Incentive - January 2009 - (Page 38)

MOTIVATION @ WORK Improving Performance In Tough Economic Times Flexibility is key for motivating through the recession mericans are not only holding off on new cars and furniture, they’re questioning $4 cups of coffee. What was considered an everyday necessity is now regarded as a luxury. Definitions of want and need are becoming crystal clear. We may want a new 2009 car that gets 48 mpg, but looking at the $22,000 price tag, we realize we need only $296 for tires on our old clunker. Clarity comes from knowledge that both modes of transportation get us from point A to point B. Knowing the difference between want and need, in this case, just saved $21,704. We have to do more with less. It’s not fun but it can be fulfilling. For example, we want new living room furniture to keep up with the next-door neighbors, but then their house goes into foreclosure. Suddenly our old stuff looks good again. Okay, it’s not fulfilling; it’s hard. Change usually is hard. But there are benefits to facing and keeping within a tight budget both at home and at work. At the end of the month, there’s money to pay bills and make payroll. One added perk is that no creditors are calling. Your employees are also able to pay their bills, buy food and medicine. No creditors call them either. Change is not easy, but we’re all in this together. Now more than ever, living within a tight budget means employers must safeguard their most valuable assets, their employees. Employee recognition pro- A CHRISTI L. GIBSON Executive Director of Recognition Professionals International, formerly known as the National Association for Employee Recognition (NAER), has been with RPI since 2001, and has been published in newspapers and periodicals, and interviewed on both ABC and FOX News. She can be reached via e-mail at Christi@recognition.org grams have many positive strategic implications, but right now the topmost is that employee recognition programs improve the company’s bottom line. Studies have proven there is a direct link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction that ties directly to a company’s financial gain. (One such study is “Linking Organizational Characteristics to Employee Attitudes and Behavior,” produced by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement.) In other words, treat your employees with courtesy and respect, recognize them daily, and they in turn will treat your customers with courtesy and respect daily. Customers will then repeatedly spend their tightly budgeted, hard-earned money at your company. In the end, you make money, are able to pay your bills, make payroll and again, no creditors call. . The Standards Employee recognition must be given in a timely manner, appropriately, consistently and should be creative. And now more than ever it must be given sincerely. If on the third Friday of every month your managers methodically stop at each and every cubicle to say good job, your employees will feel as though they’ve just been checked off a human resources to-do list. And they’ll be right. Make no mistake; “goingthrough-the-motions” recognition 38 | Incentive | January 2009 | incentivemag.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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