Employee Incentives and Recognition Tips and Research

Upcoming Webinar Event: Surprise me! The Incentive you CAN'T Count on is the Best Incentive

Tmitchell — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:01:00 +0400

Learn how you can make your incentive and recognition programs 4 times more effective!

No Cost to Attend!

Date: Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern
Where to Register: HERE

Every channel marketing manager, sales manager and every HR manager needs to attend this webinar to find out why what they think they know about rewards programs is wrong. This webinar will immediately show you why current incentive and rewards programs are designed backwards and actually fight against our human nature. In this webinar Tyler Mitchell from Snowfly, and Paul Hebert from I2I, will highlight brain science and three (3) case studies that will completely change your mind about how you design and operate your reward programs.

By understanding how the brain works when presented with reward options and seeing how it is applied in specific case studies you will be able to:

Increase participant engagement in the program
Increase behavior change
Increase overall program results

What you think you know and what your reward supplier has been telling you is wrong. The research is clear and the results are proven. This isn't just about "gamification." This is about how your brain works. This is about getting your audience to get involved in the program, getting them to want to participate and making them happier with the program process.

Spend 45 minutes and learn the one thing that can increase your reward program results.

This webinar will feature a case study focused on employee recognition, a case study focused solely on sales goals and a case study that combines both incentive and recognition criteria.

Registrants for the webinar will also receive a free white paper that includes the content of this webinar.

About the Presenters:

Tyler Mitchell is is the President of Snowfly which offers and supports a complete workforce incentives system consisting of online programs, motivating rewards and consultative services. Through years of experience and academic training allows Snowfly to create the ultimate variable reinforcement strategy to create huge wins now, and keep your staff and channel engaged for the long run. Website: www.snowfly.com

Paul Hebert is the lead consultant for I2I, an incentive and marketing consultancy, and is widely considered an expert on motivation and incentives. Through I2I Paul has been interviewed by the BBC, been interviewed by, and quoted in USATODAY (February 2009 -Posh trips for jobs well-done are fading away, May 2010 -Using trips as rewards for star employees makes a comeback, September 2011 -September 2011 -Reward travel for employees makes a comeback), quoted in the NYTimes Sunday business section on employee wellness programs, and featured in "The Debate Room" at BusinessWeek.com. Paul writes the highly popular blog "Incentive Intelligence" and speaks regularly on how to influence audience behavior.Website: http://www.i2i-align.com.

Lack of Employee Recognition Negative Effects

Tmitchell — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 02:57:00 +0400

Many years ago I had a job that I could not wait to get to each day. I literally could not wait to go to bed, because I knew when I got up, I was going to my job. I loved my job! I loved the people and the work. We had such camaraderie amongst all staff. I did this for more than four years. Then one day, I realized that I really didn't like the job any more. The motivation that I once had was gone; the alarm clock had to wake me. I literally would yell at my alarm clock in the morning. It was never in my nature to call in sick as I always felt guilty, even if I was sick. Over time I found it was not that hard to call in sick and not go to work. I realized I hated my job! I never asked myself, why? What changed, why you are so unhappy now? I just eventually left and moved on.

Many years later I had the opportunity to visit Seattle's Fish Market. Deep in this market is a fish stall, not unlike several others here, except this fish stall had so many people gathered around it. Being curious I wandered over. Before long, I was laughing and felt part of something. Customers would order fish, and then a worker would holler loudly this customers order, and then throw the fish to another employee who would catch that fish. This was done several times with lots of comical chatter. Finally, the last employee who caught the fish would wrap it up and to the customer it went. In fact, I believe many "|would be" customers became customers just to watch and be amused. I was one of them in fact. When I left, I thought about this fish stall all day wondering, do they do this all day, why do you suppose they are so happy selling fish? When I related my story to a family member I was told that there e is a book out that speaks to the story of this fish stall, titled "Fish."

I went right out and purchased this book and read it all. It was then I reflected on that job so many years ago that I loved so much and later hated as much. I realized just what had happened in that old job. Our leader had left us after 4 years, it was her presence alone that made the difference. What she gave us was Employee Recognition. Our leader recognized our achievements and even our failures. With our failures she gave us tools and mentoring to try again, or try again or even try again until we finally did succeed. She found value in each and everyone one of us and we felt it each day. One example for me was my fear of public speaking. I literally could not stand up in front of a group and say my entire name without choking. I'm over that fear and I attribute that to her, our leader. With our new leader came toxicity. There was no longer Employee Recognition, but disdain and insults.

Since that time, whether I am an employee reporting to others or have others reporting to me, I have kept in mind the importance of Employee Recognition. I believe that recognition is critical because it makes for a better, happier workplace and reduces employee absenteeism, thus creating more productivity.

Gamification: What it is and How it Works

Tmitchell — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:25:00 +0400

We have all enjoyed a good game in our lives. Whether playing a round of eight-ball pool with friends, a board game or video game, what keeps us coming back are two things: Games are fun and they're kind of addictive, particularly because they keep us reaching towards higher goals and an ultimate prize. Think of any multi-leveled video game of the past (Mario Brothers) to the present (Halo). The goal is to keep going until the end -- if there is an end.

But you don't need a game, per se, to play a game. Marketing gurus, for instance, are discovering this and have coined a new phrase -- gamification. The term refers to bringing more game-like structure into everyday activities i.e. the workplace. For instance, point systems are now being added to many job-related activities, leading employees to compete against themselves and others in an effort to be the top of the heap. Often visuals are added, such as accomplishment badges or medals or titles, each awarded as a person proceeds successfully moves to higher levels.

There are scads of examples of gamification; they seem to be popping up on the internet and in apps every day. The idea is simple, but also profound, tapping into our human desire to achieve. The best examples marry that desire every day work related goals, making us better and more successful in the process.

If you're interested in learning more about gamification of the workplace, contact Snowfly

Snowfly Client Employee Wellness Program Featured in Major Call Center Publication

Tmitchell — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:20:00 +0400

Snowfly Client, Callogix is featured in Connections Magazine in the article titled "Boost Your Bottom Line with a Wellness Program." The article, written by Callogix President Sherry Leonard, details how they used effective incentives (managed by Snowfly of course)to engage employees in their wellness initiatives. You can view/read the entire article HERE.

Don’t Underestimate The Little Guy When Choosing Employee Incentives

Tmitchell — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 23:54:00 +0400

Restauranteur, Danny Meyer writes in his book Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business that hospitality should be a part of any business not just the hospitality industry and that the hospitable attitude should begin with your own employees. If you treat each other hospitably then the same treatment regarding guests, clients, vendors or coworkers will just come naturally.

One way to foster hospitality within any organization is to supply incentives for your employees. Most importantly businesses should not forget the hourly employee when planning incentive programs, even small gestures go a long way toward making an employee feel recognized and appreciated. Hospitality is not just attending to a person’s needs or being nice; hospitality at its essence means being proactive and anticipating what you can do for someone to make their interactions with you better. In this case, it’s your employees’ interactions with you, their coworkers and clients at your company that you care most about improving and fostering; by making staff feel noticed and cared for you can do that without much effort. HR expert, Tess C. Taylor in her article on employee incentive ideas for hourly employees suggests both monetary and non-monetary ways to giving incentives. My favorite idea was providing a selection of free snacks for employees to choose from during coffee breaks. This idea could be accomplished with very little cost to the company and yet would be so effective for fostering morale. Food makes people happy!

Still in need of incentive idea inspiration? Why not check out these 30 ideas? Armed with inspiration you will be able to provide an incentive program that fits your budget and fulfills the human need of your employees to be appreciated. Hospitality is a dialogue and if your employees feel like they are getting something worthwhile out of working with you every day then they will be more apt to give more of themselves in return. Just remember hospitality starts within the team itself, so don’t reserve your perks just for salaried or top employees remember the hourly employees, those who most often do the most for the least amount of recognition.

It only takes a small gesture to get back a big return. Contact us today to find out how we can create an employee recognition program that is perfect for your company or visit our site to learn more about who we are and what we do.

Can an Employee Recognition Program Build Customer Loyalty?

rcowen — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 21:22:00 +0400

An interesting blog article that reinforces our own research. The only major difference is that we have found that our clients (and their employees) strongly prefer the "spend anywhere" type of refillable debit card rather than a store specific gift card.

http://customercarenews.com/can-an-employee-recognition-program-build-customer-loyalty/?goback=%2Egde_84542_member_146348705

USAToday article about gamification

rcowen — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:38:00 +0400

Businesses use gaming principles in marketing

Small businesses are using technology to help them operate more efficiently and cost-effectively in an increasingly competitive environment.

Nice endorsement; Snowfly customers have been using gamification for 12+ years.

Read the article and/or leave a comment:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/story/2012-07-29/efficient-small-business-using-game-technology/56545082/1

Research: BIG Employee Incentives can Hinder Rather than Help

Tmitchell — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:20:00 +0400

A recent study from a research team with The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggests that the fear of losing a big incentive can actually hurt performance.

This study shows what can happen when activities become learned and the incentive no longer is effective or participants become risk averse. One easy way to re-engage your employees is to include “random intermittent reinforcement” (brief games of chance producing a random number of points) within an incentive program.

Summary of study
Copies of the study can be purchased HERE

Snowfly Client Featured in Article about their Employee Wellness Incentive Programs

rcowen — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:53:00 +0400

Snowfly Client featured in Article about their Employee Incentive Programs Sherry Leonard, President of Call Center Outsourcer, Callogix, recently wrote an article about their successful employee incentive programs. In the article Ms. Leonard States: “If I hadn’t experienced it, I wouldn’t have believed our wellness program could reduce attrition by 50% and absenteeism by 80% while cutting our insurance premium increase and improving our overall company performance.”

Callogix has been a Snowfly Customer since 2010 and has utilized their Snowfly System to manage and deliver the employee incentives discussed in this article. This is an unsolicited testimonial to the positive results that can come as the result of utilizing Snowfly’s web-based application to manage and deliver employee incentives.

You can view the full article HERE

Reduce New Agent Turnover article from Connections Magazine

rcowen — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:56:00 +0400

If your call center operates as a profit center (sells, renews, retains, upgrades, converts, collects, or solicits), improving retention of newly hired agents will have an immediate impact on your bottom line. Reducing the ongoing cost and effort of hiring and training new agents is one benefit, but the real payoff is that key performance indicators (KPIs) go up and rookie mistakes go down.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of “the power of small wins,” it is discussed in the Harvard Business Review article, “The Power of Small Wins” by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CONNECTIONS MAGAZINE: http://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/2012/reduce-new-agent-turnover.html