Social Media and Employee Recognition Programs: A Perfect Match

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The incentives industry is (or at least should be) very people focused. An incentives company shouldn't be solely interested in selling its product as much as it is about motivating and driving behavior. The best methods of influencing behavior are designed around what employees want. What makes them tick? What will motivate them to achieve greater results?
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Tight Budgets Now? Plan Recognition For The Future

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Will your recognition plans for tomorrow keep the employees you have today? According to many studies (and many of our previous posts) employee engagement is even more vital to your workforce in a recession. The more you focus on employee engagement, the more motivated your employees are and the higher productivity levels you will experience. That higher productivity will help an organization better weather the current economic storm.
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An April Fools Special: Who Could Think of Incentives at a Time Like This?

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It's been said that there's no greater motivator than fear. What's a better way to crack the proverbial whip on your workforce's efforts than the fear of termination? Fear serves as a catalyst to the intrinsic motivators in all of us to get the job done. In an effort to avoid termination, your employees will bend over backwards to achieve - and exceed - your not-so-specific goals for the company. Plus they basically owe you..right?
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Sweet 16 Cinderellas and Management

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Not to say that the Cinderella teams are less talented or just plain lucky (well in some cases maybe luck...) but if they had seen a lot of success and had consistent top tier talent year round, you wouldn't see a double digit number seed next to their names when filling out your office bracket pool. However, whether or not you have future Wheaties spokesmen on your team or individuals that are pretty good but not "great," the success doesnt rely on talent and ability alone.
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Food! Glorious Food! The Power of Edible Incentives

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A huge component of a successful incentive plan is the experience or memory associated with it (Paul Hebert discusses this in a post). Merchandise has the ability to capture this "experiential" effect. For example, it's not the new grill you received but the great cookout with family you were able to experience as a result of having it. Food also provides the centerpiece to a great experiential motivator for employees. They won't (hopefully anyway) be able to have a tangible reminder of that meal. However, they will have the memories associated with that experience, whether it be at a lunchtime potluck or a company-wide recognition dinner.
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