Call Center Employee Incentives
Wildsporty
283 Posts
I have been given the assignment to come up with some new and innovative Call Center employee incentives not tied to cash or cash equivalent. One they specifically asked about is time off.
Is there other HR professionals out there with some really good incentive programs that do not involve cash? Are they working?
If you have some ideas..I am open to any suggestions.
Thanks
Shirley
Is there other HR professionals out there with some really good incentive programs that do not involve cash? Are they working?
If you have some ideas..I am open to any suggestions.
Thanks
Shirley
Comments
Do you have any way to measure the employee's productivity or quality?
What I was hoping to find were some suggestions for small non taxable incentives.
Shirley
Other things we do that are more team oriented tend to center around food - pizza parties, sundae days, salad/taco bar.
Best thing to do is ask the people that the program is being put together for as they'll tell you.
Things that cost nothing but have seen hanging around cubes for months, sometimes years are personal thank you notes from co-workers & managers.
A gift basket sent to someone at home is a nice plus especially if you can include a few goodies for the family (if they have one) or pets along with a personalized thank you note.
1. Wal-mart Gift Cards
2. Gift cards to various restaurant chains
3. movie passes
4. Tickets to local professional sporting events (baseball, football, etc.)
5. We maintained a membership to the local Golf course and would give the passes weekly to employees as an incentive/morale booster, they really liked this one.
6. We did lots of cookouts and pizza parties when department goals were achieved or plantwide goals were achieved and our folks really liked these as well.
7. To really reward successful teams, we'd take everyone out to eat and to the movies DURING the workday, with pay.
8. Time off with pay is always a winner. A lot of times, we'd let people earn a 15 minute "early leave" and you'd think you just gave them a sack of gold by their reaction.
As always, it's best to have a structured program which covers incentives, non-monetary recognition practices, awards, etc. What makes one person feel rewarded might be insulting to another employee. Some people don't want to be recognized in front of their peers while others crave that type of thing. For me, CASH always makes me feel rewarded, more than anything else. Good luck and post us back and let us know what you come up with.
However, sometimes just having the boss take someone to lunch makes a big impact. For some reason the IRS does not consider this a cash equivalent. If you are just looking at your bottom line, this may not be an option for you. In my experience having this sort of recognition goes far.
Public recognition in meetings, especially with some sort of trophy, is also very effective. I have read stories of employees (individual or groups) who got a really ugly and stupid looking trophy for recognition of their hard work. The HR department went to the dollar store and put together some weird odds and ends so it really stood out. It became a huge symbol to the employees and they seriously competed for it.
Pride in your work, and sincere appreciation and recognition for a good job done have a positive effect on almost all employees. As suggested above, many people believe that CASH is the answer. However, study after study has shown that most people will work for less, and work harder, if they feel they are sincerely valued and appreciated. If you want your employees to have incentives, start with recognizing their value in a meaningful way.
Good luck!
Nae
Clarification: CASH is what makes ME feel rewarded and I was trying to convey that everyone is different in what makes them feel valued and appreciated. I wasn't implying it's the best answer for everyone. Hence, my comment about having a structured approach in which you cover as many of these bases as you can. Saying thank you and telling your employees you value them are also things managers should be doing, probably on a regular basis.
It appears the staff likes those little silly puzzles that are magnetic and have metal objects on them, that one came up often.
One that I like that was suggested is the big boss buys lunch brings it back to work and has lunch in the confirence room with the employee. Many staff thought that was great that they could actually have an hour with the big boss. The time appeared to be more valuable than the lunch. Now we have to talk him into doing it once a month. Guess that is HR's job!
Another was to divide the call center into teams. The team that has the highest monthly sales on the featured product gets to have a pizza party. That is not very expensive.
We have already done the gift certificate idea for several years and it is becoming a huge headache..everyone wants something different and someone wanted cash cards. It got way out of hand on how much we were spending also.
It was also suggested that we hold small daily and weekly contests and the employees would earn points and at the end we have a really nice prize for the winner.
I will consider them all and than present them to management.
Shirley