Motivation Programs That
Don't Break the Bank
Simple, Low-Cost Ideas for Rewarding Employees
By Stephanie Daniel, R. Carnegie Consultant
Gold watches, lavish retirement parties, and generous pension plans
are quickly becoming vestiges of the workplace of the past, one in which
employees were handsomely rewarded for their decades of service and
commitment to a company. Nowadays, however, the changing workforce and
the rules of the New Economy have forced companies to rethink their
motivation and retention programs. Aside from generous monetary rewards,
what serves to motivate today's employees?
Through personal interviews with employees, as well as a review of
the current research on employee motivation and retention programs,
we've found that the answer in most cases is quite simple. One of the
greatest motivators continues to be appreciation in the form of positive
feedback. Below is a list of effective low-cost or no-cost programs that
require a minimum of time and financial resources to implement. We'd
love to hear what's worked in your company and invite you to email us
with your ideas.
- Write a note recognizing an employee's accomplishments or letting
them know how much you appreciate working with them
- Write an article about a valued employee in the company newsletter
and/or Web site
- Give the employee a copy of the latest best-selling management or
business book or a subscription to a business journal
- Encourage the employee to take charge of their career development by
offering to pay for a job-related training program of their choice
- Offer the employee who recently received a promotion several sessions
with a career coach
- Make a telephone call to the employee to personally deliver thanks
for a job well done
- Spur employee creativity and bolster problem-solving skills by
hosting a creativity seminar on-site
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In Today's competitive market, employees have many
options - how do retain your star performers? |
Sources:
1001 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson
The Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2000
R. Carnegie Associates offers a wide range of selection,
employee development, and retention seminars. For more information,
please CLICK here.
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Table of Contents
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IT'S OUR 15TH YEAR IN BUSINESS!
JOIN US IN THE CELEBRATION...
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| There's been a lot of change at R. Carnegie
Associates since 1985. In the early years, Bob Carnegie worked on his
own as a trainer and HR consultant, staffing new facilities and
expediting the start-up operations for a large power plant and
environmental engineering company. Today, there are six R. Carnegie
consultants working in satellite offices across Massachusetts and
Connecticut as well as a Web master in Alameda, California.
Fifteen years have passed and we've entered a new
era, but the mission of R. Carnegie Associates has remained the same -
to offer companies innovative and creative staffing and training
solutions at an affordable cost. We'd like to take this opportunity to
thank our valued clients, many of whom we have worked with since the
start.
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| Celebrate our 15th anniversary with us! Now through
3/31/00 new and
existing R. Carnegie Clients who use our recruiting services will be
entitled to one FREE monster.com posting and one
FREE Resume City Search
(monster's 1,500,000 plus resume database). Companies that are not members
of monster.com pay $275 for a single posting and do not have access to
Resume City. Please contact stephanie@rcarnegie.com
for details and refer
to this ad. |
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Table of Contents
| Japanese Companies Take a Serious
Look at Employee Retention Programs
By Christy Fujio, Anime Channel Editor, ActionAce.com
In the booming US economy, managers, directors, and HR people are
racking their brains to find effective ways not only to motivate their
employees, but also to prevent them from seeking better or more
lucrative jobs elsewhere. As managers run out of new and inventive ideas
to keep employees happy, it is only logical to look beyond US borders,
especially at Japan, where lifetime employment is one of the classic
characteristics of the Japanese business model, to see what methods
Japanese employers are using to retain their top employees.
Though entire books have been written about Japanese management
techniques, two main characteristics are identified as having shaped
employment patterns at large Japanese corporations: 1) lifetime
employment, and 2) age-based promotion. Most male college graduates join
Japanese companies with the intention of staying until retirement, and
in turn, these companies virtually guarantee that employees will be
promoted and given salary increases at regular intervals based upon
their age and the number of years of service. It's an unspoken agreement
that has been abided by employers and employees for at least the past
100 years.
Nowadays, as headhunters are beginning to make their presence known
in the financial and computer industries of Japan, employees who never
thought about changing jobs are starting to consider what may lie beyond
corporate boundaries. Japanese companies, like their American
counterparts, are having to work harder than before to attract and
retain the top people.
Historically, job seekers in Japan have sought well-paying positions
with large, well-known companies, like Sony, Toshiba, and Nintendo,
where they were guaranteed job security for life. Nowadays, while
employees still seek high salaries, many have reconsidered the merits of
working with corporate giants, which they see as dinosaurs, relics from
the bubble economy that crashed in 1993 and has yet to completely
recover. The result of this new way of thinking is that small companies
that promise merit-based promotion over age-based promotion now have the
advantage over the big firms in attracting talent.
And how can companies that have successfully attracted the
candidate's attention seal the deal? Aside from offering a great salary,
the best way to reel in potential employees is: 1) to give a generous
holiday allowance, in addition to 2) a complete shutdown of the company
over the New Year's and summer holiday periods so that employees don't
feel guilty about taking time off, and, (3) to offer large interest-free
loans that may be used to buy a house. Most things come down to money in
Japan, and in a country where most first-time homeowners are over 40,
the chance to buy a house is hard to refuse for twenty- and
thirty-somethings. That's something America companies looking for top
talent may want to consider as US housing prices skyrocket, making it
harder and harder for young Americans to buy houses. |
Table of Contents
| Yamaha's Kaizen Program Encourages
Employees to Reach for the Stars
Recently R. Carnegie consultant, Joanne
DuBosque
spoke with Mike Durell, a long-time R. Carnegie client and director of
human resources at Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Corporation in Newnan, GA.
Here's what Joanne learned about Yamaha's employee motivation program.
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Yamaha Motor Manufacturing in
Newnan, Georgia manufactures all-terrain vehicles, golf cars and
recreational water vehicles. For the past eleven years, the company has
enjoyed success with two motivation programs that offer substantial
employee rewards.
Companies and Employees alike reap the
rewards of a strong motivation program.
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The first activity is the individual Kaizen, which in Japanese means
"improvement." An employee will identify a procedure that can be
improved, suggest a solution and follow through with the implementation.
At the end of each quarter, the top ten employees with the most successful
Kaizen are eligible for a drawing. The winner is presented with a Yamaha
Wave Runner, straight from the production floor.
The second activity is the small group Kaizen. Three to five employees
take on a problem in their department, and following an established
procedure, recommend a solution and implement it. The group then has an
opportunity to present its Kaizen to a team of judges. The top three
groups receive monetary rewards and the winning group travels to Corporate
Headquarters in Japan to present to the senior executives of YMMC's parent
company. Every employee participating in the
Kaizen is given badges representing different levels of achievement
that are worn on their corporate IDs. Also, there is an annual recognition
luncheon for all participants.
Typically, the Kaizen deals with process improvement, or materials or
labor savings.
"From the company's point of
view," says Durell, "this program is an inexpensive investment,
given the phenomenal cost savings that we have realized over the 11-year
life of our Kaizen program."
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