Incentive Programs. Yesterday, Today and the Future!

Incentive Programs. Yesterday, Today and the Future!History has not been able to re-call exactly the first use of engagement and motivation to callencourage behavior. Some go back to the book of Genesis and Adam and Eve’s oustingfrom the Garden of Eden. As the narration goes, God tells them they must “work by thesweat of their brow” if they want to exist. Perhaps a bit severe but who’s going to arguewith God.Theres the famous Conditioned Response theory researched by noted Russian onedphysiologist Ivan Pavlov. He went on to win the 1904 Nobel Prize for h work studying hisdigestive processes.It was while studying digestion in dogs that Pavlov noted an interesting occurrence, his canine subjects would beginto salivate whenever an assistant entered the room. They had been conditioned to expect that the assi assistant wasbringing them food. No doubt a crude example. Of course we are not dogs. The point is that throughout history, theuse of methods, negatively or positively, to influence behavior has been studied and implemented for a long, longtime.The concept of employee motivation programs, for example, may go back hundreds, if not thousands of years. ptMaybe starting with the club, progressing to the whip and other countless primitive behavior control methods.Bosses soon learned, however, that the fear approach never worked and even backfired on them as historical approachaccounts show.Using fear and intimidation to manipulate behavior doesn’t promote cooperation and spir spir-de-corp. “A personforced against their will is of the same opinion still.”The art of engagement and motivation of employees has evolved to become more human, positive and effective. ementSincere recognition and appreciation is a universal need in all of us. We all practice and welcome acceptance andacknowledgment of validity.We incentivze others and like being incentivized. That’s part of our wiring. in·cen·tiv·ize tr.v. in·cen·tiv·ized,in·cen·tiv·iz·ing, in·cen·tiv·iz·es- To offer incentives or an incentive to; motivate, engage and bring a call to action.Share This Taico® :: 67 Patterson Village Ct., Bldg F :: Patterson, NY 12563 :: 845-228-GIFT (4438) :: fax: 845- -228-5136 :: info@taico.com © 2012 Taico® Incentive Services Inc.

In the workplace, industrial psychologists and Fortune 500 companies have found that positively engagingemployees and providing them with recognition and rewards improves performance. Here are some case studies.Increasingly in the modern workaday world, incentives are becoming the tool we reach for when we wish to bringabout positive change. In government, in education, in health care, between and within institutions of all sorts,incentives are offered to steer peoples choices in certain directions.Today’s Incentives Defined:An incentive is an offer of something of value, sometimes with a cash equivalent and sometimes not, meant toinfluence the payoff structure of a utility calculation so as to alter a persons course of action. In other words, theperson offering the incentive means to make one choice more attractive to the person responding to the incentive vethan any other alternative.Both parties stand to gain from the resulting choice. In effect, it is a form of trade, and as such, it meets certainethical requirements by definition. A trade involves voluntary action by all parties concerned to bring about a resultthat is beneficial to all parties concerned. If these conditions were not met, the trade would simply not occur. And asinducements in a voluntary transaction, incentives certainly have the moral high ground over coercion as analternative.The Incentive ProgramAn incentive program is any type of program that motivates participants in some particular way by offering themsome form of recognition and reward. Reward based programs. Incentives can be used in a variety of ways and inmany different places. They could help encourage members of a company to achieve certain goals or they mightjumpstart extra learning in a classroom. In business, incentive programs are often used in the sales industry, but thisis clearly not the only way that people can be inspired to achieve more.When people contemplate adding an incentive program to their workforce or learning environment, they shoulddetermine several things. First, your company should have a clear goal of the behavior you want to encourage.Employee wellness programs, attendance rewards, improving sales with sales incentives, safety incentive programs,years of service are some of the areas where behavior can be influenced. Share This Taico® :: 67 Patterson Village Ct., Bldg F :: Patterson, NY 12563 :: 845-228-GIFT (4438) :: fax: 845- -228-5136 :: info@taico.com © 2012 Taico® Incentive Services Inc.

Keeping your best employees or employee retention is also a good area to look at "incentivizing." We define it asidentifying your "performance criteria." You also need to have a sense of what type of incentives youll offer whenemployees achieve set goals. Some areas companies Working with an incentive professional will save you tim and timemoney.For instance, a sales manager wants to see each sales representative increase their sales by 20%. The manager has todecide how to offer an incentive that might work. This could be money, a trip for two someplace special, tickets to a vefabulous concert, or many other things.A smart manager might introduce this incentive with a company lunch or with training aimed at getting salespeopleto increase their sales. IncentiQuiz™ is a innovative tool available within the IncentiWeb® tracking and reportingincentive system that can provide your employees with training and education in a fun very cost effective way. educationSince 20% is a large goal, the manager could also set lower goals with smaller prizes so that he encourages eachemployee to do his/her best in improving performance. Implementation of reward based programs improveworkforce moral and contribute to retention. Thus preserving your most valuable asset, your employees. force ,There are plenty of incentive program types in schools too. Teachers can give small rewards for increased reading, schoolsstrong grades, and citizenship or for many other things. As with the managing sales director, the teacher has to sellan incentive program as something special that makes students desire earn it. earningSince the rewards are usually smaller, the teacher may actually have the larger job selling such a program. He or shemust also be more sensitive to the issue that lower performing students in the class may not be able to bringperformance up to a level that would earn any incentives offered.If you looking to implement a company incentive program we suggest reading our ebook providing you with theinformation on making your incentive programs as productive and effective as possible. Share This Taico® :: 67 Patterson Village Ct., Bldg F :: Patterson, NY 12563 :: 845-228-GIFT (4438) :: fax: 845- -228-5136 :: info@taico.com © 2012 Taico® Incentive Services Inc.

Incentive Programs. Yesterday, Today and the Future!

by Taico on Nov 05, 2012

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