HR can provide effective programs and tools for managers to recognize performance and motivate employees. Furthermore, HR can help provide a program that allows easy peer-to-peer recognition and rewards.
If you need more help take a look at www.carrots.ph and understand how a Total Rewards program can truly help your most important business asset – your employees.
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