Designing a rewards system

HSM/220
March 20, 2015
Shanti Anderson

When creating a rewards system for employees, it is vital to understand the rewards system itself. A rewards system must be offered by managers that understand how effectiveness is to be achieved and what its employees consider to be the important factors in determining the quality of work life. There are four necessary reward system properties; basic needs satisfied, competitive benefits, equitable distribution, and employees treated as individuals. To ensure basic needs are being met the company must offer competitive pay scales, as money is the biggest motivator to every employee. Basic needs are described as the ability to support themselves and their families. This includes housing, food, transportation, utilities, etc. Also, an employee must feel their worth to the company and should be compensated accordingly. Employees want to know the company values their work. This gives each employee the motivation to give 100%. To ensure competitive benefits are offered, a company must know the financial responsibilities of offering these benefits. After knowing the numbers, the company's management must then determine what they can afford to offer in a benefits package. These benefits will vary depending on each employee's position but should be competitive on that pay scale to other companies. Benefits should be offered to every employee. If the company cannot afford to do this, they must shop around for cheaper companies to offer these benefits. Some form of benefits package shall be implemented on each pay scale. Each employee must be treated as an individual. To make sure this happens, I would implement a confidential survey to each employee. This will not only give the company a general consensus of wants and needs, but also individual data as well. Learning what is important to each individual will let management develop a rewards system that can suit everyone's needs individually. By offering individualized rewards, this will help achieve a well-working rewards system. When developing a rewards system, management must know the nine major factors of motivation. These factors include: 1. Respect 2. Good pay 3. The chance to turn out quality work 4. Chance for promotion 5. The opportunity to do interesting work 6. The feeling that my job is important 7. Being told by my boss when I do a good job 8. The opportunity for self-development and improvement 9. Having a large amount of freedom on the job Respect is a value that needs to be felt by each employee. An employer can show respect with simple, yet powerful actions. Treating people with courtesy, politeness, and kindness goes a long way. Listening to what employees have to say also shows respect. When developing new ideas as employees' opinions, and if you use their ideas praise them for using it. To be respected, one must show respect. "Treat others as you wish to be treated". Employees want good pay. A company must know what salaries are competitive for each employee's position. Salaries will be based on education, reputation in the field, experience, and competitive salaries. Competitive salaries are an average pay scale for a certain position throughout multiple companies. A company that wants to hire, and retain a good employee must meet, or exceed competitive wages. For an employee, the opportunity to turn out quality work is very important. If an employee feels they are not given this chance, they may feel unneeded or even unproductive. Employers must give each employee every chance to produce work that is not only required, but needed. The chance for promotions is very important to an employee. This motivates them to do an exceptional job in their position, as well as learn the company as a whole. With the chance of a promotion, the employee will be motivated so they can earn a better salary and a different position. Employees that have chances for promotions do not feel as if they are in a dead-end job. They will not feel the "glass ceiling" effect. Opportunities to do interesting work is motivational because an employee will not feel bored at work. Feeling bored, or useless at work can cause demotivation. If a company has positions where the job is uninteresting a plan shall be implemented to rotate jobs on a recurring basis. An employer should "change things up" if necessary. If employees get bored, or uninterested, they will start to dislike the job. An employee that feels their job is unimportant will get unmotivated to do it well. If an employee shows signs of feeling unimportant, a manager must meet with them and explain why the job is important. Knowing why a job is important is vital for the employee to feel needed in the company. Also, make sure the employee knows about the rewards system that is in place.

Being told by the boss that an employee is doing a good job is one of the best ways to motivate employees. Employees that are praised for a good job will not only work hard to hear that praise again, but will feel important and respected. Self-development and improvement are important to every employee. Each employee has goals they wish to achieve. These goals may be professional goals, or personal. Giving the employee the opportunity to achieve these goals will motivate them to do their best. Having regular meetings with each employee and asking about their goals and dreams will give a manager more insight to that employee and can help develop ways to support the employee in those goals. If tangible, a manager should meet with the employee and discuss how the goals are developing, and offer assistance and support in whatever way they can. Having the freedom to make choices for the position one is in is very important to motivation. This shows the amount of trust management has for that employee. This also shows a sign of respect to that employee. Although management should always give their employees the parameters of making choices, but the freedom to do so should always be given. The employee will not only feel respected, but they will feel important as well.
The Rewards System
To all employees: Effective April 1, 2015, each month an “Employee of the Month” shall be chosen by management. This employee will have shown exemplary work and work ethic. This employee will have gone above and beyond their job requirements. The employee of the month will have gone out of their way to help their peers and/or clients. Teamwork is very important in our line of work. We must all be able to depend on each other for assistance. Our goal is to help each other help our individuals. The rewards system will be based on the ideal of helping others, even when it is not the easiest of tasks. The employee of the month will have their photo placed in the “Employee of the Month” plaque located in the lobby. This employee will also receive the preferred parking spot for the month. Employees of the month will also be recognized in the company’s monthly newsletter and on the company’s social media page. In addition, the employee of the month will also be offered one of the following rewards: 1. One $50 cash bonus 2. One $50 gift card to the store of their choosing 3. One day off, with pay 4. One week of the month the employee may arrive an hour late each day, with pay 5. One on one time with the manager. This shall include a private meeting, with lunch included at the restaurant of their choosing.

References
Honore, J. (2009, August 1). Employee Motivation. The Consortium Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 63-75. March 20, 2015
Ed. Burton S. Kaliski (2001). Reward Systems. Encyclopedia of Business and Finance. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 751. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
Gibson, V. M. (1995). The new employee reward system. Management Review, Vol. 84(2), 13. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/206680224?accountid=458