When it comes to keeping employees excited about their work and engaged, what are some of the best things a company can offer as rewards? There are of course the large compensation options that some employees, specifically those on the c-level staff, can expect.
However, a study in the Harvard Business Review recently examined the ways in which "low powered incentives" can be useful. The research specifically focused on how this class of rewards affected innovation within an organization: it can be a launching point for companies to look at their own rewards systems more closely.
While the researchers noted that no definite conclusion could be drawn from their work, they found that some firms gave employees attractive incentives to come up with big, revolutionary ideas, as others used smaller rewards for any employee contribution.
"Because breakthrough ideas are so rare, a simple reward system is unlikely to generate many of them," the Review's researchers wrote. "To get more breakthroughs, the best approach is to focus on increasing the variety of ideas that are generated."
This brings up the question: Which approach to rewards is most likely to generate successful performance? A Forbes article on the subject examined how rewards in general motivate employee behavior, though they are just one possible tool.
If your business doesn't already have a culture of motivation, then a qualified CEO could make all the difference. An executive recruiter can help your business find candidates who can implement a positive rewards program that encourages employee engagement.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people – for all company functions, across many industries and globally.
