How to Deal with Employees that Aren't Trying their Best

When employees don’t feel as though they are being properly compensated for their efforts, they may not try their best. When this happens, you should not always look to them as the only culprit for their lack of effort. The majority of all American companies use employee incentive awards to boost motivation and morale because they work. Here is why you should initiate an employee incentive awards to help motivate your employees:

Why Employee Incentive Awards?

*Employee morale boost.
Employee incentive awards make workers feel as though their company cares about them; this feeling is often reciprocated by the employee in the form of harder work.
*Short-term goal setting
When an employee knows that they might have something extra waiting for them at the end of a long assignment, they are more apt to bundle that extra something in with the goals already included in the assignment. Because employee incentive awards often require that a worker do a great job in order to earn the award, those pursuing the awards are inherently making ‘doing a great job’ one of their goals.
*Competitive motivation
Some people are just downright competitive. They have to outdo everyone around them for no better reason than to be able to say that they won. Employee incentive programs are excellent catalysts to create the perfect conditions for competition driven employees to push themselves to work harder. Simply put, some people are less willing to work hard unless what they are working on involves a competition of some sort; few people work more diligently than a competitive employee who has been made to feel as though he or she is in a competitive work environment. Also, because not earning the award has no bearing on their job status whatsoever, non-competitive employees who already work hard without employee incentive programs will not put forth any less effort.
*Makes your company more attractive to potential applicants
Your awards program is one of the biggest factors that determines whether or not a potential employee accepts your job offer—or even applies at all. Due to the fact that most companies have implemented some form of employee incentive awards program, it is a virtual necessity for your company to include these programs in order to attract the best talent in your company’s industry.

What are Employee Incentive Awards?

Employee incentives can range from verbally letting an employee know that they did a good job to an all expenses paid trip to the vacation destination of their choice.
Employee incentives should not only reward for employees who go the extra mile. This will often limit the awards to the more competitive employees and make other employees feel underappreciated. Here are a few other reasons to provide employee incentives:

• Birthdays
• Completing assignments on time
• Meeting sales goals
• Meeting production/productivity goals
• Holidays
• Recognition for years of service
• Annual incentives
• Just to show that they are appreciated

Because they do not have to be either monetary or expensive, these awards programs are the perfect way to motivate employees without breaking the bank.

How to Implement an Employee Incentive Awards Program

The first step to creating an employee incentive awards program is to find out what your employees want. This can accomplished through surveys, meetings or suggestion boxes. Regardless of which method(s) that you choose, make sure that you take steps to make your employees feel comfortable about honestly answering your questions.
Many credit card companies provide cards specifically designed for employee awards programs. Using these cards to fund employee award programs offers benefits that will ensure that your company is rewarded for your awards program.
Keeping employees motivated is one thing to do in order to keep your company successful.