With our garden plants and lawns growing in overdrive mode, all this summer, we are focusing our attention on business growth, starting with getting the very best from employees by offering them the best working environment.
Recruiting and training new staff is expensive and time-consuming, so maintaining and ‘growing your own’ is far more efficient. Competition to keep the best talent in your business is fierce so employee incentives are essential for business growth.
Employee incentives can be monetary or non-monetary rewards that are given out to recognise achievements and to make your company an attractive place to work. Small and medium sized businesses can struggle to compete with larger competitors on salary levels but can encourage loyalty and commitment through low cost incentive measures.
An Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) is one of the best ways to incentivise employees. An EMI scheme enables companies to offer shares to selected employees in the future at a set price. It is advantageous to businesses that want to reward, motivate and retain key employees with a tax-efficient incentive. Read our blog to find out more about EMI.
Other popular ways to incentivise a workforce are:
- Flexible working hours/working from home
- Membership to a health and wellbeing programme
- Earning additional days off
- Social and networking events
- Sharing team and individual successes
- Opportunities to learn new skills
The key to success is to decide which incentives are likely to work best for the teams and individuals in your organisation. So how do you go about implementing a certain incentive so that is has the most impact and benefit?
- Is your programme inclusive?
Your incentive scheme needs to appeal to all team members across the whole business. It should be operated in an engaging, user-friendly way so that the benefits can be easily understood. Employees need to feel that they’re involved and included.
- Promote your programme
Senior managers, HR department and communications functions need to be fully behind the scheme so that all employees are made aware. Promotion can’t be just a one-off action either, ongoing reminders using posters, email, intranet, etc. are essential.
- Setting an example
Leaders of the business must be the number one advocate of the incentive programme, they should be fully up to speed on how the scheme works and could run a seminar or webinar to promote the scheme.
- Personal incentive
Employees will engage with an incentive when they can see how it benefits them directly and personally. So, make sure that the rewards are relevant to your staff and tailor them to be beneficial to different team levels.
- Ask for feedback
Listening to employees gives the best insight into how the scheme is being received and whether it’s what they want. Feedback can be gathered via a simple online form or through focus groups. It’s important to act on the feedback you receive to show that you listen and care.
Recognition and reward are the best ways to incentivise employees to contribute to business growth, but getting the right incentive can be tricky. Some schemes are costly and may cause more division than unity. However, a workforce that feels appreciated and well-rewarded can make the difference between retaining the best talent and losing them to your competitors.
At CRM, we have a reputation for helping businesses to develop and grow, as well as providing exceptional accountancy services. If you’re ready to grow your business further, why not talk to the experts at CRM on 01865 379272.
