Bank finance articles and tips

A staff incentives scheme can be one of the most effective ways of improving morale and productivity within a company, but it is important to ensure you use it properly.

The term incentives is used to describe a whole range of things and employers and employees may have different views on what it means in the workplace. Academics have attempted to come up with a precise definition and organisational experts Peter B Clark and James Q Wilson have identified three different types - material, solidarity and purposive.

If you manage a business, the one you will be most familiar with is material, which refers to tangible rewards for work, such as salary and benefits packages. Solidarity incentives are more likely to be seen in voluntary groups, as they are all about social status and identifying with a cause.

Whatever sector you work in, you are likely to understand the importance of purposive incentives, even though they are often intangible, as they help to focus people on the goals of their organisation.

Business owners and senior managers generally identify material incentives as the most effective, as employees who believe they receive a fair wage tend to be happy, productive and unlikely to leave.

However, as money is tight for many organisations at the minute, due to the tough economic conditions, it is unlikely you will have spare cash in your budget to fund pay rises for unhappy staff members.

One thing worth considering is a staff rewards scheme, which could combine both material and purposive incentives. You will not have to spend huge sums on this sort of programme, as it is often enough just to show employees that you recognise they are doing a good job.

Incentives on offer could take the form of gift vouchers for people who hit certain targets or stay with the company for a specified period of time. An alternative - and long-term - approach could involve the use of an online points system that allows workers to accrue rewards over time and save towards a major purchase.

You may wish to utilise a rewards scheme to incentivise staff to complete a specific project on time, encourage competition between employees or just to give workers in a particular department something to aim for.

The benefits to the company of such a programme may not always be tangible, but factors such as better morale, improved levels of staff retention and a greater understanding of company goals are certain to be a good thing.

For the best in staff incentives take a look at what Love2reward have to offer. We have a range of cost-effective staff rewards and incentives schemes, so get in touch to find out how we could help your business.

By Dipika Patel
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dipika_Patel