Today, my manager introduced us to what is essentially an employee of the month program, which is new to our store. She gathered a bunch of us to a board that had two sheets on it.
The first, she explained, is where the winners of each month will have their names placed for all to see (three winners per month, one from each section of the store), and at the bottom was a blurb that explained the winners from each month would cast a vote at the end of the year for one of the winners to determine an employee of the year.
The second laid out the “criteria” they were looking for in an employee of the month; going above and beyond, keeping up to date with our online training app, being a team player, showing up 5-10 minutes early, staying on the floor until the absolute end of our shift, earning us good social media reviews, doing extra cleaning, picking up extra shifts, not calling out, not requesting time off… on and on it went.
Here's the kicker… when she finished telling us all about it and then asked if there were any questions, I asked the simple question “whats in it for us?”
“Oh, well, recognition, of course! Plus you're setting an example for future prospective EotM's, which will help us all build a stronger store together!”
“Yeah, ok, but what do we get for winning?”
“Oh, well, there aren't any sort of prizes, it's a position of prestige, something to strive for.”
At this moment, she is beaming from ear to ear as if she's cracked the mystery to keeping employees satisfied with as little to no effort on upper management's part.
You really think having my name on a piece of paper on a wall is enough to bust my ass and dedicate my life to this place? I can write my name on a wall myself. I can pat myself on the back for a days work well done. And I can do it without changing anything about how I spend a day at work.
You want your employees to go all out for your business? Here's an start: incentivize your incentive programs. I mean, it's right there in the name!