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REWARDING EXCELLENT EMPLOYEES Modern business world is highly competitive in every aspect. Today even employers have to find new original ways to reward outstanding employees, because only decent incentives will keep the level of their performance high and attract new talented people to work. And if you think that salaries and extra payments are original and highly motivating, you are, unfortunately, a bit of out date. I do not mean money is no longer important, it is not thus. But, given a normal scheme of monetary rewards, an employee no longer feels them to be of high trophy value.
In other words, monetary incentives tend to become expected and ordinary, and, therefore, lose effectiveness. And here employers face the need of implementing non-monetary rewards. They are, basically, the opportunities and benefits provided for excellent job performance. Non-monetary incentives may include such intangible values as status, job title, peer recognition, promotion, sense of ownership, empowerment etc. All of them can be combined under a common notion of acknowledgement, either formal or informal.
Tangible rewards may include plaques, certificates, 'mention in dispatches', spacious office and much more. The incentives used to motivate and award employees for outstanding achievements and accomplishments, may reward, for example, performance that consistently exceed goals and job expectations, effective teamwork or length of service. They can be a powerful management tool. More than half a century ago, in 1943, Abraham Maslow presented his article "A Theory of Human Motivation" in Psychological Review.
Maslow's theory assumes that unsatisfied needs motivate all human beings; and satisfying lower needs is prior to higher needs satisfaction. According to Maslow, general types of needs include physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs and the highest level of needs self-actualization. The theory was depicted is a hierarchical diagram, where the lower levels are basic and must be satisfied for unselfish human behavior, but when they are, they fail to motivate, and are automatically replaced by higher needs. This is, basically, what happens to the employees: when physiological and safety needs are satisfied (by monetary rewards), they become motivated by recognition and acknowledgements (or, generally speaking, by non-monetary incentives). Adequate motivation is of extreme importance, and managers must realise that different employees have their own specific needs in different situations. Without satisfying these needs, they will most probably fail to perform in a proper way.
The management task is to determine the needs level at which the employee is operating, and use those needs to improve performance and further activity. Such managerial stimuli are of great importance, because need deprivation prompts al problems. Employee indifference to the needs of the organization is not a result of bad human nature, but symptoms of apathy caused by the social and egoistic needs deprivation. The ways of motivation were further developed by numerous scholars, among whom D. M. McGregor, who developed Theory X and Theory Y.
These are two managerial approaches of business performance. The latter is actually based on the assumptions on employee characteristics that coincide with Abraham Maslow's theory of needs. Theory Y is of the opposite kind to Theory X, and finds that internal self control of employees can be beneficial to the company. Theory Y managers are assuming that employees have needs based on Maslow's hierarchy: Physiological - rest, exercise and shelter; Safety - protection from insecure environment; Social - friendship, belonging and love; Ego self-esteem, status and recognition; Self fulfillment realizing their potential. Three of the five imply the use of non-monetary incentives. But, of course, they lose power unless prior needs are satisfied.
According to Keller's Motivational systems, non-monetary recognition can be very motivating, helping to build feelings of confidence and satisfaction. Moreover, developing the pros of such stimuli, one might come to a conclusion that, to some extent, non-monetary rewards can be more beneficial to both the employee and the management than those of financial value. First of all, it is a tool to meet specific psychological needs of every employee (because each individual values different things) and, thus, make motivation less impersonal. Such an approach can improve internal business environment, build an atmosphere of trust, loyalty and recognition and, as a result, greatly improve performance. Secondly, some non-monetary rewards are not so costly.
But a warm Thank you is sometime worth a fortune. Management should keep in mind that proper recognition and tolerant everyday conduct build up strong corporate culture, which is certainly a plus for everyone within business. Appreciative approach, which implies such trivial issues as personal greeting, well-deserved short praising and awarding, may attract highly professional staff that is looking for something more than a salary. The third point pro non-monetary rewards deals with tight budget.
Such incentives are, undoubtedly, good we good when there is certain difficulty of placing an actual monetary value on an accomplishment. They are effective motivational tools despite economic conditions because provide a sense of security and protection. Employees expect to be rewarded for had work and efforts, they want to feel valued and important; and what is more, they want their accomplishments to be publicly recognized. This may boost performance and competition among employees within the company.
To award excellent employees, management might think of such things as r recognition of achievements through assignments of important projects or provision of status to make employees feel appreciated and valued. Provision of challenging work which implies creativity, innovation, and compliance with corporate goals are also good ways to show employees importance. But the choice of motivational instrument will certainly depend on the needs of each separately taken individual. Still, it is interesting to find out what are the top non-monetary incentives for excellent performance? According to Watson Wyatt Strategic Rewards survey, they are: advancement opportunities, flexible work schedules, and opportunities to learn new skills.
Nestor Acute, regional practice director of human capital consulting at Watson Wyatt claims that In fact, some non-monetary rewards, such as learning and advancement opportunities are more favored by employees than many monetary rewards" because "non-monetary rewards, including group benefits, present an important opportunity for employers to attract, motivate and retain key workers." Today, non-financial issues of motivating are rewarding employees are increasingly gaining importance. Though some business people find them dubious, non-monetary incentives prove to be as important as the monetary ones, sometimes even more. I do not mean recognition is an equivalent substitute for salary and fringe benefits. A hungry employee will hardly appreciate your best performance plaque. But in a modern business environment monetary rewards are, fortunately, an indispensable condition of recruitment (for the most part). They are seen as rights and lose their motivational power.
To award excellent employees, management should think of the things important to these certain individuals and find creative ways to show appreciation. The span of non-monetary reward is boundless; the only limit to effective recognition is lack of understanding of needs and scanty creativity. Rewarding excellent employees is a very important issue of conducting business. It is one of the aspects of successful team and valuable internal corporate culture. The key to success in rewarding employees is a sensible combination of both financial and non-financial recognition schemes. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Keller, J. (1999).
Motivational Systems. In H. D. Stolovitch & E. J.
Keeps, (Eds. ), Handbook of human performance technology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer. McGregor, D. M. (1960).
The Human Side of Enterprise: 25 th Anniversary Printing. McGraw-Hill. More Employers Emphasizing Non-Monetary Rewards to Attract and Retain Talent (November 2001) Relocation Journal & Real Estate News, Vol. 15, No. 11, retrieved on November 9, 2004 Web site: web Emerman, Ed (2001), Latin American Employers Facing Difficulty Attracting and Retaining Critical Skill Workers, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, retrieved on retrieved on November 9, 2004 Web site: web
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