Rewards and Recognition

Everybody likes to be recognised and rewarded for their hard work. But for corporates the big question is HOW to effectively do this.
The underlying philosophy of most motivation schemes in organisations is that employees must be offered rewards in order to motivate them to be more ‘productive’. In fact most organisations have some form of incentive program built into their overall compensation and benefits scheme.(Rewards and incentives in the context of this article are tangible items or things given to employees over and above their normal salaries. These could range from holidays to cash bonuses).

Most organisations want short term, easy solutions to problems. For example, if the sales department are given a target of achieving an increase in sales by 30%, and are informed that they will receive cash incentives if they manage to do so, then the chances are that the sales personnel would be immediately motivated to meet the target. Assuming that the target is met, then there would be a twofold affect i.e. the employees get their cash incentive and the company gets a 30% increase in sales. This seems like an excellent win-win solution! But what happens then? In an indirect sense, the company has passed a clear message that rewards are tied in with productivity.

But why is this so? This behaiour can best be explained through the behavioural theories of learning put forward by social scientists such as Pavlov. The incentives offered to employees for producing or achieving tangible objectives tend to condition them into adopting the following attitude, “when I achieve this, you will give me that”. The motivating factor here is the rewards. Take the rewards away, and employees have a convenient excuse not to do ‘productive work’. In that context the long term effects of this strategy are minimal and, more importantly, may in fact sometimes be counter-productive.

In order to emphasise the importance of recognising the value of good staff, Emirates 24

7 organised an interview with some experienced corporate professionals. Among these was Mr. Niranjan Gidwani, Senior Vice-President, Eros Group. On innovative ways to reward employees and keep them happy at a relatively low cost, Mr. Gidwani comments:

“One top motivational technique is an 'employee of the month' reward programme wherein the said employee receives a certificate and cash prize. The HR department can announce the names of these employees by sending an e-mail within the entire organization. Internal promotions through structured performance appraisal systems help too. Smaller things like annual picnics, inter-department performance awards such as cash prizes, free movie tickets, lunch and dinner parties and personal thank you and congratulatory notes from senior executives all go a long way. Companies can award their people on the spot for their ideas and talent for doing the right things for the organization.”

As far as rewards are concerned, organisations must pay employees well and fairly. There must be a perception by employees that they are being paid fairly for the work that they are contributing to the company. Once the compensation and benefits system is taken care of, then the company must take measures to improve the work environment.

Be it marketing jobs, engineering jobs, IT or sales jobs in Dubai, employees always thrive on praise. The more they get, the harder they work to get even more. They want to know that they are doing a good job and that this is valued by the company. Managers should therefore look for, and capitalise on, opportunities to praise their employees as often as they can. When done properly, it's a small investment which brings in huge dividends.