My best HR management idea: Designing better performance incentives
October 23, 2008 by Jim GiulianoPosted in: Behavior, Communication, In this week's e-newsletter, Incentives, Latest News & Views, My best management idea
HR manager Kristina Davis had a problem: She tried designing performance incentives and awards, other than cash, that would get people’s attention and raise performance. Every incentive bombed, however. Until she hit on a way to sharpen their impact.
Her story:
Our system of noncash rewards and incentives was getting flat and dull. People just didn’t seem motivated by what we were offering, and when someone got a performance award, there was a clear ho-hum attitude.
Of course, to light a fire, we got a little creative: dinner for two at a nice restaurant, theater tickets, a day for the family at a local theme park. Still, no one seemed excited about getting an incentive.
Was it only cash that would do the trick?
Turns out, our problem wasn’t the incentives; we just had to do a better job of matching incentives with people.
What’s your favorite?
We did that in two ways:
1. When people came on board with us, we had them fill out a form listing their interests and likes – opera, auto racing, coin collecting, whatever.
2. We had current employees fill out the same form, too.
Then, when it came time to give employees a noncash award, we just looked at their lists and chose something compatible with their interests.
What a difference. Now, people actually strive for and look forward to getting the awards. And we wonder why we didn’t use this system years ago.
(Kristina Davis, HR officer, Waynesboro, MS)
Tags: awards, Incentives, performance, rewards
October 27th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Wow – what a great idea!! Can you share the form please? Thanks!
October 28th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Great Job. It might even have a better impact if you could let them choose from the list. While getting an award based on your preferences… preferences change over time. Letting employees choose from a more targeted list – versus being “given” something from a list would drive even better engagement.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Aren’t all these perks taxable?
October 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I would like copy of form
October 28th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
It isn’t cut and dried on the taxability. Here’s a good discussion of it:
http://www.incentivemarketing.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=43
October 29th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I work for a state university. Incentives are very difficult here unless paid for by a manager. What then? People are Ho-Hum over certificates and such.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
How would gift giving affect the minimus provision given by the IRS, which causes the employee to be taxed for such items?
May 11th, 2009 at 11:34 am
This is a great idea. I would love to have a copy of your form.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Please send me a copy of the form. Also, are some of you out there using a target list where employees can choose their incentive?