How do you motivate your teams with severely constrained budgets? 

In my role as an executive coach and leadership coaching expert I wanted to share with you Telis Demos’s article in Fortune Magazine. 

“Rewarding more employees, more often with less money may work better than giving just a few a whole lot”, he says in his report on the work of Globoforce.   

Studies of employee satisfaction and retention rates by the strategic recognition solutions company revealed the best systems shared a hat trick of similar – and very surprising – traits.

Share the wealth 

80 – 90 per cent of employees should get some reward each year. To reinforce certain behaviors you need to constantly reinforce them. 

Small bucks beat big ones 

The average prize should be just $110 / £70. Smaller prizes can seem insignificant and larger ones don’t prompt greater motivation. 

Weekly not quarterly 

Give 5 per cent of employees weekly awards. Anything less and they’ll forget about the program. Small awards all the time are a way to constantly touch people. 

Research from Stanford University reinforces this approach through a study in which three groups were given puzzles to solve. The first group received $1 each immediately after completing the task. The second knew they would get $1 for solving each problem, but didn’t know when. 

The third group, who only knew they would be randomly rewarded, completed the most puzzles.  Researchers say: “It’s the element of surprise, not the size of the award, that really moves people on.”

To plan how you can make the right strategic business plans to capitalise on boosting the morale – and productivity of your team, email me richard.bosworth@whatifspecialist.com, find me Richard Bosworth on LinkedIn and follow @richardwhatif on Twitter

 Post Script:  What are your best low cost or no cost reward schemes for your people?