6 Benefits of Well-Structured Incentive Plans

by Rob Marchalonis.

Do you have an “incentive plan” in place for your employees? If so, how is it working? Incentive plans (financial or otherwise) can be a powerful way to motivate and support better results from your workforce, but only if well structured. Smart incentive plans can offer employers and leaders many advantages, and some you may not have considered.

In my experience, every employee has a slightly different response when incentive plans are introduced. One simple goal for any incentive plan is to be positively received by everyone. If structured and introduced well, this response is not hard to achieve. What will vary however, is the value that employees see in incentive plans. Employers and leaders, consider the benefits and response when smart incentive plans are put in place:

Benefits to Employees and Employers from Incentive Plans

1. Clarity – incentives linked to clear and simple objectives reinforce to employees “what results matter most”.
2. Focus – with clear objectives, employees are better able to prioritize and direct effort toward critical outcomes.
3. Challenge – incentive-based goals help some employees shift their mindset from “working” to “winning”.
4. Teamwork – team-based incentives prompt many to be more productive to not disappoint their teammates.
5. Family – employees with others to support are motivated by incentives to provide better for their families.
6. Reward – smart incentives link results to rewards, that employees can enjoy as a team and personally.

Mixed Benefits from Incentive Plans

Incentive plans motivate each employee differently, and usually in multiple ways depending on their personal situation. Leaders who understand this dynamic can better use and leverage incentives to engage, motivate, and get better results from their workforce.

Interested how incentives can work when employee roles vary? Learn to implement incentive plans by workgroup (HERE).

Rob Marchalonis helps business leaders design and implement better incentive plans and proven leadership, strategy, and process solutions. Connect with Rob@LSP123.com or on LinkedIn. ©2020