Keep them happy: ideas on incentives that will work for you

Now, more than ever, you need people to be committed, motivated…and happy.  Take this advice and they will reward you with lower absenteeism and less turnover

INCENTIVES are crucial to attract new employees into any call centre.  When used appropriately, incentives can make the normal working day fun, inspiring and can go a long way to keeping employees engaged, driven and motivated in their sometimes-monotonous days.

Our employees are the biggest asset of our business and it is important that our management team recognises the effort and commitment that goes into every customer interaction every day.  We completely believe that it is imperative to recognise and reward superior customer service, commitment and loyalty to our brands and that of our customers.

Excellence can be different things to different people.  For us, success is not only the conclusion of a sale or a problem solved, but also it knows that a customer has ended the contact feeling completely satisfied following resolution of the issue, a successful transaction or advice received and having had a very pleasant experience in dealing with one of our advisors.

In order to get the best from our people, we look to design appropriate and exciting incentive schemes which motivate high performance, encourage competition and recognise teams as well as individuals, which will in turn deliver great results for clients and their customers.

Companies must understand their teams and provide incentives that truly mean something to them; they need to want the prize!

Money is not always the answer -- scheduled time off line, fun at work days (we have seen some visions on shorts and shades day) as well as once in a lifetime experiences, items or experiences which will mean more to family members and so on.  It is our responsibility to respect the requirement to incentivise and to do this in a creative and innovative manner that delivers, as well as being realistic and timely.

My own view, however, is that it is often forgotten that the most simple, even though at times it seems the hardest thing to do, is good old-fashioned face-to-face recognition, time and praise.  Lunch with managers, breakfast debates, “hello” in the stairwells and “have a great night” as you go out the door.

Imagine how nice it would feel for an agent when a manager approaches, openly recognises good performance and takes the time and effort to say “well done, we really and truly value your hard work”.   This is simple but so very effective.  It has the ability to really make someone’s day whilst providing a real confidence boost.  It’s a bit special.

We will never remove all the fun and exciting things we do here with incentives.  However we will continue in our effort to make the best incentive personal recognition and praise. 

Go on give it a try… take 15 minutes out of your day and go walkabout.

Make your employees understand that they are an integral part of your business and its success.  Not only will it motivate and surprise them it will actually motivate and inspire you.  The humility and gratitude for your effort in doing so will blow you away.

Iain Banks is head of customer value at the Glasgow-based outsourcer, Response

Recognise and reward success for all of your staff

IT’S NOW more important than ever to maximise the performance of your people.  Only the best call centres will be those that successfully engage their employees to face the new challenges in the market.

Staff need to be more committed and determined than ever.  It’s vital that they are flexible in adapting to the constantly changing environment and that all personnel are united in their approach to both external and internal strategies and communication. If this isn’t the culture within your call centre not only will the organisation suffer from poor staff morale, but there’ll be extra absenteeism and staff turnover.

Recognition should be a fundamental tenet of any call centre’s operating strategy. Research quoted in The Neuroscience of Leadership states that engagement is a key driver of staff motivation and recognising and rewarding a job well done builds engagement.

Consider:

• After deciding to invest in an incentive scheme, be sure to research what will motivate all members of staff. If they don’t value the reward, it won’t have any beneficial affects on morale and engagement levels.
• Be flexible to ensure your organisation is adapting to change.  It’s vital to keep your finger on the pulse of a respective market and adapt incentive and reward strategies accordingly. For example, cost reduction is a priority for most businesses today, so engage employees by rewarding those who identify opportunities to save money.
• Don’t set unrealistic targets otherwise quality will suffer and potential customers will be lost due to staff’s de-motivated practices
• Offer team as well as individual rewards as both are important. If the team reward is powerful, it is a good way to push the strong performers to help the new or poorer members of staff to also succeed.
• It’s vital that whatever motivation and incentive strategy you use motivates 100 per cent of the participants all the time – contract, full-time, senior, junior and even administration staff need to be included.
• Use vouchers or travel rewards to recognise staff achievements as cash bonuses can be lost in monthly salaries and the value of the reward is therefore also lost for the recipient.

Finally, the efforts and achievement of all should be publicly recognised at company meetings with personal presentations by a senior manager, as well as in all forms of communication.

Andy Philpott is marketing director of Capital Incentives & Motivation