Incentive - January 2009 - (Page 26)

the company makes more money and creates more opportunity, and customers have a better experience.” Mix ’n’ Match Small businesses with fewer than 100 employees have been offering family rewards for decades. This tends to be more of an impromptu process than the structured way some major corporations do it. Small companies tend to build a workplace culture that is family-oriented, says Bruce Clarke, president and chief executive officer at Capital Associated Industries Inc., a nonprofit employer association with offices in both Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C. He points to three different companies that involve families in recognition programs: One technology firm, for example, allows its high achievers to use the corporate plane for family trips anywhere in the continental United States. Another allows such employees and their families to take out the owner’s personal yacht—along with its captain—for a day trip on the Atlantic Ocean. A third company’s owner sends his personal chef to the employee’s home to prepare a meal for the entire family. Capitol Broadcasting Co. in Raleigh, accomplishments, knowing they will share the letter with their family. “It really internalizes in their mind that you really thought they did a good job, that it was really important to the organization,” he says. “There’s a lot of power in one-toone gratitude that’s genuine, that’s not related to any kind of commerce.” Organization and innovation expert Amir Elion suggests on his Web site, www.Best100 Ideas.com, several ways to say thanks to employees in their families’ presence: Invite the family—everyone from spouse or partner to children and parents—for lunch and a workplace tour, pointing out the employee’s special projects. Visit the employee’s home—bring dinner or dessert—to tell family members why the employee is important and appreciated. Send out an e-mail newsletter to all employees’ families, each time highlighting the success of different employees. Personal Ties When Adrian Gostick, vice president of incentive and recognition company O.C. Tanner Co., based in Salt Lake City, gives “People will remember just about everybody who does something nice for their family.” —Bruce Clarke, Capital Asssociated Industries N.C., a member of CAI that owns a minor league baseball park, once invited Clarke and his son to sit in the company’s skybox during a game. “People will remember just about everybody who does something nice for their family, especially if it’s for their children,” he says. “That’s a powerful bond.” However, avoid “shoot from the hip” recognitions, since they can produce unintended consequences, he says. Human resources needs to find out what a spouse or children enjoy, ranging from their favorite restaurant to entertainment. An outing on the owner’s yacht sounds like a great idea until HR discovers that the spouse gets seasick. Even simple rewards can produce positive results. Clarke has sent employees handwritten letters to their homes, praising their presentations about motivating employees, he sometimes asks people in the audience if they have rewarded the families of employees. Out of a crowd of 300 people, he says maybe four or five hands are raised. “A lot of people feel like it crosses the line,” says Gostick, co-author of The Carrot Principle. “[They think] it’s not appropriate—work stays at work, home at home. Nothing could be further from the truth.” He says every manager needs to create a recognition log that records information about each member of their staff ’s family, such as what activities they enjoy, food they like to eat, sports they play or watch, birthdays and wedding anniversaries. He says the smartest managers he’s ever met have connected to their employees on a personal level. “It may seem like it’s real above and beyond, [but] boy, people will walk through fire for somebody like that,” he says, adding that it serves as a strong retention tool. “If you make that marriage of employee and family motivation work together, you’re going to have more success. It’s just inevitable.” That’s what Matthew Kelly discovered seven years ago. Kelly is president of Floyd Consulting, a Chicago-based consulting firm that specializes in strategic planning and employee engagement strategies. Back then, his firm was contacted by a janitorial company that had huge employee engagement problems. At the time, the company employed 400 workers and had a whopping 400 percent turnover rate. Initially, the company surveyed employees to find out why they were quitting and found many didn’t have transportation to work. The company set up a shuttle service in three different neighborhoods. By doing just that, turnover dropped to 225 percent. But there was still more work to be done. “I said people don’t dream of being janitors, so you have to find out what their dreams are and connect their work to their dreams,” explains Kelly, who also created The Dream Manager program based on a book he wrote. So the company conducted a dream survey and discovered that most employees had simple dreams, like buying a car or learning English or how to operate a computer. The firm then hired a full-time dream manager, who met with employees once a month to identify their dreams and help them develop a plan to achieve them. However, the dream manager also met with each employee’s family—the spouse, children and even grandchildren if they were old enough. The program was so successful that the janitorial firm hired several more full-time dream managers, then watched the turnover rate for its now 600 employees plunge to 20 percent. “[When] employees start engaging their family in their dreams, that’s where you find the most passionate relationships,” Kelly says, adding that happy families produce happy and productive employees. “There’s nothing more powerful than people pursuing their dream together.” I Send comments to feedback@incentivemag.com 26 | Incentive | January 2009 | incentivemag.com http://www.Best100Ideas.com http://www.Best100Ideas.com http://www.incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - January 2009

Incentive - January 2009 Contents Editor's Note: Rewards Must Be Sustainable Headlines Cover Story: Responsibility's New Role Incentive Interview: Patrick Lencioni Family Rewards: Who They're Working For Primer: Working Design Leap of Faith: Religion in the Workplace Cook Up Engagement: Kitchen Teambuilding My Turn: Procurement Possibilities Motivation@Work: Hard Times Recognition Legal Ease: The Tax Facts on Corporate Gifts Travel News: Where to Go and What to Do The Bahamas: Islands in the Sun Field Reports: Four European Destinations Golf: Around the World in 18 Holes Potentials Here and Now Watches and Clocks: Strike the Pose Golf Merchandise: Awards with a Solid Swing Computers: Digital Delights Retailers Band Together for Gift Card Market Gift Cards: The Prepaid Reward Spectrum Advertiser Index On the Web www.Incentivemag.com

Incentive - January 2009

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