Encouraging workers for their work and efficient performance of functions is an excellent tool to help instill a conscious attitude to work, increase the efficiency of production processes and ensure discipline in the team.
The value of incentive measures
For each employee, the most important reward for his work is a decent and timely salary. However, material and moral incentives for success in work are considered equally significant. Their proper use allows us to ensure labor discipline and maintain it at the proper level. These techniques produce a powerful stimulating effect, pushing the organization’s employees to further production successes, and also become a positive example for the rest of the team members.
Work incentives are often used in cases of exemplary behavior (merit of labor). The subject can be both individual workers and groups.
Incentive measures: definition and essence
Encouragement is called one form or another of a positive assessment of the behavior or results of an employee’s work by the employer, the work collective, or the state. Incentive measures are classified on the basis of who and for what merit they receive.
In fact, rewards for labor achievements can be rewards, benefits, benefits, or public displays of gratitude and honor. As a result of the application of such measures, the prestige of the employee or team increases. This is a realization of the need for recognition that is inherent in every person. The awarded employee is grateful to the leadership, and also recognizes its value to the team and the enterprise.
The encouragement for work inspires people to conscientiously fulfill their duties, charges them with the desire to reach new heights in the profession, to be more useful for the company.
Motivated employees are extremely important for the enterprise. Due to the presence of strong, vivid motives, they work more efficiently and efficiently, actively and with full dedication of forces overcome the difficulties and problems that arise, and more quickly achieve their goals.
Types of incentives for work: material compensation
Among the most effective incentive measures distinguish between tangible and intangible.
Material incentives include a system of measures aimed at ensuring the financial interest of company employees in certain labor results.
It could be:
- Premium payment.
- Presentation of a valuable gift.
The bonus is awarded to employees, in addition to salaries, for the fact that they achieved a specific result in work.
Bonus as a reward for labor is applied according to the system adopted by the enterprise. The conditions for receipt and the size of payments are indicated in the collective or labor contract, agreement, local regulatory acts of the organization.
The bonus system enables the employee to receive a larger sum of money than the one provided by the salary. However, he will have to work harder, because the bonus is paid for achieving indicators that are higher than average values.
Features of the application of the premium system
Award is the most common material incentive for success in work. It acts as a powerful incentive for company employees and often has a positive effect on productivity and labor efficiency.
For the employer, the development of a bonus system primarily means the ability to attract and retain highly qualified specialists.
Each company has its own system of accrual and payment of bonuses that meets the individual characteristics of economic activity. Its development and installation is carried out by the corresponding department of the organization.
Bonuses are carried out in accordance with the following principles:
- The award should be assigned to a specific employee for a certain personal contribution to the company.
- Incentives for work (bonus) should not be included in wages. It is important that an employee of the organization knows how to distinguish between these payments.
- Determining the size of incentive payments should have an economic justification.
- Bonuses should be paid for the fulfillment of certain conditions or the achievement of specific indicators.
Terms and types of bonuses
There are bonuses that can be attributed to the payment system, and those that are not included in it.
The former are defined in the regulations on bonuses, collective or labor contracts or other local regulatory act of the company. This type of incentive is paid to employees who have achieved a result determined in advance by bonus indicators. The very fact of achieving these indicators gives the employee the right to receive a reward, otherwise (there is no result), there is no right to a bonus.
Types of bonus indicators:
- Quantitative (a production plan has been completed and exceeded, a technically sound production rate has been reached , a progressive production rate has been mastered, and others).
- High-quality (labor costs are reduced, materials, raw materials or fuel are saved, the proportion of top-quality products is increased, a high level of customer service is achieved).
In addition to indicators, the company management can set several conditions (additional requirements), the fulfillment of which is necessary for the payment of premiums. In case of violation, the employee may not be rewarded or its size reduced.
The second type of bonuses, not related to the remuneration system, is paid once. At the same time, the procedure for encouraging labor consists in a general assessment of the work of a particular employee of the enterprise, and not in an analysis of the results achieved. That is, the unilateral decision of the employer becomes the basis for calculating such a bonus.
In addition to the above classification, there is also a division of premiums into several groups:
- Periodic (monthly, quarterly, annual).
- One-time accruals for achievements related to the production process (for high labor productivity, for the successful completion of urgent or important tasks, for conscientious fulfillment of labor duties for many years).
- Timed to any events not related to the production process (holidays, anniversary dates of employees or companies, employee retirement).
Intangible employee incentives
Along with the material types of awards, many enterprises are actively using moral promotion of labor. This type of stimulation includes various measures of public approval or censure aimed at increasing or decreasing the prestige of a particular employee.
For such events to be effective, the manager must comply with the following conditions:
- To inform workers about the provisions and status of moral incentives.
- Take care of the widespread use of various forms of such rewards, as this contributes to the development of creative initiative in the team.
- Combine the methods of moral incentives with material incentives, provide for their interaction and continuous improvement, taking into account new tasks, changes in content, organization or working conditions.
- Take care of the wide dissemination of information in the team in each case of moral encouragement.
- Organize a festive atmosphere in which awards and thanks will be presented.
- Ensure timely moral encouragement. It should be done immediately after achievement.
- To develop improved types of incentives, as well as provide for the establishment of strict moral responsibility of each employee for the business in which he is engaged.
- Perform a performance analysis of incentives.
- Ensure that moral incentive measures for work are applied systematically and the rules for maintaining appropriate entries in the work books of employees are respected.
The procedure for applying rewards and awards
It should be noted that the use of material incentives is justified when employees of the enterprise feel the need to meet basic needs (they are forced to eat unhealthy foods, live indoors with a minimum level of comfort, are not sure about the "tomorrow").
If these needs are satisfied, they seek to receive other incentives other than material. Such workers become interested in moral types of incentives for work, as they are able to activate powerful internal incentives for further activities.
The employer's interest in conscious and motivated employees is obvious: the results of their work are so increased that it more than justifies the funds spent on their stimulation.
An extremely effective way to increase the interest of the company’s employees in the labor process and to ensure their loyalty to this organization is a combined system, which combines premium remuneration and non-material incentives. This is possible when replacing part of the salary with a social package or providing additional benefits (corporate gym, swimming pool, language courses).
What determines the effectiveness of intangible incentives
There are such types of intangible incentives that can significantly increase the "fighting spirit" of employees and provide them with a powerful motivational charge:
- Corporate training system. This is relevant for ambitious beginners, as new, more complex tasks that the leader sets before him are presented from the perspective of gaining new experience and adding to the list of personal achievements.
- Presentation of merits to the public: praise, diplomas, honor boards, articles about employees in the media, setting a table flag.
Award as an extension of personal space (allocation of an office, a large table).
- A new degree of trust, manifested in the invitation to meetings, seminars, conferences and negotiations.
- Additional comfort (providing a more expensive computer, stationery, air conditioning in the department).
- Expansion of the list of benefits. Many employers enter into agreements with partners that provide for the exchange of services and goods. In this case, they are fairly cheap for all participants.
This is just a small list of possible ways to motivate. It can be supplemented by a leader who has studied the needs and desires of his subordinates.
How should the reward system be applied?
Any award, bonus, or non-material incentive must be applied after each labor achievement of the employee to be awarded.
The manager should not allow the cancellation or delay of the promotion. Nor should its size or scale be reduced. Often, employees, being aware of the motivation system operating in the company, make sure that high labor discipline is maintained. Promotions delayed in time, truncated or canceled, can lead to loss of desire to work, disappointment and, as a result, to a decrease in the quality and quantity of results.
An overly complex reward system with the achievement of overstated indicators has the same effect. The size of the incentive for work and the procedure for their application should be designed not only for strong and average employees. Under such conditions, workers with weaker abilities lose their desire to work, feeling like representatives of the lower social stratum. A way out could be the development of a differentiated reward system that provides for various types and types of rewards.
Conclusion
The criterion of truly effective promotion can be considered its importance and versatility. Thus, each of the employees clearly represents the benefit and benefit of conscientious work.
Almost the main condition for effective material incentives is its size. The minimum bonus, which does not become a means of increasing the prestige of the employee, is not regarded by him as a worthy reward for additional efforts. The accrual and payment of bonuses allows motivating employees to future accomplishments only when their receipt significantly increases their income level.
With this approach, it is clear to all members of the team that if you work well, you can earn decent money, and if you meet the required minimum, then the income will be appropriate.