Rewards

President Eisenhower called motivation “the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it”. That sounds simple, but keeping a team motivated can be one of the biggest day-to-day challenges that leaders face.

At Inconnection, we know that motivation is the key to improved results. We know that a happy, stable team smashes targets, and that a demotivated team’s results suffer, making retaining key talent and accounts difficult.

Most importantly, we know that motivation is something you can take control of. Let us take you through the five things you need to know about motivating and rewarding your people.

1. Treat Rewarding Excellence as an Investment

For organisations under pressure from analysts and stakeholders, a rewards and incentive programme can feel like a gamble. Often finance respond with cost-control tactics, but rewarding staff should be thought of as an investment.

A structured rewards and incentives programme can enhance staff satisfaction and retention, and deliver significant ROI:

• 66% of talent say that the presence of a corporate incentive programme motivates them to stay at their job. (DCR)
• 80% said that incentive travel increased their loyalty towards their employer. (SITE)
• Companies using incentive programmes report a 79% success rate in achieving their established goals when the correct reward is offered. (ThinkSmart)

2. Choose the Right Rewards

Cash bonuses are terrible motivators, as extra money gets quickly forgotten and absorbed into everyday costs (mortgages, bills etc).

This, along with an increase of unique-experience-hungry millennials in the workforce, is driving businesses away from cash rewards.

An always-on, points-based rewards programme and once-in-a-lifetime incentive trips can deliver significantly improved ROI over a cash rewards model – especially as incentives don’t only motivate those who attend. A SITE study showed that they also inspire non-attendees: 76% of incentive travel attendees found a recent trip motivating or extremely motivating… and so did 62% of non-attendees. That’s real ROI.

• 65% of employees prefer non-cash incentives. (Incentive Marketing Association)
• Over 65% of employees surveyed strongly agree that both travel and merchandise awards are remembered longer than cash payments. (strategicincentives)
• UK employees said that incentive travel made them feel appreciated (87.5%), increased loyalty (80%), “belongingness” (78%) and trust (75%) towards their company. (SITE)

3. Remember Rewards are about Recognition

Recognition from managers or colleagues lets people know that they are seen and valued, and that what they do has impact and meaning.

It also helps build essential interpersonal relationships between peers and leadership, and improves engagement, productivity, morale and talent retention.

• Nearly 90% of employees who received recognition or thanks from their boss in the past month indicated higher levels of trust in that boss. (WorkHuman Research Institute)
• 78% of employees who receive regular recognition from leadership feel like their opinions, voice and ideas matter to leadership. (WorkHuman Research Institute)
• 90% of employees who work in organizations with effective rewards programmes agreed with the statement “my work makes a difference”. (AttaCoin)

4. Make Recognition Regular & Timely

A recent Gallup report looked at how recognition boosts performance. Dopamine, is the short answer – the neurotransmitter that gives people a hit of feelings of satisfaction, confidence and pride peaks when their work is recognised.

Gallup also noted that dopamine and its effects wears off quickly – leading to workers who hadn’t received any recognition in the last week showing a 10-20% drop in productivity.

So, the regularity of recognition is essential to how effective it is. Maintaining that regularity can be a challenge – so use a rewards platform with the option for peer-to-peer recognition, and allow colleagues and team leaders to regularly say thanks for a job well done.

5. Maximise Your Rewards and Incentives Budget

This doesn’t necessarily mean increasing your budget – it just means doing more with what you have.

Working with a partner with a proven track record for creating reliable, scalable rewards programmes and unforgettable experiences can be key here. Using the right tools is vital too. Our rewards platform, MyRewards, is a cloud-based points banking platform that allows you to reward your people quickly and easily.

It’s a flexible, secure platform that integrates seamlessly with existing systems and grows with your organisation, and it has a huge selection of rewards to choose from – everything from high-street vouchers to unique adventure experiences in dream destinations.

Talk to Us About Your Rewards and Incentives Programme

We would love to talk about designing and managing an effective, scalable and motivating rewards programme with you. Get in touch now via the button above or call 0161 498 3311 now.