The Most Desirable Employee Benefits
When it comes to hiring new employees, benefits can make or break the process. Hire with confidence when considering these tips on attractive and affordable employment perks.
In today’s hiring market, a generous benefits package is essential for attracting and retaining top talent. According to Glassdoor’s 2015 Employment Confidence Survey, about 60% of people report that benefits and perks are a major factor in considering whether to accept a job offer. The survey also found that 80% of employees would choose additional benefits over a pay raise.
Google is famous for its over-the-top perks, which include lunches made by a professional chef, biweekly chair massages, yoga classes, and haircuts. Twitter employees enjoy three catered meals per day, on-site acupuncture, and improv classes. SAS has a college scholarship program for the children of employees. And plenty of smaller companies have received attention for their unusual benefits, such as vacation expense reimbursement and free books.
But what should a business do if it can’t afford Google-sized benefits? You don’t need to break the bank to offer attractive extras. A new survey conducted by my team at Fractl found that, after health insurance, employees place the highest value on benefits that are relatively low-cost to employers, such as flexible hours, more paid vacation time, and work-from-home options. Furthermore, we found that certain benefits can win over some job seekers faced with higher-paying offers that come with fewer additional advantages.
As part of our study, we gave 2,000 U.S. workers, ranging in age from 18 to 81, a list of 17 benefits and asked them how heavily they would weigh the options when deciding between a high-paying job and a lower-paying job with more perks.
Better health, dental, and vision insurance topped the list, with 88% of respondents saying that they would give this benefit “some consideration” (34%) or “heavy consideration” (54%) when choosing a job. Health insurance is the most expensive benefit to provide, with an average cost of $6,435 per employee for individual coverage, or $18,142 for family coverage.
The next most-valued benefits were ones that offer flexibility and improve work-life balance. A majority of respondents reported that flexible hours, more vacation time, more work-from-home options, and unlimited vacation time could help give a lower-paying job an edge over a high-paying job with fewer benefits. Furthermore, flexibility and work-life balance are of utmost importance to a large segment of the workforce: parents. They value flexible hours and work-life balance above salary and health insurance in a potential job, according to a recent survey by FlexJobs.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents said they’d give some or heavy consideration to a job offering flexible hours, while 80% would give consideration to a job that lets them work from home. Both flexible hours and work-from-home arrangements are affordable perks for companies that want to offer appealing benefits but can’t afford an expensive benefits package. Both of these benefits typically cost the employer nothing — and often save money by lowering overhead costs.
More vacation time was an appealing perk for 80% of respondents. Paid vacation time is a complicated expense, since it’s not simply the cost of an employee’s salary for the days they are out; liability also plays into the cost. American workers are notoriously bad at using up their vacation time. Every year Americans leave $224 billion dollars in unused vacation time on the table, which creates a huge liability for employers because they often have to pay out this unused vacation time when employees leave the company. Offering an unlimited time-off policy can be a win-win for employer and employee. (Over two-thirds of our respondents said they would consider a lower-paying job with unlimited vacation.) For example, HR consulting firm Mammoth considers its unlimited time-off policy a successnot just for what it does but also for the message it sends about company culture: Employees are treated as individuals who can be trusted to responsibly manage their workload regardless of how many days they take off.
Switching to an unlimited time-off policy can solve the liability issue; wiping away the average vacation liability saves companies $1,898 per employee, according to research from Project: Time Off. And with only 1%–2% of companies currently using an unlimited time-off policy, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), it’s clearly a benefit that can make companies more attractive.
Contrary to what employers might expect, unlimited time off doesn’t necessarily equal less productive employees and more time out of the office. A survey from The Creative Group found that only 9% of executives think productivity would decrease significantly if employees used more vacation time. In some cases, under an unlimited time-off policy, employees take the same amount of vacation time. We adopted an unlimited time-off policy at Fractl about a year ago and haven’t seen a negative impact on productivity. Our director of operations, Ryan McGonagill, says there hasn’t been a large spike in the amount of time employees spend out of the office, but the quality of work continues to improve.
Student loan and tuition assistance also ranked highly on the list of coveted benefits, with just under half of respondents reporting that these bonuses could nudge them toward a lower-paying job. A benefits survey from SHRM found that only 3% of companiescurrently offer student loan assistance, and 52% of companies provide graduate educational assistance. Although education assistance sounds costly, companies can take advantage of a tax break; employers can provide up to $5,250 per employee per year for tuition tax free.
Job benefits that don’t directly impact an individual’s lifestyle and finances were the least coveted by survey respondents, such as in-office freebies like food and coffee. Company-sponsored gatherings like team-bonding activities and retreats were low on the list as well. This isn’t to say these benefits aren’t valued by employees, but rather that these perks probably aren’t important enough on their own to convince a job candidate to choose a company.
We noticed gender differences regarding certain benefits. Most notable, women were more likely to prefer family benefits like paid parental leave and free day care services. Parental leave is of high value to female employees: 25% of women said they’d give parental leave heavy consideration when choosing a job (only 14% of men said the same). Men were more likely than women to value team-bonding events, retreats, and free food. Both genders value fitness-related perks, albeit different types. Women are more likely to prefer free fitness and yoga classes, while men are more likely to prefer an on-site gym and free gym memberships.
Our survey findings suggest that providing the right mix of benefits that are both inexpensive and highly sought after among job seekers can give a competitive edge to businesses that can’t afford high salaries and pricier job perks.
SOURCE:
Jones K (30 May 2018). [Web Blog Post]. Retrieved from address https://hbr.org/2017/02/the-most-desirable-employee-benefits
The Business Case for Providing Health Insurance to Low-Income Employees
Low income employees without health insurance could be detrimental for a business. This study explains why providing health insurance for low income employees is crucial for successful performance in the workplace.
After the failed negotiations over the repeal of Obamacare earlier in March, the Trump administration appears to be on the brink of proposing a new health care bill. While the details are still sketchy, it seems likely that the new bill will leave many lower-income Americans without access to health insurance.
I believe there is a case to be made that, should this take effect, the private sector has a strong incentive to step in. The provision of health insurance by organizations is a sensible business decision—especially for low-income individuals. In fact, a number of studies—including one that I co-authored—highlight that health insurance coverage can be beneficial to the bottom line of businesses, and should be endorsed by managers as good corporate strategy if they seek to increase their productivity.
Health insurance for low-income employees is good business for at least three reasons: it is linked with reduced levels of stress, more long-term decision-making, and increased cognitive ability, as well as (perhaps somewhat obviously) increased physical health — all of which are crucial components of higher organizational performance.
Health Insurance Can Reduce Stress
Among other positive outcomes, health insurance significantly decreases the level of stress employees experience, as a study described in a recent working paper shows. Johannes Haushofer of Princeton University and several colleagues worked with an organization in Nairobi, Kenya — the metalworkers of the Kamukunji Jua Kali Association (JKA) — and randomly allocated some employees to receive health insurance free of cost for one year. In other words, the researchers sponsored a health care plan for a proportion of JKAs’ employees, whereas others continued working for JKA as usual.
In addition to collecting data through surveys — for example on the employees’ self-reported health and well-being, and their household characteristics — the researchers did something rather unusual: they collected saliva samples from all respondents, which were later tested for the stress hormone cortisol. These measurements occurred at two time points, at the start of the study and at the end.
The researcher’s results were striking. Not only did employees who received free health insurance report feeling less stressed, but this decline correlated with a reduction in the cortisol measured in the saliva sample. The decrease in cortisol was comparable to roughly 60% of the difference between people who are depressed, and people who are not.
This is important for organizations because employees who experience higher levels of stress are more prone to burning out, and less likely to attain high levels of performance. Stressed employees hurt the bottom-line — and interventions that reduce stress benefit it.
Health Insurance Can Lead to More Long-Term Decision-Making
But health insurance can do more, too. A paper I co-authored with Elke Weber of Princeton University and Jaideep Prabhu of Cambridge University that was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesfocuses on one reason why low-income individuals have difficulties escaping their destitute situation. As research has found, we show that poor people are more likely to make decisions that favor the short term, even when these decisions involve smaller payoffs than larger payouts they might receive in the future.
In our study, we find that this is partially the case because low-income individuals experience more pressing financial needs than their richer counterparts. Because they are so pre-occupied with making ends meet, they are unable to even consider a possible larger payout in the future. This way, they remain captured in what Johannes Haushofer and Ernst Fehr of the University of Zurich so aptly call the “vicious cycle of poverty.”
However, we also find that interventions that serve to reduce levels of financial need that low-income individuals experience can make them more likely to make more long-term-oriented decisions. One such intervention may be the provision of health insurance. With a safety net they can draw on when health problems arise, poor people may be less likely to experience their financial needs as pressing — and as a result, make more long-term-oriented decisions.
This can lead to significant improvements for organizations as well. Companies require their employees to make many long-term decisions. In many cases, a more long-term orientation is necessary for companies to thrive.
Not Having Health Insurance Can Hinder Cognitive Ability
Finally, health insurance can give low-income individuals peace of mind. A seminal study led by Anandi Mani of the University of Warwick investigated the cognitive consequences of poverty. The researchers found — in concordance with an increasing body of evidence — that lack of money saps people’s attention. While they did not specifically study health insurance, it is easy to extrapolate their research to this question. Given that everyone’s attention is limited, the more people’s concerns weigh on their mind, the less attention they can pay to any one concern.
To illustrate this finding, imagine a case where a low-income employee uses her car to come to work every day. She lives paycheck to paycheck and depends on her steady stream of income. Every day, even when she isn’t driving, she worries about what she would do if her car broke down. Such thoughts circle in her mind incessantly — they are always there, no matter what else she tries to focus her attention on.
Obviously, such worrying thoughts have detrimental consequences for her performance. Constant ruminations make it more difficult to focus on tasks that matter in the moment. Now replace the car in the above scenario with her health; let’s assume she has a chronic condition that requires medical attention when it breaks out. This is not an uncommon case: over 34% of employees have chronic medical conditions, which are even more widespread amongst low-income individuals.
Although many of these physical ailments cannot be cured, their accompanying cognitive detriments can be. Thoughts such as, “How will I pay for the doctor? How can I afford my medication?” could be eradicated with the provision of health insurance. This is especially important for low-income individuals who are more likely to have such worries. And with an increased ability to focus on their work, employees are also more likely to be productive members of the organization.
It is unclear what will happen in Washington D.C. in the next few months. Will Obamacare be repealed? Will millions of low-income individuals lose their health insurance? In the absence of a resolution, managers may have to step up. There is a business case to be made for providing employees with health insurance, which may make them less stressed, improve their long-term decisions, and lead to increased attention on the task at hand — and the case is especially strong for low-income employees.
SOURCE:
Jachimowicz J (29 May 2018). [Web Blog Post]. Retrieved from address https://hbr.org/2017/04/the-business-case-for-providing-health-insurance-to-low-income-employees
Better understanding of benefits helps both employee and employer
According to new research from Unum, a recent survey of more than 1,500 employees shows only half of U.S. employees would rate their employer as excellent or very good. Even less than that, the 47% who were offered benefits by their employer, rated the actual benefits as excellent or very good — some of the lowest ratings for benefits the Unum has seen in recent years.
The data points to a lack of employees getting information needed on the benefits being offered. Only 33% of those surveyed who were asked to review benefits in the prior year rated the benefits education they received as excellent or very good — a drop from 2012 and reversal of the upward trend since 2009.
“Offering employees effective benefits education can contribute to satisfaction with their employer,” says Bill Dalicandro, vice president of the consumer solutions group at Unum. “Even if employees don’t have a particularly good benefits package, those who say they received quality education about the benefits they are offered are far more likely to consider their employer a very good place to work.”
Employers can also get a win when providing educational guidance in choosing the right benefits. Correlation between employee satisfaction with their benefits continues to run parallel with overall employer satisfaction.
More than three-quarters of those employees who rate their benefits package as highly also rate their employer as an excellent or very good place to work. By contrast, only 17% of employees who consider their benefits package to be fair or poor rate their workplace as excellent or very good.
Additionally 79% of employees who reviewed benefits in the past year and rated their education as excellent or very good also rate their employer as excellent or very good — compared to 30% who said the education they received was fair or poor.
The survey also found:
- 40% of employees say they understand supplemental medical coverage somewhat or very well.
- 47% say they understand critical illness insurance somewhat or very well
- 48% whose employers offered long or short term disability insurance said no one explained disability insurance to them.
- 66% agree employers should do a better job educating employees about these important benefits.
“This research underscores the value of an effective benefits education plan, because when an employee understands their benefits, they tend to value them more and in turn may then value their employers more for providing access to them,” Dalicandro adds.
Food: The quickest way to an employee’s heart?
Originally posted May 29, 2014 by Scott Woolbridge on https://www.benefitspro.com
Apparently, workers in the U.S. are hungry for food-based perks.
A new survey by Seamless, an online platform for ordering takeout or delivered meals, looked at what employees are saying about food in the workplace. And although a grain or two of salt might be appropriate with this dish, the results are thought-provoking.
In the survey, 57 percent of workers say food-based perks provided by employers would make them feel more valued and appreciated, 50 percent said food-based perks would make them more satisfied with their employers, and 38 percent said that food-related perks would make them more inclined to rate a company highly as a “Best Places to Work” survey. That last finding ranks food-based perks as No. 3 in importance, after flexible vacation policies and gym or yoga memberships.
Employers are responding to this: there was an 11 percent increase in the number of companies offering food-based perks to workers in the past year, the survey found.
The report also noted that nearly half the workers surveyed (48 percent), say they work late nights and weekends some or all of the time, but just 9 percent say they are reimbursed for meals while working extra hours. Fueling that productivity also makes for a more harmonious workplace, the survey suggests, with 40 percent of respondents saying food-based perks would improve communication and collaboration with other workers. And although health issues can be a concern when food is provided at the office, almost half (46 percent) of employees in the survey felt that increased food-based perks at the office would promote healthier eating habits.
“Employees are working longer hours, and in return they want to feel appreciated for their hard work. Companies want to increase profits, but improving employee productivity while recruiting and keeping talented professionals are top concerns,” the report says. “Food-based perks offer an accessible way for companies to strongly impact both employee satisfaction … and recruiting efforts.”
Workers may appreciate companies that provide food-based perks, but HR experts and health groups often raise warnings about eating at work, especially if employees don’t also have opportunities to be active or access to healthy food choices. This WebMD article has several suggestions for healthy eating at work, including watching portion sizes, mixing in activity during the day, and bringing home-made meals rather than ordering takeout (sorry, Seamless).
And a 2013 Healthways study of 20,000 American workers found that workers who ate healthy throughout the day are 25 percent more likely to have higher job performance. So providing food at the office can be a good thing — as long as the programs address health as well as hunger.
Employee well-being status more accurate measure of job productivity than incidence of chronic disease
Originally posted March 27th, 2014 on https://hr.blr.com
Findings from a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed that the level of employees’ well-being is a more important contributor to on-the-job productivity than their chronic disease status.
The study, “Comparing the Contributions of Well-Being and Disease Status to Employee Productivity,” is the first to challenge the common belief that physical health is the primary contributor to employee productivity levels. It is also the first study to specifically show that well-being improvement can increase productivity in both healthy populations and those with disease, says a press release.
Well-being considers the important role of physical health while also factoring in a person’s sense of purpose, social relationships, financial security, and community attachment. Achieving the benefits of improved well-being—lower healthcare costs and increased performance—requires employers to look beyond physical health alone in designing wellness programs for their employees.
“As individuals, we intuitively know that we are not at our best when we are stressed about anything that is important to our well-being,” said James E. Pope MD, chief science officer at Healthways and coauthor of the article. “What this research has shown is how these elements of well-being interact to drive decreased productivity. Equally exciting is the discovery that programs designed to help improve the overall well-being can improve the productivity of both healthy and chronically ill individuals alike.
“Measuring employee well-being and understanding the unique aspects of their populations will help employers achieve more successful outcomes with their programs. Higher well-being manifests in greater degrees of creativity, innovation and employee engagement, all of which can improve value for employers by shifting the focus from productivity loss to productivity gain.”
According to Patrick D. Bogart, director of client service for Gallup, “The most successful, forward-thinking leaders understand that they are in the business of boosting their employees’ well-being, and they use this as a competitive advantage to recruit and retain employees. They know they will attract top talent if they can prove to a prospective employee that working for the organization will generate better relationships, more financial security, improved physical health, and more involvement in and attachment to the community in which they live.”
Researchers tracked the well-being of employees at three different companies using the Healthways Well-Being Assessment, a tool for measuring an individual’s overall well-being and providing insights into his or her physical, emotional and social health.
The study included more than 2,600 employees that either had no chronic conditions or had been diagnosed as having diabetes. Diabetes was the focus chronic condition due to its prevalence and demonstrated impact on productivity; those in the diabetes group may also have had comorbid conditions.
Analysis of 2 consecutive years of survey data revealed that survey participants with higher well-being demonstrated greater workplace productivity, regardless of whether they suffered from chronic conditions.
In addition, well-being was more important than chronic disease or demographic factors in defining how productive a person would be in any given year. Over time, changes in well-being contributed significantly to shifts in productivity beyond what could be explained by any individual characteristic, such as disease status, age, gender, or socioeconomic status.
Are employees more satisfied than ever with their benefits?
Originally posted March 17, 2014 by Andy Stonehouse on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
Despite some sense of grumbling out in the working world about the shape of benefits in the midst of further ACA rollouts, one new study suggests employee satisfaction regarding their benefits is at an all-time high.
MetLife’s 12th annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study, released Monday, shows what researchers suggest is a tremendous level of overall satisfaction with workplace benefits – with some of the highest numbers in more than a decade.
According to this year’s study, the overall satisfaction level hit 50%, the most solid self-evaluation of benefits in the MetLife research’s history.
And while voluntary benefits strategies also appear to be paying off, the company says that fewer employers report that voluntary benefits are at the forefront of their overall strategy.
“Employees who are very satisfied with their benefits are more than twice as likely to report being very satisfied with their jobs,” notes Todd Katz, executive vice president, Group, Voluntary and Worksite Benefits, with MetLife. “Because of this, offering a wider variety of benefits pays dividends for both employers and employees.”
Katz says the study indicates that benefits are a strong driver for employee loyalty, with 44% of respondents indicating that having benefits customized to meet their needs would be an even stronger pull to keep them happy and motivated on the job.
That ability to personalize their own benefits choices as part of a workplace package is taking on more appeal, the study finds. Some 78% of workers say they would like a greater variety of benefits to choose from and 80% say it would be valuable to have benefits customized to their individual circumstances, or their age.
Most importantly, 60% indicated that they would be willing to bear more of the cost involved in order to have more personal benefits choices.
Even with strong employee support and enthusiasm, Katz says the survey indicates that employers themselves are less supportive of voluntary benefits being a cornerstone of their benefits strategy, with numbers dropping almost 10% since the 2012 survey.
“This shift in employer focus is somewhat unexpected,” Katz says. “But rather than a change in strategy, this is likely a result of employers being consumed by health care reform and other cost control strategies.”
Katz suggests that employers continue to consider the long-term goodwill and retention benefits of offering a solid array of voluntary choices.
“The employee satisfaction numbers make it clear that voluntary benefit strategies are paying off for employers and that attention should not be shifted from existing plans. Changing course now may have negative effects on loyalty and productivity in the future.”
A top focus for 2014: talent retention
Originally Posted January 6, 2014 by Wendy Keneipp and Kevin Trokey on https://eba.benefitnews.com
Many would predict the top trend of 2014 to be some new cost-shifting strategy, voluntary product, or the pushing of employees to the exchanges, something that has to do with the employer, writing a check or the avoidance of writing a check.
However, the trend that we see for 2014 is largely focused on the interaction between employers and employees. We see a shift away from the myopic focus on health care plans and core benefits to a larger view of embracing the pre-recession focus on employee attraction and retention.
Several factors are aligning to, once again, drive this focus. The result will be a perfect storm of turnover; making attraction and retention a top concern for businesses.
Jobs numbers are trending positively. Baby boomers are going to be retiring in significant numbers and many employees are more than anxious to find a new employer. Add to those realities the recession-forced lesson of how to do more with less and employers will have to face the reality that they need their high performers more than ever before and they need the high performers more than the high performers need them.
The most insightful of employers will identify their best talent, start engaging that talent in ways that will repair the tenuous ties that currently bind them to the organization and start putting the pieces in place to ensure their long-term retention. These same, insightful employers will also become more purposeful in identifying the key talent they need to attract. As with the retention of existing key talent, companies will have to develop and execute on a purposeful attraction strategy to ensure that the key talent chooses them.
The best talent will seek out employers with strong cultures and with whom they find a cultural fit, who will provide access to the right training, and who will continually provide opportunities for personal and professional growth.
For employers, this perfect storm isn’t only going to make attraction and retention of the best talent a competitive advantage; it is going to make it necessary for their very survival.
The game is about to get significantly more difficult for employers. Up until now, they were in control and, they found most of their answers tied to their checkbook. The answers of the not too distant future are much more complicated than a checkbook; they are about creating healthier organizations that are powerful magnets to the best talent in the market.
Now, that is a trend worth getting excited about.
For a gallery of what other experts see as the top health care trends in 2014, click here.
Tips to help with negativity in the workplace
Originally posted on https://www.hr.com
Tips for solving negativity in the workplace
A lot of the time people feel that the workplace can be pretty stressful and they are not always so lucky to like every single one of their coworkers and not everyone has the most amazing boss. These are things you must be aware of in the workplace. You have to expect the negatives but to keep it from driving you insane, you have to at least try to keep a positive attitude and potentially come up with solutions to these negative attitudes.
1. Vent: Do not let your negative feelings about something build up, that could lead to a big explosive confrontation, which is obviously something you want to avoid. After work talk to a friend/spouse/ even a pet or anyone that will just sit and listen to your frustration. It gives you an opportunity to share all of your negative feelings, no filter involved and to possibly get some suggestions that might help with the issues you are dealing with. Writing it all down is also a good way to cope. It gives a chance to see them all in front of you, and can potentially give you your own insight on how to solve the negativity.
2. Come to terms: Keep in mind that you do not have the power to change everything that may cause negativity in the workplace. Focus on the things that are in your power and make the appropriate changes to make the negatives into positives. Coming to those terms will help you to further yourself instead of being stuck in a pit of negativity. Stay positive and keep moving forward and you will boost your potential to be successful.
3. Embrace what you have: Remember that things will not always go the way YOU want them to. Just know it isn’t just in your place of business, that’s life. It goes along with step number two where there is a point where you just have to learn to come to terms and accept that yes, there are some negatives you can change but for the ones you can’t, embrace them. It is the only thing you can do.
Stick with the positives and you will be much more likely to succeed. The negatives will be there, but if you learn to get past them or at least learn to work with them, then you will be in the right mind set to get what you worked for.
7 Ways To Keep Your Employees Happy (And Working Really Hard)
Originally posted September 8, 2013 by Karsten Strauss on https://www.forbes.com
It doesn’t matter what you build, invent or sell; your organization can’t move forward without people. CEOs, company founders and managers all over the world know that keeping the teams beneath them moving forward together in harmony means the difference between winning and dying.
Prof. Leonard J. Glick, Professor of management and organizational development at Boston’s Northeastern University, teaches the art of motivating employees for a living. He let FORBES in on a few tips for entrepreneurs and managers looking to keep their people smiling and producing.
Build Ownership Among Your Crew
You’ve got to get employees to feel that they own the place, not just work there. “One of the principles of self-managed teams is to organize around a whole service or product,” Glick explained. In other words, make sure company personnel feel responsible for what the customer is buying.
One way to inspire that feeling is to have each member of a team become familiar with what other team members are doing, allowing them to bring their ideas for improvement to the table and have input in the whole process. If the roles are not too specialized, have your people rotate responsibilities from time to time. “It all contributes to a feeling of ‘it’s mine,’ and most people, when it’s theirs, don’t want to fail, don’t want to build poor quality and don’t want to dissatisfy the customer,” said Glick.
Trust Employees To Leave Their Comfort Zones
Few employees want to do one specific task over and over again until they quit or retire or die. Don’t be afraid to grant them new responsibilities—it will allow them to grow and become more confident in their abilities while making them feel more valuable to the organization.
Though managers might feel allowing their people to try new things presents a risk to productivity or places workers outside of their established place, it heads off other issues. “To me the bigger risk is having people get burnt out or bored,” explained Glick.
Keep Your Team Informed
Business leaders have a clearer perspective on the bigger picture than their employees do. It pays to tell those under you what’s going on. “Things that managers take for common knowledge about how things are going or what challenges are down the road or what new products are coming… they often don’t take the time to share that with their employees,” Glick said. Spreading the intel lets everyone in on the lay of theland and at the same time strengthens the feeling among workers that they are an important part of the organization.
Your Employees Are Adults—Treat Them Like It
In any business there is going to be bad news. Whether it’s to do with the company as a whole or an individual within the organization, employees need to be dealt with in a straightforward and respectable manner. “They can handle it, usually,” said Glick. If you choose to keep your people in the dark about trying times or issues, the fallout could be a serious pain in the neck. “The rumors are typically worse than reality. In the absence of knowledge people make things up.”
You’re The Boss. You May Have To Act Like It Sometimes (but be consistent)
Though this issue is affected by an organization’s overall culture, there are going to be times when you have to make a decision as a leader, despite whatever efforts you may have made to put yourself on equal footing with your personnel. “Ideally they have an open relationship but not necessarily are peers,” Glick said of the manager-employee relationship. “I think the worst thing is to pretend you’re peer… it’s the inconsistency, I think, which is the bigger problem.”
Money Matters (But Not As Much As You Think)
Compensation packages are a big deal when employees are hired, but once a deal has been struck the source of motivation tends to shift. “The motivation comes from the things I’ve been talking about—the challenge of the work, the purpose of the work, the opportunity to learn, the opportunity to contribute,” Glick explained.
When it comes to finding a salary that will allow your employees to feel they’re being paid fairly, don’t bend over backwards to lowball them. If you do, they will eventually find out and not be happy. “If the salary were open, is it defensible?”
Perks Matter (But Not As Much As You Think)
Some companies (we’re looking at you Google GOOG +0.96%) have received attention for offering lavish perks to their personnel – massages, free gourmet lunches, ping pong tables, childcare facilities – but, like money, these things tend to be less powerful motivators for workers than in-job challenges and the feeling of being a valuable part of a quality team that will recognize their contribution. A manager needs to understand that though those perks are great and release burdens from employees’ shoulders, they are not a substitute for prime sources of professional inspiration.
“I don’t think people work harder, work better because of those things,” said Glick. “It may make it easier for them to come to work, I understand that.”
Rethink rewards on a personal level
Originally posted July 30, 2013 by Tristan Lejeune on https://ebn.benefitnews.com
Estimates from organizations including Mercer and WorldatWork put next year’s average U.S. base salary increase at approximately 3% -- a healthy gain for most of the industrial world, which actually saw pay fall this year, but a disappointing “new normal” for benefits pros who remember sunnier days. With budgets for rewards and compensation stretched like sausage casings – thin and fragile, but holding it all together – companies will be looking for even more low- and no-cost ways to recognize top performers and achievers than they have in years past.
That works just fine for David Olson and Dr. Bob Nelson, co-founders of Recognition PRO. Olson and Nelson have spent years tracking incentivized behavior and corporate rewards, and, like the song says, the best things in life are free. They say the best-motivated workforces aren’t driven by plaques, coffee mugs or even bonuses; they’re driven by deeper personal connections with their managers and coworkers, and personalized recognition that comes from those relationships.
“I’m a culture consulting coach with CEOs” Olson explains how he and Dr. Bob connected a few years ago. “[We] recognized the need to improve employee recognition culture within workforces, and we came up with a unique way to go about doing that,” Olson adds. “Most of the $50 billion [incentive] industry has tried to solve the problem by throwing merchandise at employees. That doesn’t really create a culture of recognition; creating a culture of recognition comes down to strengthening manager-employee relations …”
Nelson, the best-selling author of “1001 Ways to Reward Employees” looks at the problem from a psychological perspective. The ultimate goal of psychology, some say, is to improve behavior – in this case, group behavior. “I’m not in the incentive industry,” Nelson says. “I’m really a behaviorist.” Out of the 13 most-motivating management behaviors, he says, the top nine cost an organization nothing at all.