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Employee Incentives

In: Business and Management

Submitted By johnelle01
Words 1127
Pages 5
Individual Research Paper: Employee Incentives

The purpose of this paper is to discuss incentive programs for teachers. In a society where education is more important as ever, public school districts should be thinking of new ways to encourage their teachers to remain in the educational field. Teachers are leaving their desired profession to find employment that has enhanced incentives. According to Management-People, Performance, Change, “a growing number of companies are launching inititives so that employees can balance their family and work life. The most common inititives are redesigning work, alternative work arrangements, leaves, time-saving assistance, emotional well-being, financial assistance, legal assistance, relocation, health benefits, wellness, parenting, childcare, child develepment, exceptional care giving services, and handling family issues in the office.” In order to preserve respected, qualified, and experienced teachers, incentive programs for educators need to be improved.
The school district I will be discussing has 18 schools. According to Connecting Business to the Future website, the school district “is one of the newest school districts in their state. In 2008, it was surveyed to have more than 15,500 and 2000 staff members.” The school district is the 2nd largest employer in their county. I interviewed two high school teachers, and one principal from the school district. They all agreed there is a large turn over with teachers and one way to fix the issue is with competitive employee incentives. According to The Community Toolbox website, “Incentive programs are valuable because they increase morale incentives and enable you to keep good help and attract more. It's pretty simple - incentives give the best people in the organization reasons to stay.”
Employee incentives are the key to keep the best teachers teaching. The two teachers I spoke with said they went into teaching because it was a passion and it was something they had always wanted to do. They felt they were meant to be teachers. Slowly, throughout their careers, they started to lose their passion. Their passion was being replaced with discontentment and frustration. Instead of teaching, they were dealing with company politics and bureaucracy. The teachers said they do not need all the incentives that other businesses have. The employee incentives they want are competitive salaries, affordable health care, competitive retirement packages, cash bonuses, Dossier and new highly qualified licenses fee decrease, and having an input in school district decisions. They also said they have become frustrated because every year they were promised a bonus but they never received it (Teacher Interviews, 2012). A teacher (not the teachers I interviewed) wrote an email to their district. The email stated, “To the District Office: Whatever happened to the bonus we were promised at the beginning of the school year? It was supposed to be a consolation prize for not getting a raise for 5 years. Now, we don’t even get the consolation prize. And: When do we at least get cost of living… And a raise for our supposedly “job well done?” Praise is nice, but your actions speak so loud I cannot hear what you say!” (Teacher’s email, 2012). The email is a prime example of the frustration many teachers have and why incentive programs are so important to the educational population.
The teachers are not alone in their belief that incentives would entice teachers to stay in their field. According to the website article by Debra Viadero, “researchers recruited by the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University, offer findings on the wide landscape of performance incentives used in schools in this country and around the world. For instance, they explore how promises of better pay can be used to entice teachers to hard-to-staff schools, track what happens when teachers design their own performance-pay plans, look at the legal aspects of traditional pay-for-performance plans, and present studies from abroad on educators’ experiences with cash inducements.” Although offering better pay, affordable benefits, and other type of incentives seem to be an efficient way to keep good teachers in their school district, it’s not the only way to persuade teachers to stay. The teachers I spoke with said they wanted to be able to give input in decisions made in their schools. They want their voices heard. They felt they could make their school environment better because they are with the students each school day and know what is best for the school and their students (Teacher Interview, 2012).
A principal in the district stated, “The school district has a distinctive position in the community.” He said he could not express how much he values and appreciates his employees. He continued by stating “he wants to work with his directors to create better and affordable benefits, performance bonuses, and waivers for Dossier and highly qualified tests.” He did mention college students that are interested in teaching can apply for a Teach Grant. The Teach Grant can help with tuition and books. He said he frequently looks for incentives to keep highly qualified and passionate teachers at his school. (Principal’s interview, 2012)
At the end of the day, teachers desire to feel wanted, needed, and make a decent salary. They spent four plus years in college to achieve their dream to teach. They should not have to find work elsewhere because they no longer can afford to teach. They should not have to choose between their passion to teach and providing a decent living for their family. The teachers I spoke with loved their job but admitted being frustrated and did not have the same passion that they once had. They said it had nothing to do with their students but with the lack of employee incentives the district offered them. The teachers I spoke with said they did not go into teaching for the money but they did expect to make a decent living. By having employee incentive programs in place it is a win-win for the school district and teachers.

Work Cited

Balkin, L. R.-M. (2012). Managment-People/Performance/Change. In L. R.-M. Balkin, Managment-People/Performance/Change (p. 315). New Jersey: Pearson Educations, Inc.
Community Toolbox. (2012). Community Toolbox main section. Retrieved 11 09, 2012, from Community Toolbox: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1289.aspx
Principal. (2012, 10 05). New Mexico, (J. Shumaker, Interviewer)
RREDC. (2012). Rio Rancho Public Schools. Retrieved 11 20, 2012, from Connecting Business to The Future: http://www.rredc.org/rio-rancho-profile/quality-of-life/rio-rancho-public-schools/
Teacher. (2012, 10 10). Email to school district. New Mexico, USA: Johnelle Shumaker.
Teachers. (2012, 10 11). Teacher interviews. (J. Shumaker, Interviewer)
Viadero, D. (2012). Researchers Probe Pay Incentives for Teachers . Retrieved 11 05, 2012, from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/11/11/11performance_ep.h29.html

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