Articles & Recent Blog Posts

Many Employers Seek to Replace Cash Bonuses With Other Work Incentives

The Wall Street Journal April 3, 2000 Many employers seek to replace cash bonuses with other work incentives. Merchandise and travel awards are more memorable with employees, officials say. Diebold Inc, Canon OH, which makes automated teller machines, recently scrapped cash for sales people as lacking trophy value, says Jerry Bryan, marketing services manager. “Recipients tend to spend their cash incentives on routine expenses such as house payments or braces for their children”, says the Society of Incentive and Travel Executives. When American Express Incentive Services polled 1,101 workers, 29% said they used their cash rewards... [Read more of this article]

Dispelling Popular Myths About Safety Incentives

By Bill Sims Jr. “We don’t need to reward safe performance. We give people a paycheck and they deserve nothing more for working safely.” If it is true that no deserves a bonus in return for doing what is expected of them, then why are almost all Fortune 500 chief executive officers given year end bonuses based on company performance? Why is it fair to reward them for good performance while ignoring the contributions made by the thousands of hourly people below them? “Rewards do not effect the attitudes that underlie unsafe behavior. They merely cause employees not to report injury.” Actually, many incentive programs... [Read more of this article]

The Incentive Dilemma: Creating Corporate Sales Incentive Programs That Work

Manufacturers and distributors are rolling out more sales incentive programs for their channel partners than ever before. Some of these programs are not as successful as they could be, however, because they fail to appreciate fully what motivates salespeople and drives them to overachieve. Read on to learn six key concepts that can make your incentive programs more effective. By Paul Shearstone The Incentive Dilemma: Creating Channel Sales Incentive Programs That Work The dangling of the proverbial carrot is an ancient art that is commonly understood to be at the heart of human behavior, psychology, motivation, and, in particular, business. Manufacturers... [Read more of this article]

Proof That Cash is Not The Best Motivator

The Trouble With Money By Vincent Alonzo May 1997 Incentive Magazine Here’s Proof That Cash Is Not The Best Motivator pdf VersionTom Gravalos, manager of special accounts marketing for the Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Was constantly butting heads with upper management whenever he presented a proposal for an incentive program budget offering travel or merchandise. The bosses wanted cash and were pretty vocal about the reasons why: Everybody has to have money.Whenever you ask people what they want they always say cash.What could be more motivating than something that everyone already wants and needs? In... [Read more of this article]

Re-Engineering Your Service Award Program

If your company already has a SERVICE AWARD Program, learn how to BREATHE new LIFE into it and use it to CUT TURNOVER, ABSENTEEISM and IMPROVE Safety! Notice the article by Bob Nelson, author of the Best Seller 1001 Ways to Reward Employees–it points out the FLAWS in today’s most popular OLD SCHOOL Service Recognition Programs. If your company DOESN’T HAVE a program, learn why you should! Why Should Your Company Have a Service Award Program? 500 of the Fortune 500 companies all have formal Service Recognition Programs. They know that these programs... [Read more of this article]

Survey Finds Eight in 10 Workers Want a New Job

I quit!: Overworked employees are fed up: a survey finds 8 out of 10 Americans want a new job. November 11, 2003: 4:12 PM EST By Leslie Haggin Geary, CNN/Money Staff Writer New York (CNN/Money) Ready to quit? You have plenty of company. Many employees are overworked, stressed out, fed up — and eager to quit their jobs once the economy picks up. In fact, worker angst is so pronounced it has surprised even the most tuned-in human resource professionals. They say employee anger is now almost palpable. More than eight in 10 workers plan to look for a new job when the economy heats up, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource... [Read more of this article]

Safety Incentive Programs Under OSHA Scrutiny

Learn How to Defend Your Program By Marc E. Flanders and Thomas W. Lawrence Jr. WHY SO CONTROVERSIAL?Mention the words “Safety Incentive Program” and heads turn, opinions fly and controversy reins. Is it because of the recent challenge by OSHA claiming that incentive programs might dissuade employees to under-report injuries, perhaps? But incentive programs have always been in the spotlight. Are they effective? Will the improved safety performance last? Are they games or serious behavioral tools? Incentive programs are viewed negatively by some. ‘We are not going to pay for safe behavior, or ‘incentives will intimidate... [Read more of this article]

Why Cash and Store Gift Certificate Incentives Often Fail

When you ask employees what they’d rather have, cash or a gift, they always say, “Oh, just give me the money.” So why is it that when you give them cash or cash substitutes like Gift Certificates to the local mall, it’s less effective than doing a gift program like ours? There are several reasons.First, when you use cash or gift certificates you automatically lose HALF of every incentive dollar to taxes. There are important tax provisions that our programs help you take advantage of, which save you big bucks in income taxes. Notice what this article, published in Occupational Health & Safety, says… Why Cash Incentives... [Read more of this article]

Cash rewards may not make the most of your incentive budget

Jerry Jerry McAdams Incentive Magazine - October 1998 During a speech in Boston several years ago, I asked the audience if anyone had ever received a noncash award. A number of hands went up, and I chose a man who said, “About 20 years ago I earned a clock radio.” “Do you have any idea how much it cost?” I asked. “Probably about $30,” he said. I was a little surprised that he could remember a $30 item earned 20 years ago. Becoming more interested in this man’s story, I then asked if he remembered how he earned the clock radio. “I was on a team of engineers at RCA and we came up with an idea to change... [Read more of this article]

Hitching a “Smart Ride” Using Awards to Motivate Ride Sharing

From People Performance Magazine It’s ten to nine in the morning. You should be in your office preparing for a 9:30 presentation, but instead you’re sitting in traffic, the 225th car in line to cross the bridge, enter the tunnel, exit off the highway. There’s got to be a better way, you think, as you fiddle with the radio presets. Some of the better ways, of course are carpooling, vanpooling and taking mass transit such as the train and bus. Taking advantage of these alternatives not only makes drivers less stressed but reduces traffic congestion and air pollution. Leaving a single occupancy vehicle at home can also save gas,... [Read more of this article]

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Behavior-Based Performance Improvement

 

Safety Behavior Change

Whether you are a large company or a small one in search of safety incentive solutions, you've come to the right place. We began in the 1960's helping companies improve safety performance with our comprehensive, tax free safety incentive strategies.

 

Over 1,000 firms have successfully used our solutions to change behavior. Most important is the fact that our incentive solution is uniquely behavior based, unlike many other program which encourage injury hiding and under reporting. While you may have typed "safety incentives" into the search engine, in truth, most managers are not looking for safety poker, bingo, scratchoffs, jackpots or other gimmicks, but instead desire sustained safety behavior change.

 

Our safety incentive approaches have helped many companies reduce injuries 90% or more, saving millions in the process--all without injury hiding.

 

Wellness Incentive Solutions

Our Tax Free Wellness Incentive solutions will you help you change health behaviors leading to long term lower health-care costs. Over 75% of all wellness programs realize the need for wellness incentives, however, 4 out of 5 fail to reach the most important medium and high risk employees who drive 73% of your health care costs.

 

These ineffective "one size fits all" approaches to wellness incentives fail to make a difference. In surveys done by Bill Sims and Welcoa (a leading wellness organization) the two most popular wellness incentives are cash and health-care discounts.

 

Oddly enough, the research also shows them to be the least effective. Our tax free programs such as Healthpoints wellness incentive solutions are easy on your budget and your time.

 

Morale & Teamwork

Are you struggling with lackluster performers, high turnover, or poor employee satisfaction scores? Our Smartcard behavior based recognitionTM solution will help your recognize day in/day out your above and beyond performers.

 

In a study by Watson Wyatt, employee recognition is the number one reason that top companies outdistance their competitors. Eighty years of research have proven that it isn't salary increases or better benefits that drive superior performance. These expensive solutions are soon forgotten and become expected. Learn how our positive reinforcement solutions will streamline your recognition strategies.

 

Lean/Bright Ideas

Looking for a Bright Idea Suggestion Incentive program or Lean Suggestion Scheme? 9 out of 10 suggestion programs fail within 2 years due to common beginner's mistakes. Learn how to avoid these pitfalls with our Lean Bright Idea Suggestion Incentive system. It's documented $11 million in savings in 18 months for Siemens, $2.2 million for the Department of energy in 2 years.

 

The best part? All the administration is done by us. Leaving you more time to focus on innovation and cost savings. Order our free DVD today Bright Idea Suggestion Schemes and Employee Suggestion programs.