Why staff incentives are vital

Staff incentives, whilst not a new concept, are still not a given with many employers. Employees get paid. They get holidays. That’s enough, right?

Well, in this day and age, obviously not. And here at Asda for Business, we agree. But, the truth is, companies can be hesitant to offer them. This is because there isn’t always an immediately apparent return on investment with staff incentives that the business owner or HR manager can see on their bottom line.

Then, there’s the problem of how to incentivise a workforce made up of unique individuals, with very different tastes, motivations and desires.

But do staff incentives really work?

Well, let’s get to the bottom of this question. You really need to decide what kind of incentive or incentive programme might be good for your business and its staff. look at what you want to gain as a company and marry that against investment in terms of both time and money to the business.

Staff incentives help retain your best employees

According to research carried out by Canada Life Group, published by Sage, 84% of businesses said that employee retention is improved by staff incentives. And the reasons? Employee incentives show each and every single person how much you value their talent and experience. Which will make them feel much more inclined to stay loyal to you as an employer. This in turn, gives a stronger sense of purpose–employees who feel more as part of a team rather than just a company staffer.

Staff incentives help maintain wellbeing and actually influence behaviour

With a little thought, a staff incentive becomes the right incentive–for every individual. And that’s when it becomes a great tool for productivity. Have the right incentive in place, and it can help to make staff feel valued. Team members who feel valued will come to work with more purpose. And this can contribute to an overall feeling of wellbeing. Not only that, but with greater peace of mind in the workplace and a bigger reason for being–goals to work towards–behaviour changes. And it changes for the better, in support of the common aim of the company.

This then becomes self-fulfilling, as more members working towards a common goal, help towards improving the culture.

You can improve the company culture and boost morale 

When staff members are working together with common goals, you’ll see a shift in attitude and morale. People will believe in what the board is hoping to achieve and also that they have places to go with regard to their own careers. This contributes towards one of the most vital ingredients in any growing company–a successful culture. A successful culture breeds fun and that then improves morale – win, win.

… And that leads to a boost in productivity

Yes you can, of course, use certain staff incentives to motivate teams to deliver more sales. For example, achieved targets can be rewarded each time. But beware of instilling a carrot and stick culture, whereby those very incentives are withdrawn if targets are not met. This would lead to the very disintegration of the point above. Alternatively, a big ‘Thank you’ here and a ‘Well done’ there in the form of an incentive, such as a corporate gift card, can spur an employee on even more. Especially if it’s unscheduled, or a complete surprise, say. This can have the knock-on effect of increasing sales anyway, but a more motivated staff can also help boost the performance of the business, overall.

… Which leads to an increase in your bottom line

So you’ve got some incentives in place. Your employees feel valued, they’re motivated and you’ve seen an upturn in morale and a definite change in culture. These are the things that go beyond measuring the month’s sales. They’re the things that, if you hold on to them, can have a direct and positive impact on your bottom line over the long-term. And the long-term aspect of this point is key. With the right staff in place, with each individual motivated as a valued part of the team, you’ll not only boost productivity you’ll make savings, too. These savings could be in staff absences, recruitment costs and of course, time and money spent on training new members of staff–all of which will contribute to a healthier bottom line.

Stay nimble, be flexible and you’ll be rewarded with a motivated workforce

And the good thing is, you don’t necessarily have to invest heavily from day one in a huge, all-singing, all-dancing employee incentive scheme. You could take the corporate gift card route, choose a range of tiered values and reward as you see fit to start with. Corporate gift cards from Asda for example, offer you flexibility in two ways:

• The flexibility of giving your employees a reward they can redeem on a wide variety of goods such as groceries, electricals, homewares and fashion.
• The flexibility of setting your own budget without investing in a grander scheme–and then flexing that budget to suit your business as you go–or even turning it on or off without being tied in.

If that sounds like the kind of flexibility you’d like to reward and incentive staff, you can register here.

 

 

 

 

 

Refs: https://www.sage.com/en-gb/blog/offering-employee-benefits-and-incentives-packages/