|
Employee incentives
run the gamut from ball point pens to retirement
funds. They include bonuses, benefits, perks, and
anything else aimed at motivating agents to take a
job at your contact center and to stay there. The
idea behind these incentives is to keep agents on
a track of continuous improvement and to reward
them for succeeding.
So often we think
that the only perks people want are more pay and
then some bonus money on top of that. But that’s
not necessarily true. Many contact center
employees are motivated to attain additional
skills and knowledge so they can look forward to
the prospect of promotion or job enhancement.
We’ve seen many
studies that aim to discover which incentives are
most important to agents—and all have different
results! Here, without ranking, are the most
frequently cited incentives:
- Opportunities
for promotion
- Additional
training and education
- Recognition for
hard work
- Better pay
- Better work
environment and working conditions
- Job security
- Bonus/commission
- Employer
contribution to retirement plan
Following are five
tips to keep in mind when you’re creating a new
incentive program or overhauling an existing one.
#1 Make
sure the goals are achievable. Many
incentive programs revolve around some goal
associated with productivity or quality. In order
for a program to be a success, it’s essential
for the goal to be within reach of the agents. Set
the bar high but not impossibly high. Remember,
you want people to win. If the goals are
set too high, people will lose heart and stop
trying. What’s worse, they’ll feel like
failures when in fact they may have made great
progress from where they started.
#2 Let
agents choose their own incentives. The
simplest way to make sure your agents will like
the perks and rewards given to them is to ask them
beforehand what they want. You can include a
question on an employee satisfaction survey or
find some other way to get agents to identify what
rewards would be most meaningful to them. Chances
are you’ll get a variety of responses. Keep
track of who wants what, and, when it’s time,
reward them accordingly.
#3 Make it
enjoyable. To really get agents rallied
around a goal, you have to do more than just give
them a goal and then say, “OK, go out and reach
it.” It’s equally important for the process of
reaching the goal to be fulfilling for agents.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that at every
moment the environment has to be jovial, but
agents should at least feel that they’re
enjoying the challenge.
One way to
accomplish this is to celebrate small successes
along the way. Another is to continually remind
agents of the progress they’re making, the
learning they’re accomplishing, the professional
or personal growth they’re achieving, and so on.
#4 Use
incentives at crucial times. Incentives
can be used any time but there are certain
situations in which an incentive program is
especially timely in the center. Following are a
few examples:
- At the end of
training, offer incentives to agents to start
using their newly acquired skills.
- When a major
change occurs, use an incentive program to
encourage agents to embrace the change and to
make a smooth transition.
- When morale is
low, try an incentive program to inject some
renewed energy and enthusiasm into the team.
- At the launch of
a new product or project, incentives can help
rally the team.
#5 Avoid
overkill. Can you do too much? Yes,
overkill is possible. Don’t feel that you have
to have an incentive program running at every hour
of every day. You’ll be exhausted and your
agents will be too. People can’t work at their
peak at all times.
For more
information about improving morale and
productivity in your organization, give Impact
Learning Systems a call at 800-545-9003 or visit
us on the Web at http://www.impactlearning.com.
|
