From the time God promised the Israelites such benefits as long life and much needed rain, rather then more money, land, produce, etc, people in charge have used incentives such as awards to promote obedience and professionalism among their workers. From booming Fortune 500 companies to mom and pop country stores across the good ole’ United States of America, savvy business owners are using such things as acrylic award plaques rather then small pay raises to motivate their employees, keep them happy and insure professionalism in the work place.
One renowned real estate company in the Midwest has long used the incentive of free one quarter acre plots of land for their best selling real estate agents of the month, rather then pay raises. Think of that for a second. Do you think a real estate agent would rather have a seemingly meaningless twenty five cent per hour raise that not only will do little for him or his family, but won’t raise his status on the job and amongst his peers either, or do you think that employee would rather be acknowledged as the top real estate agent in the office for that month and be awarded a free quarter acre plot of land? I would venture to bet that ninety nine percent of all real estate agents in America would rather have the award then the cash.
A popular restaurant on the East coast used to offer their hostesses and waitresses a fifty cent per hour raise if they demonstrated extreme professionalism, punctuality and people skills. However, they quickly realized that this cash bonus had little to do with energizing their employees to even greater heights, or even assuring they would maintain the same professionalism; in fact, they found the exact opposite to be true. Many of the waitresses that were given a cash bonus for their great service started to slack off on the job, be rude to customers and even skip out on their work shifts altogether. The restaurant manager knew something needed to be done and that he couldn’t expect his employees to change if everything around them remained the same.
The restaurant manager walked into his East coast restaurant one Monday morning and told his employees, “people, things are going to change around here”. He then laid out a plan of action that consisted of awarding stylish acrylic award plaques to not only the employee of the month, but to the friendliest employee of the month and even to the most punctual employee of the month. The manager had no idea if his new idea would be well received or completely rejected, but the results soon spoke for themselves. Within two days, nearly every employee was showing up early for work, trying to win the most punctual employee of the month award, waitresses and hostesses were constantly smiling at the customers trying to win the most friendly employee of the month award and the cooks and bus boys were working harder then ever, trying to win the coveted employee of the month award.
Today, this East coast restaurant is booming with customers and filled with happy and motivated employees, all thanks to one creative manager’s idea to use acrylic award plaques rather then cash raises as a bonus.
