Article  Rethink Employee Rewards Another office birthday, with another oversized sheet cake and another gift certificate to the local diner.  Or is it another cheap piece of desk clutter that says “Good Job!” in fake gold writing that is making your employee’s roll their eyes in boredom?  If you are thinking to yourself, “hey my employees like those plastic trophies…” then you are one hundred percent wrong.  This is the new millennium and modern workers don’t want the trappings of the tired traditional corporate recognition system, they want flexible employee rewards that can actually work for them. Enter incentive programs into the picture.  Incentive programs are internal systems that offer employees access to a choice of rewards based on the number of “currency” they have accumulated.  You have probably participated in an incentive program before though you may not have known it, and in fact, you are probably still involved in at least one now.  Many credit card companies utilize incentive programs and offer to customers incentives in the form of cash back, airline miles, or points that are redeemable for merchandise.  Employee rewards and incentives are the exact same principle with one major difference: you are in control of all aspects. Incentive programs can be designed based on your individual company’s unique needs. Your rewards currency can be in the form of points, check marks, gold stars, or any other denomination you can think of.  Also, you can control the types of rewards available in the program as well as how much each one costs. Staples of such programs include impersonal items like gift certificates to restaurants or merchandise, however company centered rewards, such as lunch with the CEO or a free “wear what you want to work day” are also very popular.  Fimilarly, how employees earn these pieces of currency is also in your control. Forget the diner gift certificate; why not give that employee one thousand extra corporate bucks to put toward a reward of their choice in the incentive program? How about changing that “Good Job!” trophy for a few hundred gold stars that they can use at their leisure? Like credit card incentive programs, incentive programs for employee rewards are almost all electronically based and can be run over the world wide web or your specific intranet.  Administrators on the incentive program account can add points to specific groups or employee’s cache at will, meaning you can dole out your incentive currency at your discretion. The key to the successful incentive programs is a combination of choice and challenge.  You want to provide your workforce with a range of tantalizing options for what they can “buy” with their currency as well as provide them with attainable yet challenging ways to earn the required amount.  The goal is to inject a fun atmosphere into work related activities as well as perhaps a little bit of healthy competition to increase morale and productivity. The bottom line with employee rewards programs is that they are the means to showing your workforce you value them, which is why taking the time to rethink your approach is so imperative.  If you aren’t willing to alter your tactics to offer more attractive and flexible rewards to your employees then your best and brightest might start leaving to work for someone who wants to give them more than a dinner out.  It is true, the times they are a changin’. Yet with a sound online incentive program you have one of the most important tools to change right along with it. Category Business Author WOA Member Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (1) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On 21 May 2009