Suggestions for an employee reward system

I’m the human resource (HR) manager for a rural savings bank. I was tasked with setting up an employee suggestion system. How do we encourage our workers to be actively involved in sharing ideas with management? Would a cash reward do the trick? — Blue Star

Generally, the answer is a cash reward but in some cases, it depends on what people want. You need to understand the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting employee motivation. If you’re in banking, some workers who are college graduates would probably think of their intrinsic goals rather than their extrinsic desires, at least in the first five years of their careers.

That’s because they want to log performance milestones to bolster their career achievements.

However, if you’re dealing with factory workers with high school diplomas, a large majority of them would surely opt for the extrinsic.

So, what’s the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors? Intrinsic motivation is best described by people who enjoy doing their work because it’s challenging, interesting, and enjoyable.

They believe that whatever milestones they can achieve while turning in an excellent performance would surely benefit them in the long term.

On the other hand, extrinsic motivation means material rewards, either in the form of cash, substantial benefits like health maintenance coverage, or both, among others. Doing an interesting job would only be secondary.

To understand worker preferences, you can conduct a survey to determine where they stand. Or, you could organize a town hall meeting for the bank’s chief executive officer (CEO) to discuss plans for a suggestion program and explain its objectives. Emphasize the fact that the program is under study.

Two weeks ago, Rhea (not her real name), a connection on Facebook, consulted me on what to do with factory workers who have 15 minutes of idle time before clocking out. The CEO wanted to maximize the work performed by every employee to the last minute.

Rhea’s boss frowns on workers doing nothing as they wait for the closing bell. She’s an HR manager tasked by top management to improve labor productivity. The trouble is the company doesn’t want to manage employee ideas and suggestions, finding them troublesome.

TWO OPTIONS
I gave Rhea two ideas on how to manage the workers’ 15 minutes of idle time. One, require all workers to reflect on what they’ve done for the day. Using an easy-to-accomplish form, preferably A4 paper, all workers must identify and briefly analyze their work achievements and challenges for the day.

Their direct boss must respond to their ideas or complaints the following day at the latest. If their boss is absent, the employees’ reflection form is sent to the next ranking official. Depending on the complexity, the idea form is sent to a junior management committee for processing. In general, prompt action on every idea is essential.

Two, conduct a 10- to 15-minute meeting before the end of office hours. This must be done personally by the line leaders to appraise their workers on their successes and failures of the day, including tips on how to avoid mistakes.

INCENTIVE PLAN
Whatever you do, take a good look at how monetary and non-monetary incentives can be used to encourage people to exceed management expectations. Therefore, you should focus on how effective your incentive plan is and gathering verifiable evidence to support it.

You must perform critical steps for each of the following measures to ensure the effectiveness of an incentive plan:

One, make the standards easy, simple, and practical. Guidelines must be easy to understand and measure. What are the requirements to receive actual incentives? What should the extent of the employees’ contribution be? Were you successful in reducing or eliminating product defects? Did the employee suggestion decrease the cost of operations?

Two, reward only above-average performance. An incentive should be given only to those with at least above-average accomplishments. Clear goals and expectations must be measurable, such as increasing sales by at least 20%. If an employee has achieved 40%, then that’s clearly above-average performance.

Three, distinguish individual contributions from team performance. While teamwork must be encouraged and rewarded, it’s equally important to give due recognition to individuals who carried the team single-handedly. Making this distinction is important so that lone rangers can be models for others to emulate.

Four, give out extraordinary rewards to deserving workers. While plaques can serve as positive memories, you must consider that such rewards are dismissive described as lapida (tombstone). Try a one-week business trip fully funded by the organization to ensure awardees pick up lasting memories.

Bring Rey Elbo’s Superior Subordinate Supervision program to your management team. Contact him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, or e-mail elbonomics@gmail.com or visit https://reyelbo.com.