Improving employee morale with incentives a challenge in tough economic times; Recognition, prizes tend to pay off when they ref

Improving employee morale with incentives a challenge in tough economic times; Recognition, prizes tend to pay off when they reflect a positive work environment
Winning a couple of bobblehead dolls may not sound like much. But in a time of cutbacks & layoffs, humble company prizes can make a difference for employees like Jennifer Zuri. She's marketing communication mgr. at Aquascape, St. Charles landscaping firm, scored most recent bobblehead -- bearing likeness of the company's founder & CEO giving a thumbs-up -- after resurrecting a dormant committee in charge of boosting employee morale. 1 early project involved organizing a lunchtime "wallyball" tournament at its fitness center. She printed certificates for the winners & put them in frames found in a storage closet. Months later, employees are still regularly playing, and Zuri is planning an office Olympics for end of summer. "When budgets become tighter, you have to become more creative & we have creative people. The wallyball tournament cost us nothing," said Zuri, 7-yr employee. Amid this downturn, many managers are realizing keeping morale intact is crucial & harder to achieve. Businesses have to motivate survivors of layoffs as well as prepare to compete for talent when the economy rebounds. That's when recognition & incentive programs, in which employees win anything from prime parking spots & cash bonuses to bobbleheads, gain importance. "It can be very shallow stuff, & employees are not dumb. But even hanging picture of an employee of the month can be meaningful if it contributes to a healthy workplace. If that picture on the wall is part of a big thing -- a work climate -- it's very powerful," said Tom McMullen, expert in incentives at management consulting firm Hay Group. Experts say the inverse also holds true: In a toxic workplace, hastily conceived rewards can exacerbate morale problems because employees can perceive them as ploys by mgmt. to curry favor. Incentives also can sow jealousy among co-workers. "The problem with employee engagement is one-off programs can actually be a bad idea," said Bob Miller, CEO of Excellence in Motivation, which provides incentive programs for Fortune 500 companies. He advises a holistic approach that balances overall compensation with rewards, & added the downturn might be the right time for companies to gauge whether their incentive programs are engaging employees or need a tuneup because they are bloated and ineffectual. Then there's the challenge of trying to motivate employees who rarely respond to incentives. They may be entrenched in their dislike for a job or their manager, or they might be too cynical to accept a reward. Dealing with varied individual responses to reward programs is one of the biggest challenges we face, said Paul Scriba, president of W/M Display, Chicago-based maker of retail store displays & fixtures. W/M has long-running bonus programs for production efficiency, on-time delivery & perfect attendance. Some employees earn up to 12% more a yr. "While the programs may make economic sense & certainly they're intended as opps for employees to gain from financial benefits as co. grows sometime you have to do a pretty good sell job," said Scriba, who recently introduced cash bonuses to employees who submit ideas for making manufacturing processes greener. "You have to balance the economics & personalities of those involved with the program." In the recession, some firms kept alive incentives for certain employees while cutting back elsewhere to save money. For example, Vernon Hills-based tech vendor CDW, which conducted its 1st-ever layoff in Jan, used to provide bagels twice a week to employees. That's been cut to once a week & it also cut subsidies at the office cafeteria. But a sales recognition dinner & annual trip for top sales employees to plan strategy with senior execs were retained. "Absolutely we're a sales org," said John Smith, Sr Dir. co-worker services at CDW, where employees often come to work wearing button-down & polo shirt emblazoned with a company logo. "It's very critical to recognize top performers & those that's generating revenue." ThoughtWorks, Chicago-based info tech consulting firm, gives its employees a 3-mo. paid sabbatical when their tenure reaches 10 yrs. Nancy Kistler took her leave last summer after 14 yrs at the co., where she oversees many large client accounts. Instead of traveling around the world like some of her colleagues, she stayed home in Grand Rapids with her children. It was a welcome break after having traveled weekly for 14 yrs. "I was really thankful for getting the opp because you don't get anywhere these days & have it be fully paid makes a huge difference. To me, it really said a lot on how I'm valued by the firm," she said.