How To Keep The Employees Motivated Without Giving Bonuses
The old school approach believed that money, above all, is the best way to motivate employees. However due to faltering revenue or other causes, no executive or employee would receive a bonus this year. Given the fact that an unmotivated employee impacts your company more than you may realize, how will you strategize to save both the company and your people? Mina Kimes of Fortune solicits the ideas of three top business leaders.
"Sometimes you need to [rescind bonuses]...The alternative to cutting bonuses is laying off people. We won't do that...The brokerage business isn'y great now, so I've been asking managers to simply tell folks that they're appreciated. We do little things like add casual days. We hired the Ringling Bros. circus to perform for our associates. -JIM WEDDLE, CEO and managing partner of Edward Jones
"...If there's less to go around, you should spend it wisely...make sure that you give a disproportionate share to employees who've contributed to whatever success you've achieved...Start a recognition program that gives spot bonuses based on performance. It's a low-cost way to reward employees and allows you to be selective in granting awards." -LAURA SEJEN, Global director, strategic awards of Watson Wyatt, HR consultancy
"Before you cut bonuses, see if you can make cuts elsewhere...[If you really have to cut back] tell them via every means possible. First, look employees in the eye and tell them. They might not fully absorb the changes, so you need to follow-up in writing. And then third, make sure to give employees a forum to ask you questions about the changes." -PAUL AMOS II, President and COO of Aflac
Check the Fortune Magazine for the full article.
About the Author
Andrea Mendoza is a virtual assistant of http://www.peppervirtualassistant.com helping select business decision makers in cutting-edge technologies and software development companies.
