Employee incentive mechanism

Employee Incentive Mechanism

What employee incentive mechanisms do you know? Many managers have not systematically learned management methods, so they are not efficient in management. So next, I will share with you some practical employee incentive mechanisms, hoping to help you do a better job in managing employees!

Employee Motivation Mechanism 1

Four driving forces that affect employee motivation

Since these four driving forces are deeply ingrained in our brains, they are The degree of satisfaction will directly affect our emotions and thus our behavior. Let’s look at how each driver works.

1. Acquisition

Everyone will work hard to obtain some scarce things to improve their happiness. If this driving force is satisfied, we will feel happy; otherwise, we will feel dissatisfied. This phenomenon applies not only to tangible items such as food, clothing, housing, money, etc., but also to intangible experiences such as travel and entertainment, not to mention those things that enhance our social status, such as getting a promotion, getting a corner office, or Get on the company's board of directors. The drive to acquire is often relative (we always compare what we have with what others have) and unsatisfactory (we always want more). This is why people always care not only about their own salary, but also about the salary of others. It also explains why setting a salary cap is so difficult.

2. Bonding

Many animals establish close relationships with their parents, relatives or populations, but only humans have extended this relationship to larger groups, such as organizations, societies and nations. . When the "union" driving force is satisfied, people will have strong positive emotions such as love and care; otherwise, negative emotions such as loneliness and cynicism will appear. In a work environment, employees are highly motivated when they feel proud to be part of the organization, and demoralized when the organization betrays them. This also explains why employees find it difficult to leave their department or business unit because they become attached to the colleagues with whom they are closest. But one thing is true: if employees feel a sense of belonging to a larger group, they will sometimes care more about the organization than their own small group.

3. Understanding

We are all eager to understand the world around us, and put forward various theories from science, religion and culture to explain various things, and propose reasonable actions and responses. measure. We get frustrated when things seem to make no sense, and the challenge of finding answers to our questions often fills us with passion. In a work environment, it is this drive to understand that drives our desire to make a meaningful contribution. Employees are motivated when the work they do is challenging and allows them to grow and learn. And it can be demoralizing when the work they do seems worthless or has no future. Employees who feel they can't put their talents to good use often leave the company to find new challenges elsewhere.

4. Defense

In the face of external threats, it is our nature to protect ourselves, our property and achievements, our families and friends, our thoughts and beliefs. This drive is rooted in the fight-or-flight response, a basic response shared by most animals. For humans, it manifests itself not just in aggressive or defensive behavior, but in seeking to establish a set of institutions that promote justice, clarify goals and intentions, and allow people to speak their minds freely. When this drive is satisfied, people will feel safe and confident, otherwise they will have strong negative emotions such as fear and hatred. “Defensive” drives explain a large part of why people resist change. It may also explain why a company acquisition—a particularly significant change—can send employees into decline, even though the deal may be the only hope of saving the organization.

For example, someone told you on the first day that you did an excellent job and was an indispensable talent for the company, but on the next day, the company let you go due to reorganization. This will definitely have a direct impact on your "defensive" driving force. challenges, and they are unpredictable. It’s no surprise, then, that headhunters often come to recruit during this period of transition. They know that employees often feel helpless at this time. Managers seem to be able to make personnel decisions as they please, and they are at the mercy of them.

The four driving forces we discussed are independent of each other, have no priority, and cannot replace each other. If employees don’t feel a sense of belonging to the organization, or their jobs seem meaningless, or they feel insecure, they won’t be passionate about their jobs no matter how much you pay them. If employees' wages are very low, or their work is extremely boring, and their days are like a year, then no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to get them to form a very tight team. In such an environment, employees will still work for you - because they may need money or have no other better way out, but they will not do their best for you. Once they have a better way out, you are likely to Will lose them completely. To fully motivate your employees, all four drivers must be met simultaneously.

Organizational Levers of Employee Motivation

While it is critical for any company to satisfy these four basic emotional drivers of employees, our research shows that each Forces can be satisfied using different organizational levers.

Reward system

The "acquisition" drive is most easily satisfied through the organization's reward system. Of course, this also depends on whether the organization's reward system can effectively define the different performances of employees, link rewards with performance, and give the best people the opportunity to be promoted. When the Royal Bank of Scotland acquired NatWest, the latter's rewards system was largely built around internal relationships, status and tenure. After the acquisition, RBS implemented a new reward system that held managers accountable for achieving specific performance targets and rewarded employees for above-average performance. The former NatWest employees' support for the new company far exceeds the support for the new company by employees in general acquisition cases. One of the reasons is that although the new reward system is strict, it recognizes individual achievements.

Sonoco, a manufacturer of industrial and consumer packaging materials, has implemented a unified change initiative to better meet employees' needs by clearly linking employee rewards to performance. Get” drive. In the past, companies set high performance goals but provided few incentives for employees to achieve them. In 1995, under then-newly appointed vice president of human resources Cynthia Hartley, the company established a pay-for-performance system that combined individual and collective metrics. Judging from regular internal surveys of the organization, employee satisfaction and engagement have increased. Hewitt Associates selected "Top 20 Talent Management Organizations in the United States" in 2005, and Schneig was on the list. Most of the companies on this list are large companies, such as 3M, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Dell, IBM, etc., and Schneider is one of the few medium-sized companies on the list. One of the companies.

Culture

The most effective way to satisfy employees’ drive to “bond” and foster a strong sense of camaraderie is to establish a culture that promotes teamwork, collaboration, openness and friendship. . Royal Bank of Scotland broke with NatWest's old departmental mindset and brought employees from both companies together to jointly complete targeted cost-cutting and revenue-boosting projects. This new organizational structure is a new beginning for both companies, helping employees break old affiliations and establish new ties.

To set a good example, the company's executive committee, composed of senior executives from both parties, meets every Monday morning to discuss and resolve issues—a move that reduces the bureaucratic and political processes that can slow down decision-making at the top. .

Another company with an exemplary culture is the Wegmans supermarket chain, which has been among Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" for ten consecutive years. This family-owned company attaches great importance to creating a family atmosphere in the company culture. Employees often say that company management cares about them and that employees care about each other, which reflects their sense of teamwork and belonging.

Job design

The best way to satisfy the driving force of "understanding" is to design positions that are meaningful, interesting and challenging. Although Royal Bank of Scotland has always insisted on cost savings during the integration of NatWest, it has invested heavily in establishing a first-class business school near the company to provide training for employees. Not only does this help the company meet employees' drive to "join," it also prompts employees to think more broadly about how they can contribute to the success of colleagues, customers, and investors.

Canada’s Cirque du Soleil (Cirque du Soleil) is also committed to making work challenging and giving actors a sense of accomplishment. Despite intense rehearsal and performance schedules that often leave actors exhausted, the troupe succeeds in attracting and retaining them because it gives them space to create and encourages them to perfect their craft. Actors can also express their opinions about the show and participate in different plays in order to learn new skills. In addition, they often go to art schools around the world to receive guidance from first-class artists.

Performance management and resource allocation process

Fair, credible, and transparent performance management and resource allocation process can help satisfy people's "defense" driving force. Royal Bank of Scotland has worked hard to make its decision-making process transparent. Employees may not agree with a final decision, such as a project they were optimistic about being rejected, but they all understand the reasoning behind the decision. The bank's new technology projects are reviewed by cross-business unit teams, and the review criteria are very clear, such as the impact on the company's financial performance. In the survey, employees said the process was fair and the grant approval criteria were transparent. Although the bank has high demands on its employees, employees still view it as a fair organization.

American Family Life Insurance Company (Aflac) has also been selected into Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list many times. It uses organizational levers in a multi-pronged manner to satisfy employees' emotional drives. On the issue of strength, we have also been very successful. The company satisfies employees' "get" drive by recognizing and rewarding employees for high performance in very high-profile ways.

It also organizes various culture-building activities, such as "Employee Appreciation Week", aimed at building a sense of belonging. In order to satisfy employees' drive to "understand", companies invest heavily in providing employees with training and development opportunities. In addition to selling, salespeople have the opportunity to develop new skills by managing, recruiting, and designing training sessions for new salespeople. In order to satisfy the "defense" drive, the company also takes initiatives to improve the quality of life of its employees. In addition to providing training and scholarships, it also provides a variety of benefits, such as company childcare services, to help employees maintain a work-life balance. The company has also instituted a no-layoff policy to foster employee trust in the organization. The company's management philosophy is employee-centered, which means caring for employees first. The company believes this will allow employees to put customer care first.

The above company cases illustrate how different organizational levers affect the overall motivation of employees, and the case of American Family Life reveals how to fully satisfy all four driving forces through specific measures. Our data shows that this comprehensive approach is the most effective.

Judging from the employee survey data, as long as any one driving force is slightly strengthened, the overall motivation will increase accordingly. However, compared with other companies, the significant improvement in motivation still comes from the overall impact on all four driving forces. . This happens not only because more drives are being satisfied, but also because a multi-pronged approach allows these drives to reinforce each other—a holistic approach is better than the sum of its parts, although strengthening each part can certainly Make a contribution. Take a company that ranks in the 50th percentile for employee motivation. Employees rate the company's job design (this is the organizational lever that has the greatest impact on the "understanding" drive) on a scale of 0-5. If the score increases by 1 point, it rises to the 56th percentile. If all four driving forces are strengthened at the same time, employee motivation will increase by 21 points, and the ranking will jump to the 88th percentile. So, this will give the company a huge competitive advantage in terms of employee satisfaction, engagement, commitment and intention to stay. Employee Incentive Mechanism 2

Establishing employee management positions

Special employee relationship managers can be set up to coordinate and handle the relationship between the company and employees, and between employees. This position is created to solve problems before they occur. What people in this position usually have to do is handle disputes that occur or may occur between employees, coordinate their relationships, and not let personal issues affect their work. The work content of employee relationship management also includes organizing various employee activities. In addition to regular collective holiday activities, it is also necessary to prepare gifts or celebrations for employees' birthdays, and to participate in important ceremonies such as employee celebrations or funerals in the name and identity of the company. .

Conduct employee satisfaction surveys

Employee satisfaction surveys can let companies know where their problems lie. Every year, some large international companies spend a large amount of money to hire a professional consulting company to conduct an employee satisfaction survey. This survey is completely confidential and is operated confidentially by the consulting company. The company will not know an employee's specific response to a certain event or a certain leader. Any comments or dissatisfaction raised.

All complaints raised by employees will be ordered by the company's senior management to relevant departments to respond, including explaining the cause of the problem, formulating improvement plans and measures, proposing the specific implementation progress of the plan and measures, and reporting The implementation results are fed back to the company's top management. This approach has greatly improved employees' satisfaction and sense of belonging to the company, and is a good way to retain talents.

Reasonable allocation and utilization of various resources

Many company bosses and senior managers know little about the science of human resources management. They always think that it is a matter for functional departments and do not know about human resources. The relationship between management and one's own work responsibilities, and the essence of management is to "lead everyone to do what they want to do." In fact, human resource management is the common responsibility of business managers, and a good boss must be a good personnel manager.

Many bosses would rather spend millions of resources to purchase equipment than provide the necessary resources for the growth of internal talents within the company. In fact, if the same resource investment is used to recruit and train talents, the return on investment will be at least 20 times higher. Therefore, for the bosses of growth-stage companies, they should do three things: First, learn and Understand the knowledge of modern human resources and establish correct concepts of employment; second, pay attention to the role of human resources in the growth process; third, establish a basic mechanism and invest appropriate resources in the recruitment, training and use of talents.

Humanized management

Humanized management is a business mechanism formed under a scientific management system to ensure the smooth development and continuous growth of the enterprise, thereby protecting the majority of employees rather than some Benefits of special persons. In this process, employees can also get career planning, develop professional concepts, professional awareness, professional ethics, and professional skills, improve their professional skills and professional mentality, and further enjoy a perfect life.

Of course, when formulating the system, we must avoid "punishment, punishment, punishment" throughout, because the system itself tells employees what they should do and what they should not do, not just telling them what to do. What will happen next. To this end: first, establish a set of applicable management systems, do not rush to consider the imperfections; first solve the problems that are not there, and then solve the problems that are not good. With this basic management system, you will avoid the influence of personal emotions when dealing with many problems. Second, supervision and implementation of training and management systems; third, timely evaluation and assessment, and appropriate incentives.

Establish a credible and attractive incentive system

(1) Career incentives: When considering the effective implementation of incentive mechanisms, if employees can recognize the company's work through repeated indoctrination, Career, feeling that the cause of the company can provide him with a strong sense of responsibility for realizing the social mission, and having enough space to display his ambitions, can encourage employees to devote themselves to the cause of building the company with enthusiasm.

(2) Pay equal attention to reality and expectation incentives: For companies in the growth stage, incentives from both reality and expectations are indispensable. For example, letting employees own shares in the business is a great way to do this. This can truly connect the interests of the company with the interests of employees themselves. This is also the reform content of the property rights system of the modern enterprise system. Employees are the real owners of the enterprise and participate in enterprise management by owning shares. Another example is "options", a concept that is very popular among high-tech companies now. The option holder (employee, management personnel) has the right to buy or sell certain stocks or bonds to the other party (company) at a certain price within a certain period of time in the future (or a specific date in the future). This is very effective in attracting talent and motivating employees.

(3) Emotional incentives: Career and material incentives are effective, but they are not enough. Emotional incentives are also needed. Since work in companies in the growth stage is often relatively difficult and unpredictable, creating a warm corporate interpersonal atmosphere and a good working, production, and living environment to enhance the company's cohesion and attractiveness is also an important means of motivation.

(4) It varies from person to person: Incentives for employees cannot be the same. Different incentive measures should be adopted for different types of employees to achieve the purpose of motivating employees.

(5) Varies with time: The development of enterprises has entered different stages, and the focus of work will naturally shift. Therefore, the enterprise's incentive mechanism must also be adjusted accordingly, using the most appropriate incentive means to motivate employees to exert their energy and jointly complete the next organizational goals.

Pay attention to the spiritual aspect of employees

First, carefully consider the company's resource situation and how much it can pay in return; it is better to say ugly things to the front than to lose the boss's trust in the hearts of employees. Prestige, the boss can’t make fun of his own credibility just to please his employees;

Secondly, for the vast majority of employees, just “painting the pie” is not enough, they need real material rewards. to maintain basic living needs. The boss can work without getting paid because the company is yours. As an employee, why should I make selfless contributions and risk losing real material benefits?

Third, material incentives alone are not enough. Prospecting the bright future of the company in a timely manner and drawing a blueprint for the future for all employees can play an irreplaceable role in material incentives, especially in motivating employees. Their strong fighting spirit.

Establishing a standardized human resources management system

In the ever-changing market competition, it is not difficult for a company to make money today. What is difficult is to continue to make money tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Therefore, if the company wants to achieve sustainable development, you must do three things - clearly define the strategic significance of the human resources department in the company's development process, and do not turn this department into a chore logistics department;

First, we must pay attention to the role of talents, so that human resource management can be transformed from a company department function into a corporate mechanism;

Second, as the company develops, the boss's role in management should be gradually downplayed. The strong role of employees is to guide employees to solve problems on their own and give full play to the power of the team.