Get ready to see some serious results.
At one restaurant chain, leaders were losing employees at an alarming rate. Turnover in food service is typically 200 percent or higher a year. And, frankly, company leaders were having a tough time getting their front-line workers—typically sixteen- to twenty-one-year-olds—motivated and excited about the company’s goals.
The carrot they picked was relatively simple. When employees were caught doing something right, they were handed a gold coin. (Actually, it was a yellow plastic coin, but they got the idea.) When employees collected enough of these golden treasures, they turned them in for hip merchandise.
The result? Restaurants had to re-lacquer the floors because workers were cleaning them so often. Many of these young people admitted, “Sure, I could get twenty-five cents more an hour over at McDonald’s, but I want to get that necklace.”
Another not-so-obvious result: through the reward program, workers were starting to understand (and implement) what was important to the company—cleanliness, hospitality and accuracy.
REMEMBER: | To be effective, awards must be valued by employees—and given only for the behaviors valued by your company. |