Human Service Organizations mission is to serve their clients. A reward/motivation system can encourage and motivate employees to get as productive as possible while providing high quality, effective services. Employers would like to have high quality work, loyalty, commitment and service from their employees. Employers have reward systems in place to offer employees incentives perform to maximum efficient. The rewards can be monetary, recognition based, education, training, or material based. Having a good reward and well integrated reward system is very important to have maximum employee performance.
There was a study conducted on motivation by P. Montana and B. Charnov in 1993. There was a questionnaire with 25 items motivating you to do your best work. Out of the 25 items only nine factors were chosen as the top preferences. They are respect for me as a person, good pay, chance to turn out quality work, chance for promotion, opportunity to do interesting work, feeling my job is important, being told by my boss when I do a good job, opportunity for self-development and improvement, and large amount of freedom on the job. These are some factors that should be considered when developing or implementing a reward system.
Employees who chose to work in human services organizations often do so to have a positive impact on others' lives. Human service organization employees will work with other people’s and their problems and needs. A reward/motivation system should be in place to keep them motivated and happy. A reward system should not just be used to get maximum performance out of employees. It should also be used to keep employee morale at a high.
The use of bonuses or pay raises should not be the only reward/motivation used. To start a reward/motivation reward system develop a list of employee expectations for the organization. The next step is to conduct an employee survey on the types of rewards they would like to see for their hard work. Decide on what the employees would like to see implemented and what the organization would like. Comprise and compile a list of rewards that would be practical and used in the system. Decide what reward would go with what achievement and how the employee would earn the reward. Also how often the rewards we be given.
The first reward to be implemented would be a weekly reward. This reward would reward the staff as a whole as well as individual recognition. To determine the employee/employees who would receive this reward would be thru the use of surveys and manger’s observations. The survey would have questions similar to the following. How eager to help you were the human service worker at our organization? The answers would be a Likert scale. It would also allow the organization to see how the clients view them, any improvements that need to be made and where do they fall short in meeting their needs. The employee who receives this award would be recognized on the organization weekly newsletter. To ensure that there are a maximum number of surveys complete there would also be a staff luncheon on Friday, if 90% of the clients served fill out surveys. To ensure a fair accurate count is conducted at the end of business Friday. The results of the weekly surveys and employee of the week will be in Monday’s newsletter. If the survey goal was met the luncheon details would also be listed in the newsletter.

The second reward would be a monthly reward. This reward would also use the surveys collected for the entire month, manger’s observations, dedication, and work ethic. The reward for the employee would receive recognition in the organization newsletter, employee of the month parking space and a gift card.
The third reward would be a six month reward. A combination of all the employees surveys, employees of the week and month and manger nominations. The employee who is selected and receive this award would be recognized in the organizations newsletter, a parking space, bonus, and an opportunity for additional training.
The fourth reward would be a yearly reward; this would be a major reward for the organization. To earn this award the employee must have high-quality work, loyalty, commitment and service. They must also meet all the company goals and objectives. They must demonstrate the core philosophies and values of the company. The employee must be the ideal and model employee. The employee would receive a bonus, pay increase, managerial training, education, opportunities, parking space, and company recognition.
There will also be incentives to compete with other competitive organizations. They will include competitive health benefits, flexibility, and retirement plan. Managers can also provide staff with gourmet coffee and pastries as a reward for the group. Involve the staff by asking them to provide a list of gift ideas under $20.00 to use a reward for certain tasks. All employees will receive a yearly bonus in December. All employees will receive a gift card for the Thanksgiving Holiday. All employees will receive a yearly pay increase. There will also be a suggestion box for the employees to place their suggestions. The suggestions will be for the improvement of the organization. If an employees’ suggestion is used they will receive a bonus.
In order for the reward/motivation program to be successful, the specifics need to be clearly spelled out for every employee. This is to ensure that all employees understand what is being asked of them. There should be regular meetings or memos promoting the program and to reinforce the specifics of the program. It does not matter if it is an adult or child recognition and appreciation is still needed. Every person wants to be accepted. It drives people to do the best that they can, to go above and beyond to get the job done. It shows employees that they are appreciated and are valuable. An organization that has a well-placed and balanced reward system in place will be successful in employee retention. Employee retention is important, without the result will be a high turnover. A high turnover will result in more money spent on training new employees. This will be a lost for the organization, and the clients will suffer.
Employee reward and recognition programs are of the most importance to an organization. It will benefit the employees and the organization.

Reference
Employee reward systems are part of quality control, too http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/221189052 The Worklife Report http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/205253690 Employee Reward and Recognition Systems http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ps/i.do?action=interpret&id=GALE|CX2687200219&v=2.1&u=uphoenix&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&authCount=1 Management Review http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/docview/206680224 Achieving Excellence in the Management of Human Services Organizations, by Peter M. Kettner.Copyright © 2002 by Allyn and Bacon, an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc.