Here at Snowfly, we are often asked by our clients whether they should focus on individual recognition or team recognition. Having graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, where I was trained by both Navy and Marine Corps personnel on various occasions, I am no stranger to the power of motivation using mutual team success/failure. I never wanted to be the one who was responsible for letting my team down or causing others to have to do extra push-ups. I also was taught that team success was always more important that individual success, and lived that way throughout my college experience. On several occasions, I witnessed classmates and fellow midshipmen sacrifice their time, often at the expense of their own grades and personal success, to help tutor or lighten the load of another midshipman. That was just the way it was done.
In the workplace, while the same level of selflessness may exist, it is just not sustainable over the long-term. Promotions, raises, additional earned benefits and incentives all mean different things to each person. Despite having common team goals, like a military unit tasked with a specific objective, most of us go to work and then go home to a different team than the one we just spent our entire workday with. When you live, eat, sleep and breathe the same mission with the same team all day every day, mutual goals, shared successes, and getting everyone home alive are all factors of what makes team incentives work in the military and exactly what is missing from incentive programs in the workplace where all rewards are team-based.
This concept is backed-up by the world of sports as well. For example, every member of an NFL Super Bowl winning team receives a championship ring and a bonus for winning the game. But, typically the player who received the most “individual recognition & rewards” for his contributions to the team, is also the highest paid player on that team. The superstar athletes are paid more because they earn it through their performance and yet, even they know that without the other 52 players on their team, there would be no championship. In other words, teams absolutely win championship games together, but it is the superstars who get their teams to the championship game to begin with.
Snowfly’s founder, Dr. Brooks Mitchell, shares some interesting insight into Individual vs. Team Rewards in the White Paper linked here. He provides compelling evidence as to why team rewards, while effective, are not as effective as individual rewards in the workplace. In his “75/25 Rule” explanation, Dr. Mitchell outlines how to include Team Rewards in an incentive program while still maximizing the ROI of every incentive dollar you spend by ensuring that your top performers, those whose efforts improve the performance of the rest of their team, should be compensated the most for their individual contributions. If more than 25% of your incentive budget is earmarked for “team” performance, take a few minutes to read the White Paper and learn what you can do to balance out your team vs. individual reward structure.
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]I have a rather large backyard at my home. I also have neighbors whose yards border every side of mine. We love our neighbors and we live in a great neighborhood. However, in our neighborhood, several of us have dogs, cats, chickens, horses, and (in our case) even honeybees. With all of these animals, and with the backyard garden that my wife loves to grow each year, fences are important. As Robert Frost famously penned in his poem, Mending Wall: “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Due to a rather strong wind gust, the 25-year old fence on the north side of our property recently blew over when one of the old rotting fence posts finally gave way. Our neighbors on that side of our home have dogs…lots of big dogs. They are great dogs, very sweet for the most part, but they are also territorial and can be unfriendly to our dog and children through the fence. When the fence blew over, we knew we needed to take quick action.
The following evening, my neighbor and I, with the help of some friends and family, began the arduous task of digging up the old rotted out fence posts and replacing them with brand new posts to repair and strengthen the fence. After coming up with a system of pulleys and chains and come-along wenches and a hand-built metal frame, we were able to dig the first concrete fence post foundation out of the ground and replace it with a brand new post. Then we moved onto the second rotted fence post and the fun really began.
After trying to get the concrete foundation for the second rotted fence post to budge at all, we were about to give up for the night as it was approaching 11 pm. We tried moving the crow bars, wenches, and metal frame we were working with one last time to see if we could make any progress…and then we saw some slight movement. Immediately, my father-in-law grabbed the 4×4 piece of lumber that was to become the new replacement fence post and was able to wedge it under the concrete in just the right way. He created enough force using the metal frame as a fulcrum that the sunken concrete foundation finally gave way and we were able to get it out of the hole and put in the new fence post. After trying so many ineffective ways, we had finally created the right environment to generate what had eluded us for the better part of 90 minutes: LEVERAGE.
Effective motivation techniques and behavior modification principles are sought after by organizations who understand that getting their employees to perform consistently, and in the right ways, is often one of the keys to success for their business. The problem is that all of the pushing, prodding, forcing, coercing, pleading, and manipulation in the world rarely provides any tangible results until the correct environment has been created where leverage starts to work in your favor. That concrete fence post foundation didn’t budge until the right environment had been created where we could take advantage of the principles of physics and use leverage to our advantage.
So how does one leverage the ever-changing workplace environment and create a self-motivated and productive workforce? How does an organization cater to the differing motivational factors and needs of team members from all walks of life, all races and genders, all ages and generations, from new-hires to 30-year veterans alike? The answer to both questions is: gamification. The Snowfly definition of gamification can be referred to in an earlier article here, but suffice it to say that gamification is the process of adding elements of fun, competition, and the possibility of winning a prize, to normal activities which turns that task into one with aspects of a game.
The principles of gamification can be used as very effective leverage in the workplace to motivate employees and modify behaviors without having to enact new policies, legislate changes in management or leadership styles, or even force or coerce new behaviors. Providing incentives which reinforce performing positive behaviors is definitely a move in the right direction, but by adding gamification principles to an incentive program, the end reward is only part of what makes an individual want to do the right things. When applied properly, gamification can provide direct feedback on progress towards a goal, gamification can allow an individual to know where he/she ranks among colleagues, and gamification can ultimately make completing a task or learning a new skill the catalyst for personal affirmation and accomplishment. Public recognition for an accomplishment via gamification often is more valued by the person being recognized than the actual reward and is in some cases the greater incentive for individuals.
But what really makes gamification the ultimate leveraging tool is that a good gamification based system can effectively take the results of the efforts of one person and multiply the effects over many people. In other words, by leveraging the power of gamification, one individual’s success can be broadcast to others thereby motivating others to achieve success as well. When a colleague’s successes are shared throughout the workplace, whether that success is shared directly by that person or indirectly through the gamification tools, human behaviors and emotional responses start to kick in and that success is leveraged because others want to experience the same thing, or better, for themselves.
If you’ve never seen a gamification system built for the workplace in action before, give us a call at 1-877-Snowfly and let us show you the best system available. Or if you are curious to see how partnering gamification with a customized incentive system solution would benefit your organization, call us or email us at info@snowfly.com. We would love to give you a demo of our unique system and show how you too can leverage the power of workforce gamification in your organization.
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]”My name is Darrin and I’m a football fan.”
[“Hi Darrin.”]
In fact, I am a HUGE football fan. The start of both the college football season and the NFL season each year are days that I look forward to and long for starting from the last tick of the clocks at the College Football National Championship Game and the Superbowl. For my entire “adult” lifetime, from when I can really remember being a football fan who enjoyed the small nuances of the game rather than just simply idolizing certain players and teams, the New England Patriots have been good…no, check that, they have been GREAT.
Now, before I go any further, I have to clarify that I am NOT a Patriots fan. I am a hard core Green Bay Packers fan. As a kid, I grew up loving the 49ers teams of the 80s and early 90s but my favorite individual player was Reggie White, the “Minister of Defense.” When Reggie was traded to Green Bay, I began learning the history of the Packers and decided I had found a new team to root for. But, I digress…this article is about the Patriots and their decade and a half of dominance.
First, I need to provide some context. Patriots owner, Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994 in part as a way to prevent the previous ownership group from breaking their lease with the stadium he owned and to prevent the team from moving to either St. Louis or Jacksonville. When he bought the team, Mr. Kraft said his ultimate reason for doing so was to build a team that would bring a championship to New England. When Mr. Kraft bought the Patriots, Bill Belichick was entering his 4th season as the Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns. Belichick was eventually fired by the Browns after having an overall record of 37-45 over his 5 seasons (’91-’95), including 1-1 in the playoffs, for a combined winning percentage of 46.25%.
Five years later, prior to the 2000 season, Coach Belichick was hired by Mr. Kraft, after two previous coaches had both failed to consistently deliver success. In Belichick’s first season as Head Coach of the Patriots in 2000, the team finished last in their Division with an overall record of 5-11. On that 2000 season roster was a rookie 6th round draft pick backup QB out of the University of Michigan named Tom Brady. Brady’s stats for the entire 2000 season included one completed pass on three attempts for 6 yards during garbage time of a loss. In the following season, 2001, Tom Brady again started the season as the backup QB behind starter Drew Bledsoe, but Bledsoe famously went down with an injury in the second game of that season, and Tom Brady took over as the starting quarterback, never again lost the starting job, and the rest, as they say, is history.
After Drew Bledsoe recovered from his injury (somewhere around week 10 of the 2001 season), the Brady-led Patriots were already well on their way to beating the favored St. Louis Rams in the Superbowl and beginning their unprecedented run as the model franchise of the NFL. Since Bledsoe’s injury, Tom Brady has started every game at QB for the Patriots (except for in the 2008 season when he went down with an injury in the first game of the season himself). Also worth mentioning is the fact that since 2001, when Coach Belichick and Tom Brady joined forces as the core of the Patriots organization, the team has failed to make the playoffs only twice (2002 & 2008) and they have notched 10+ win seasons in 14 of those 15 seasons.
As a Head Coach for the Patriots, Belichick has an unbelievable winning percentage during the regular season of 73.05% (187-69) and has averaged 11.68 wins per season. Even more impressive though is the Patriots’ winning percentage in the playoffs during that same time, where the wins are harder to come by and a loss means you are done. In their 15 seasons together in New England, Belichick and Brady are 22-9 in the playoffs (70.97%) and have won 4 out of the 6 Superbowls they have played in (66.67%) and from 2001-2004, they won the Superbowl in 3 of those 4 seasons. Tom Brady also holds 15 individual NFL Playoffs statistical records (including most games played, most wins, most touchdown passes, most passing yards, most division titles and most conference titles) as well as 7 Superbowl records (including most passing yards, most touchdown passes and most appearances).
Starting in 2001 through the present time, only three individuals have been present in the Patriots organization during their incredible 15 years of dominance in the NFL: Owner Robert Kraft, Head Coach Bill Belichick, and Quarterback Tom Brady. Every other roster and front office position within the Patriots organization has changed during that time span (some several times) but these three individuals have been the foundation of the Patriots success. What makes the consistent success of the Patriots even harder to understand though is that the NFL is the toughest professional league in the world in which to maintain excellence at the highest level. This is due to a combination of player free agency, salary cap rules, the propensity for serious injuries to key players, innovations in game planning and strategy, and even rules changes in the way the game is played.
All of these outside factors make it so much harder to keep the right combination of coaches and players on which success is built year-in and year-out. And yet, there hasn’t been a more sure bet in sports than penciling the Patriots in as the AFC East Division Champions at the beginning of each season, which they have been 13 times in the past 15 seasons, including a current streak of seven in a row (which, had Tom Brady not been injured in 2008, would probably be at 13 in a row right now). Tom Brady is the longest tenured starting QB for any team in the league and Bill Belichick is the longest tenured head coach – by several years! Consistency and striving for excellence every day have become hallmarks of the Patriots organization.
But unless you are a Patriots fan, the question you are probably asking yourself is, “Who cares?” So why am I listing significant stats about the Patriots? Why should anyone who is not interested in football, let alone the Patriots or Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft actually continue reading this article? Because theirs is a model that businesses (and every other NFL team for that matter) are trying to duplicate the world over. The Patriots, led by Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick, have developed an approach to their business that works: they have identified and consistently applied their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each member of their team and those individuals are then rewarded (or not) and kept on the team (or let go) depending solely on how much that person is contributing to the overall success of the team.
Coach Belichick doesn’t tolerate players who are not “team first” and the Patriots don’t overpay for high-priced free agents who are unwilling to check their egos at the door. Likewise, Tom Brady has famously restructured his own personal player contracts with the Patriots over the years and has taken less money in the short-term on multiple occasions in order to help the team attract, hire and retain the players who will help make him and his team better. As the leader of the team, Tom Brady knows that he can’t throw touchdown passes to himself, that he can’t block for himself and that he can’t prevent the other team from scoring because he doesn’t play defense. As a result, he knows that his performance and the success of his team is dependent upon other players being able to be recognized and compensated for their contributions to the team as well. Tom Brady’s ultimate KPI is winning Superbowls, and with four rings to date, he has repeatedly delivered on that metric and as a result is already considered one of the greatest NFL players of all time.
Building a team like the Patriots, one where the most critical contributing members constantly strive to be the best and will stop at nothing to reach that goal, is a result of consistently developing and maintaining the right culture. Snowfly can help any organization identify those KPIs which drive their specific success and which establish and maintain a consistent culture of excellence within their teams. Providing a working environment for employees that rewards and fosters excellence leads to attracting and retaining the highest performing team members for your organization which ultimately improves your “winning percentage” and bottom line. By rewarding performance excellence of measurable, deliberate, and repeatable key behaviors, just like the Patriots have established a deliberate culture, any organization can achieve success. Let Snowfly help your “GM” attract, hire, reward and retain the best players for your team by contacting us at: info@snowfly.com or by calling us at 877-Snowfly today. www.snowfly.com
Oh, and one more thing…Go Packers![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
For many years, Weighted Application Blanks (WABs) have been in use in the business world to evaluate prospective candidates for employment based upon quantitative data comparisons as opposed to the standard “gut feel” approach most hiring managers and interviewers use. The power of the WAB is that all candidates are measured against the same known metrics and when hiring managers change, the application process remains the same. But what if the WAB could get smarter over time? What if there was a way to develop a WAB questionnaire which used the results of each and every candidate who was hired, took their performance results over time, and the questionnaire itself automatically adjusted the weighting of the questions so that the process became more and more efficient? Well, Snowfly has done just that.
Snowfly’s esteemed company founder, Dr. Brooks Mitchell, PhD, developed the world’s first electronic WAB several decades ago and pioneered the idea of using computers to revolutionize the hiring process of many companies when he founded Aspen Tree Software Company. We here at Snowfly are very proud to announce that the technology behind Aspen Tree Software is being brought back to the public. Through our newest proprietary software tool, Snowfly Selections, we have created a platform which applies the techniques of traditional Weighted Application Blanks partnered with the sophisticated learning capabilities of modern computer-based algorithms to develop questionnaires which actually learn over time. In other words, we can help your team develop and implement a questionnaire which removes human bias from the hiring process which, over time, after analyzing the successes and failures who are hired, our software will continue to improve its efficiency and eventually hone in on the specific individuals who have the highest probability of being successful in that specific role.
Snowfly Selections will be a powerful asset to your Human Resources and Hiring Manager’s teams as they attempt to staff your company with the best possible candidates for your job openings. Selections has the ability to identify cultural fits for your organization, to evaluate work habits of potential hirees, key biographical and behavioral indicators, and much more. Give us a call today at (877) 766-9359 or send us an email at info@snowfly.com to learn more about Weighted Application Blanks, Snowfly Selections, and our innovative Incentive programs as well.
For more general information and an explanation of Weighted Application Blanks, please check out this link provided by Eastern Kentucky University.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
If you have never heard of sailing by ash breeze, you are in for a treat.
In order to become a commissioned Naval Officer upon graduation from college, I was required to take courses in maritime navigation and naval history. Nathaniel Bowditch was a name I was familiar with because he is considered to be the father of American maritime navigation. Being a Navy man, his book, The American Practical Navigator, first published in 1802, is one I became quite familiar with.
While I knew his name and was quite familiar with his book, I admittedly knew very little about Nathaniel Bowditch himself until this week when I finished reading a book about his life. In 1955, author Jean Lee Latham won the Newberry Honor Medal for children’s literature by writing, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which is a fictionalized biographical novel. The people, places, times, and historical events are mostly accurate, but the author did take some creative liberties in telling his life story. One such liberty recounts the story of Nathaniel learning what it meant to “sail by ash breeze”:
“Sail by ash breeze”
“Only a weakling gives up when he’s becalmed! A strong man sails by ash breeze!” (p. 47) “When a ship is becalmed – the wind died down – she can’t move – sometimes the sailors break out their oars. They’ll row a boat ahead of the ship and tow her. Oars are made of ash – white ash. So – when you get ahead by your own get-up-and-get – that’s when you ‘sail by ash breeze’.” (p. 48)
In the story, set during the Golden Age of Sail, a young Nathaniel learns that if there is no wind, a ship would often sit motionless and dead in the water waiting for the breeze to blow again. But some ambitious sailors would tow their ships by rowing a smaller boat in front. Nathaniel learned that this principle applied in his life as well, that he was ultimately responsible for his own life’s direction.
Starting at age 12, Nathaniel worked as an indentured servant for nine years, missing his chance at a formal education despite being one of the greatest minds of his (or any other) time. Eventually, he taught himself mathematics (including algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus), several languages, maritime navigation, astronomy, and medicine all without any formalized education. He was determined to learn all he could in life and to create his own “ash breeze” to propel himself forward.
Bowditch was motivated by the pursuit of excellence and was driven to never be stuck waiting for a “favorable wind” to determine his course in life. He is a well-known historical figure even today because of his determination to create a sailing almanac which enabled any person, regardless of their previous education, to chart the exact position of their ship anywhere in the world using only simple arithmetic.
The navigation principles taught in his book allowed sailors to stay safe on the seas and kept many ships from sailing too close to danger. In fact, a copy of The American Practical Navigator (colloquially referred to simply as “The Bowditch” by sailors) remains on board every U.S. Naval vessel at sea to this very day. His work has saved the lives of countless mariners throughout history and was the result of his desire to improve the world around himself.
Employee Engagement and Motivation
Today, few people have heard the phrase, “sail by ash breeze” (let alone know it’s origin) and yet the best among us live it every day. Motivation and engagement mean different things to every employee within your organization. Some employees will wait for favorable winds by constantly seeking direction while others may fight against any directions given. But your top performers will aspire to create their own ash breeze, and when they do, those around them will notice. Now imagine if you had an incentive program which rewarded those who sail by ash breeze in such a way that invoked positive peer pressure upon others who remain still while waiting for favorable winds.
Those who are rewarded for their initiative become models of positive behavior and a culture shift begins to happen because others will want to earn similar rewards. This is the power of positive reinforcement, and of our process at Snowfly of creating a customized incentive program for your company. Snowfly’s unique approach to workplace engagement encourages your employees to take initiative and create their own ash breezes.
Contact Snowfly today to learn how we can help your company sail on the “ash breeze” of initiative by emailing us at info@snowfly.com or calling (877) 766-9359 and may you have Fair Winds and Following Seas.
The effect that employee engagement can have on a company’s bottom line is staggering. According to a Kenexa study of 64 businesses, net revenue doubled when proactive measures were taken to improve employee engagement. Furthermore, a Towers Watson study also revealed significant increase in company margins when employees were engaged with their company culture via the sharing of ideas and collaboration.
Improving engagement starts by recognizing our common traits, those human desires and ambitions known to us all, then creating programs that nurture and motivate us to excel. Businesses are taking the concept of customer loyalty programs into the workplace, implementing their structures into company websites, Intranet portals and internal communities. This sparks employee participation in company learning programs, including incentives for sharing and collaborating with others in the organization.
A CMO at Bluewolf consulting, Corinne Sklar, emphasizes the importance of engaging employees in a real-time conversation that leads to the sharing of ideas, according to a CMS Wire post, “Gamification Is Here and It Means Business.” “Customer engagement begins with employee engagement. To drive greater real-time collaboration and knowledge sharing among our employees, we needed a comprehensive program that would appeal to our entire team — and extend organically into the corporate culture. Employees stepped up to earn points for sharing blog posts and white papers to sharing social media links as well as offering “thought leadership.” Has it worked? Bluewolf noted a 153% increase in the traffic to their website, plus a whopping 57% uptick on their internal platforms. Indeed, the right incentive program can help improve employee involvement and the bottom line.
This new age employee incentives article was written in 2005 by Dawn McCoy a Certified Human Resources Professional Ms. McCoy has an MBA and teaches University courses in Business and Human Resources and is a freelance business writer.
It is common knowledge the world of business as we know it has changed as a result of the Internet. It has helped to create a new reality of increased global competition for both customers and high caliber employees. In this new world, the competitive advantage often goes to the organization with highly motivated staff and loyal customers, not necessarily the company with the best strategy, product or service.
New Age Employee Incentives Are Critical
The new reality in the corporate world is customers have become increasingly indifferent as products, brands, and companies have fewer distinguishing characteristics and therefore become indistinguishable. As such, organizations must turn to their most valuable resource – people – to stand out and make the difference!
With a large percentage of the baby boomer generation poised for retirement in the next 10 years, the labor force itself is shrinking – meaning the competition for the best (and even just good) employees is going to step up considerably. What can organizations do to increase their chances of recruiting, retaining and motivating quality employees?
But even once you have attracted the high-quality employee, is it realistic to expect 100% motivation all of the time? As a Human Resources practitioner, that would be my dream employee. Unfortunately, such a high level of motivation is rare, albeit not unachievable, in today’s workforce. Employees of all ages and skill levels need constant feedback and rewards to encourage and maintain high performance and desired behaviours. Research shows if performance is not recognized and rewarded, it will not be sustained.
Welcome to the wonderful world of new age employee incentives! In the corporate world, incentives are used primarily to reward employee excellence, encourage desirable performance, and retain and attract loyal customers. For example, salespeople may be rewarded for improving sales, customers may receive a gift for test driving a new car, and the top store or team could be awarded a cash prize. For years, catalogue merchandise, logo’d items, and cash were the primary tools used to reward and motivate employees.
Organizations are continually searching for new and improved methods to motivate employees and loyal customers and, at the same time, trying to get the most mileage out of a new age employee incentives program. In the early 1990’s, I worked for a coal mine that rewarded employees for long service with gifts that could be selected from a catalogue. The gifts were the same year after year and, after some time, rather than feel honored, employees grumbled about the lack of innovation and choice. The reward system had lost its value and effectiveness because the rewards were not directly related to the behaviour and, frankly were not really anything desired by the employees.
Many employers are starting to realize employee incentives programs, especially those targeted at improving employee performance or rewarding customers, get stale pretty fast. Marginal success rates were experienced in the past, but most have not been sustainable partially because the Internet did not exist to glue it together. Because of the internet, it is possible to have large scale new age employee incentives programs and to make sure the incentive program is directly applicable to employees to ensure goals are met and desired behaviour actually does occur.
Recognizing there are challenges inherent in setting up an effective new age employee incentive program, what can an organization do to ensure success? As managers know, meeting a company objective is the result of the achievement of smaller goals and specific behaviours by teams and individuals on a weekly, daily or even hourly basis, all of which can be managed and rewarded in order to ensure the overall objectives are met.
According to Tyler Mitchell, Vice-President of Business Development, for Snowfly Performance Incentives, you “can’t just reward for the big objective such as an increase in sales by 5% – the employee needs to know how to get there and be rewarded for the steps on the way. That, and presenting the program in a fun manner such as a game, is what will result in the ultimate behaviour change. Remember the employees you are trying to motivate have grown up in a gaming environment – playing and watching games on television and electronically.”
Mitchell suggests starting with your biggest objective – such as increasing sales by a specific percentage. Then determine what is required to meet this goal such as monthly, weekly and even daily sales goals. The next level is to determine what is required to make the daily sales – it could be a certain number of cold calls and follow-up calls per day. In order to be able to achieve these daily goals, the employee needs to be showing up for work on time, entering the required data in the data base. Think SMALL! Reward all the behaviours that lead to the final objective, and this will increase the likelihood the final goal will be reached.
With all these behaviours to reward, one might think it could become an administrative nightmare, but the Internet has made it all possible – it is the glue that holds the new age employee incentives program together. New online tracking and incentive management systems such as Snowfly’s SPI system have made it possible to administer and sustain complex incentive programs rewarding unlimited numbers of desirable behaviours. This means the number and kinds of incentives are really limited only to your imagination!
Incentives can now be anything that can help keep the employee or customer interested and engaged. For example, some of the rewards Snowfly customers offer include: prime parking spaces, extended lunches, dress your boss for a day, have the President of your company serve donuts to your team, lunch with the boss, use of a company vehicle for a month, use of the company time share or condo, free flights on the company jet, monthly athletic club memberships, golf with the director, a day off with pay, or the ability to buy a shift change for a month.
Even with a well-designed new age employee incentives system, you are still left with the problem of making sure it stays fresh and is effective. The system must provide rewards that are meaningful to employees and at the same time, keep employees interested enough to encourage meaningful behaviors. Snowfly has the ultimate solution for keeping employees engaged – games!
Games at work are a hot new area in employee motivation and experts agree playing games and having fun at work have a direct impact on productivity and employee satisfaction. Snowfly uses games combined with technology to make the incentive program fun, thereby keeping employees excited and involved. Using the SPI system, each desired behavior is awarded a certain number of electronic tokens which the employee then uses to play a game and win points.
Some customers choose to have a “Slot Machine” or “Wheel of Fun” style game that allows employees to play their tokens and win 2 to 5000 points. In addition to traditional games, the SPI solution has a feature which enables participants to take educational tests as a reward for completing job tasks. For example, a person who comes to work on time or completes a performance task can now be awarded the opportunity to take a quiz and win points by passing a test. This makes a game out of the learning process.
For example, organizations using the Snowfly system use tokens to reward employees for a desired behavior such as completing an online training program or being punctual every day in a given week. The person receiving the tokens then goes to the website or game kiosk and plays a Slot Machine game. The employee “pulls” the handle and wins points. The points go in their individual accounts and are redeemed for rewards specifically designed for their wants and needs. Employees are not allowed to bet points already accumulated.
Snowfly customers love the system because it is fun and keeps their employees engaged and interested in the incentive program. Rebecca Boone, of Alliance Data Systems, says “It’s easy, very effective, and has produced measurable results in productivity. We have achieved our ROI goals but most of all, our employees just love it!”
Research also shows effective employee incentive programs pay off in terms of improved performance, lower turnover and happier customers. However, just having an incentive program is no guarantee it will be successful and help to motivate or attract employees. Organizations need to ensure the incentive program rewards the right things, provides meaningful rewards specific to the individual employees and keeps the employees involved.
New age employee incentives programs allow unlimited awards and the use of games to keep employees engaged and encourage desired behaviours. Experts agree having fun at work is an important component of retaining employees. When games are combined with an incentive program that rewards daily behaviours which lead to desired performance, you will quickly find that getting the best from your employees is an achievable… and maintainable goal.
This concept is backed-up by the world of sports as well. For example, every member of an NFL Super Bowl winning team receives a championship ring and a bonus for winning the game. But, typically the player who received the most “individual recognition & rewards” for his contributions to the team, is also the highest paid player on that team. The superstar athletes are paid more because they earn it through their performance and yet, even they know that without the other 52 players on their team, there would be no championship. In other words, teams absolutely win championship games together, but it is the superstars who get their teams to the championship game to begin with.
