No matter how popular your business is or how great your reputation, there’s no denying that work is tough and it can be difficult for your employees to stay motivated to keep giving maximum effort. Incentives are beneficial to keep staff working hard and rewarding them for their effort, as well as helping to improve productivity and efficiency within the company. Whether it’s company-wide emails that recognize the effort that went into a recent project to rewards for goals reached, there are numerous ways of providing incentives to staff. But how do they work and what benefits can your business see from implementing them?
It Improves Happiness
From a corporate perspective, there are standard employee incentives such as salary increases and promotions, but there are other incentives that companies can offer that will improve staff engagement and mood. A more holistic approach to benefits and perks are likely to increase productivity and help employees feel valued and rewarded for their hard work. For example, healthcare and wellness programs are a great incentive that is hugely beneficial. Training and development are also effective incentives that benefit the business but are also an attractive prospect to employees. Using a human resources management system makes it easy to manage training and development plans for staff that ensure they are keeping up to date with the skills they need to do their jobs well.
It Shows Recognition
When you’re working hard for a company and you don’t see any reward, it can quickly affect your motivation. Helping staff to feel valued and recognized for their contributions is crucial for any company that wants to motivate its staff. One of the main factors that staff cite as a contribution to their wellbeing and happiness is recognition for their time and effort, so any reward that highlights this will go a long way towards engaging and satisfying staff members. Employees that feel recognized and valued are more likely to be loyal to the company which encourages higher employee retention rates.
It Helps in Building a Company Culture
The culture of the company is vital when attracting new employees and retaining those you already have. In fact, it can be a big driver in terms of the reputation your business has as an employer. Incentive programs form a key part of the culture of a company, as it builds a team of people who are happy and excited to work for a company that treats them well which generates an excellence-based culture.
It Boosts Productivity
Incentive programs motivate employees by encouraging productivity. You might think that these programs would be nothing more than a bonus for employees – an extra that can be overlooked without much of an impact – but this is an error that many businesses make. In fact, incentive programs pay the company back with higher quality and a larger volume of work. This results in the incentives forming a core component of developing a top-class team that encourages efficiency and a higher output of work from each employee.
