Filed under: notes
Dear Ms. Theologian:
What does Ms Theologian think about employee rewards programs? I’m not talking about raises and promotions, or little cards that get punched every time you buy coffee and you get the tenth cup free. I mean, those programs where the same people get nominated every month for
a $100 gift certificate. Any suggestions
for a meaningful and FAIR rewards program?
Signed,
Never Been Nominated
Dear Never Been Nominated:
Ms. Theologian has developed her own reward program. You mail her $100. She nominates you for Reader of the Year of the Spirituality at Work blog and awards you $100. No harm done. And you lose your virginity, so to speak, and have something to add to your resume.
In researching your query, Ms. Theologian has been blinded by a plethora of bad management websites on motivating employees. Before she went blind, she thought of two critical things to build a meaningful rewards program:
1. a decent group of people to develop the program drawn from different departments and different levels i.e., not all management, not all marketing.
2. a meaningful reward. Now apparently $100 is supposed to be meaningful. Frankly, Ms. Theologian would rather a half day off at work. Someone else might choose to get flowers on two consecutive Fridays. Someone else might want free gym membership. Someone might want a free tortured dead bird, and by that I mean a Butterball. You don’t know what employees want unless you ask. You might use this survey, but Ms. Theologian prefers a more free form approach.
Off to bathe her eyes in chocolate pudding to numb the pain of bad management technique,
Ms. Theologian
P.S. If you would like to write to her graciousness, please wait 24 hours for her eyes to heal and then send an email to ms dot theologian at gmail dot com.