Incentives for Employees

There are a number of ways which different managers in organizations employ to improve motivation, such as by treating the staff fairly, setting achievable goals, giving positive reinforcement, following an effective discipline policy, satisfying needs, and lastly, the most important of all, basing the rewards on job performance.

Although all these methods should be applied by a manager to increase work productivity, yet, special attention should be paid while deciding upon them, as nothing can motivate an individual like them. On that note, here is an extract about incentives for employees.

In simple words, financial incentives are the amount of increment that the staff gets, on achieving a particular target, i.e., if a person does 'A' amount of work, he will get 'B' amount of money. Financial drives are not the only types, there are companies that give gift items or organizing events for the high-achieving staff as well.

Such procedures, such as a rise in the salary, benefits the organization in two ways. Firstly, the worker who receives a pay hike gets even more motivated, and thus, maintains his high level of performance. Secondly, others too get indirectly motivated to work harder in aspiration of receiving similar rewards.

Incentives may initially cost the organization some money, but if one looks at its overall and long term benefits, i.e. high productivity translating in lower cost of production, the initial amount spent by the organization will seem worth it.

The motive of such programs is to increase the productivity, and to help them enjoy their work. Those who enjoy what they are doing are bound to work better with the clients and also among one another. Although, these programs are not a replacement for pay raises, but nevertheless, they can prove to be quite effective.

If they have certain ideas on how to make their work more efficient or productive, those ideas should be thoroughly discussed and even applied, if found to be effective. Also, during the management meetings, certain representatives should be included to show that the management does not have anything to hide from its staff.

Before implementing the programs, a good idea is to make a list of all the rewards that have been planned, and make the staff vote the ones that they think are the best for them. An organization can also consider the following.

• Attendance rewards could be something like certificates with "time offs" for the person.
• Soccer game tickets or concert tickets to a group, which has achieved its target.
• Certain health programs for people who do social work.

All these contribute a lot in motivating people, yet, the organizations should be very careful. The various programs should be employed only when the organization is in such a situation where it wants its staff to make that extra effort, like if there is a shortage of staff or if it's been a really busy season, etc.

The organizations should be very cautious, otherwise everybody will expect some extra rewards for even doing their regular job. So, maintaining a balance, doling out rewards when they deserve it, along with appreciating them from time to time, is the key to higher motivation levels and increased productivity.