Appreciating the staff who’ve been loyal
by Lindsey Norris
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During the darkest days of the recession, as companies were laying off workers more regularly than Donald Trump, a surprising thing happened: productivity increased. In fact, almost half of companies worldwide reported higher productivity levels with fewer staff than they had achieved pre-meltdown, according to a January 2010 survey by professional services firm Towers Watson. That sounds great on paper. It also sounds like a great way to lose burned-out staff when the recovery brings more jobs back onto the market. Key to keeping productivity high (and staff around) is rewarding those who worked harder and longer for fewer opportunities.
Money talks
Bonuses have become a dirty word ever since it became common knowledge that financial bigwigs received huge payouts for exposing their firms to elevated risk for short-term gain, but when used for good and not evil, money is a powerful incentive. “Variable compensation is a good idea,” says Dorn Smith, a partner with Calgary’s DS Consulting Ltd., provided it is used for productivity rather than recognition. “It only works if it is actually tied to objectives for the individual. If the bonuses are arbitrary and determined by management, I’m not sure they work,” he concludes.
Pay people what they’re worth
There is a memorable line in the comedy Office Space in which the disenchanted cubicle-dwelling hero complains to a consultant, “If I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime, so where’s the motivation?” You could argue that having a job is motivation enough. But that’s no comfort to the standout employee who receives the same treatment as the average performers. “An important driver in employee engagement is people’s perception that management differentiates its pay program based on actual performance,” says Mark Dahlman, a management consultant in the Calgary office of Towers Watson. The bad news? “We know that’s hard to do,” he says. Here’s the chance for managers to earn their salaries.
… And for the Robin to your Batman
Everyone should be recognized for carrying the company through the recession in some sort of group celebration. “You’re going to have some individuals who really stood out, and I think there can be some public, individual recognition of that,” Smith says. The reward should be based on what motivates the individual; maybe it’s a golf game with the execs or a week end trip. Just make sure that you don’t demean the group’s efforts in the effort to praise one individual’s exceptional performance.
Introduce a reward system
Rewards don’t always have to be huge to be meaningful; people really just want to be recognized when they do good work. Many companies, including the Calgary Marriott Hotel and the Calgary Airport Authority, introduced employee rewards programs over the past year to help with morale. These sorts of programs vary, but many offer points for recommendations from other staff or customers that can be exchanged for merchandise.
Send managers back to class
Many managers today still think employees should be loyal to the company, when really they are loyal to their careers, Smith points out. A good manager should be able to make that work for employee and employer alike. Dahlman adds that managers need to recognize when employees should receive training or a promotion, and sit down with staff to do things like career mapping, “which shows employees where they currently are in their position and what the next logical step might be. It might not mean more pay, but it offers greater experience, which would ultimately give you the opportunity to pursue different kinds of things within the company.” Managers don’t have those tools? That’s what management training is for.
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