Employee incentives programs are a great way to get your employees to improve their health to decrease expenses. Incentive programs do more than just improve health and lower costs, they boost employee morale and they increase production. Any business can use an incentive program and they will see results.
Finding the right incentive program is probably the hardest part. It comes down to the way you approach the program with your employees and the incentives you offer. To create an effective incentive program, you need to follow these steps:
Step # 1 – Define your goals
When it comes to creating a good incentive program, you need to have some goals. Target what costs you want to reduce. Perhaps you have a large number of employees that use up their sick leave benefits. Maybe you have some that are overweight and visit the doctor more frequently. Then you could also have some employees that smoke. Whatever cost you want to reduce, define exactly how you want to achieve them. The goals should also focus on improving customer satisfaction and employee performance.
Step # 2 – Proper Implementation
Implementing the program is one of the most critical parts of an incentive program. Clearly establish the rules of the incentive program and then make sure your employees understand them. You should include some check-ups to find out how well your employees are doing with the program and if it is going to be successful. If you are tracking weight loss, a great deal of success will fall on the employees. Since they are in charge of reporting their progress, you have to have trust and honesty with your employees to know that they are telling the truth. If you suspect an employee is trying to cheat, you may need to change the rules. Start making the employees weigh-in on a company scale so you can track their progress.
Step # 3 – Choose good incentives
When it comes to making a good incentive program, a great percentage of success is built upon choosing the right incentives. Before you start the program, have your employees fill out surveys as to some of the prizes they want. You can offer large cash incentives, time off work, a better parking space, company merchandise, and gift cards. If you don’t have a lot of money to offer, let your employees know that you will need to divide their big reward into smaller payments.
It is a wise decision to save-up a lot of money to devote to the incentive program. Your employees will participate if they know they can get a good reward. They don’t want to work hard to lose 50 pounds just so they can get a $25 gift card to Olive Garden. This is why it is important to ask them what type of incentives they want so you can figure out what you can afford and get them to exercise.
Step # 4 – Have fun!
Once you have implemented the incentive program, you need to have fun with it. Hold some random drawings and give out small rewards to your employees that have been working hard. Do little things to inspire them to continue working hard to meet their goals. Holding little drawings once a month is a great way to inspire your employees to keep working and it is fun for them since they may have a chance to win a nice prize. Incentive programs are fun and you want your employees to enjoy them. Since they are a good way to boost employee morale, you need to survey your employees often to see if they enjoy the program or not. If your employees don’t enjoy the incentive program, it won’t work.