Tuesday, April 01, 2008
How do you give accolades and recognition without attaching an expectation of compensation? Its not a question of being stingy. Sometimes a company may not have the resources for a bonus, especially in a down economy.
Please share with us ways you can motive your employees to be more productive without attaching a bonus or incentive each time.
Thanks, David.
We don’t need the $ motivator either as we offer the best compensation package for our area; what I am looking for is that buy-in that keeps the men focused on the bottom line as well as the good of the company.
There is that great line from a GE worker who said “for 40 years you asked for my labor; not once did you ask me for my thoughts”. That’s the nut we want to be sure to crack. Currently our production meetings feel more like Patton addressing the troops, or Russell Crowe in Gladiator yelling “on my signal, unleash hell” I am working to get as mcuh intellectual input from our production staff as possible and feel like we have some ground to cover yet.
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Most of our employees don’t seem to be money motivated. That does not mean they don’t want or love getting a money bonus. We have tried to create a paint company that involves team work. We don’t want a bunch of individuals that are only concerned about themselves. We want them to be team players and looking for ways they can help each other out.
A few examples:
Our estimators are not commissioned salesman. Instead they have a goal and must meet that goal to keep their jobs. However, we wanted any salesman working for us to be a team player, and we knew he or she would not be if they were on a 100% commission. We want them to be free to deliver material to a jobsite or help the field workers and office staff when there is an emergency. A straight commission sales person does not always see the benefit if there is no dollar amount attached to the request to provide extra care.
As for the field employees, we have rewarded them with a monetary bonus if they got signed change orders. We also had a bonus plan for profitable jobs on a quarterly basis. However, in a down economy, we have shared with the staff that we are bidding things more competitively and the bonus plan may not happen in 2008. I think the painters are just grateful to have a job. Our core values have not been removed, and our staff knows we are working hard to keep them busy. Because we have a good relationship with our people, they are not pounding on our door asking for a raise. If they do, and in a demanding way, we’ll say, “Let me show you the door...There’s the door!”