Big Incentives Can Hinder, Rather Than Help: study from CalTech published in Neuron (5/10/2012) and summarized in the Wall Street Journal
From Financial incentives can spur us to success—up to a point.
When the stakes get too high, performance can suffer, according to a new paper from researchers at California Institute of Technology. By studying brain-scan data of volunteers performing a basic motor task (controlling an object on a screen) for money, the Caltech team found that once the incentive for successfully completing the task hit a certain threshold, the brain's reward center began to shut down, a response tied to loss aversion.
READ THE REST OF THE SUMMARY FROM THE WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304371504577406413713371208.html
We have found that paying around 1% to 1.5% of pay as incentives is the “Goldilocks” number and that paying 3% or more does not produce additional results.
This study shows what can happen when activities become learned and the incentive no longer is effective or participants become risk averse. One easy way to re-engage your employees is to include “random intermittent reinforcement” (brief games of chance producing a random number of points) within an incentive program.
Summary of study: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509140003.htm
Copies of the study can be purchased here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312002887
View Post
If I hadn’t experienced it, I wouldn’t have believed our wellness program could reduce attrition by 50% and absenteeism by 80% while cutting our insurance premium increase and improving our overall company performance.
http://www.offcenterinsight.com/2/post/2012/05/contact-centerfold-of-the-month-may-2012-callogix.html
View Post
Reduce New Agent Turnover article from Connections Magazine
If your call center operates as a profit center (sells, renews, retains, upgrades, converts, collects, or solicits), improving retention of newly hired agents will have an immediate impact on your bottom line. Reducing the ongoing cost and effort of hiring and training new agents is one benefit, but the real payoff is that key performance indicators (KPIs) go up and rookie mistakes go down.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of “the power of small wins,” it is discussed in the Harvard Business Review article, “The Power of Small Wins” by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CONNECTIONS MAGAZINE: http://www.connectionsmagazine.com/articles/2012/reduce-new-agent-turnover.html
View Post
Motivation Research: Expecting Rapid Feedback Enhances Performance
When setting up and implementing employee incentive programs for our clients, we at Snowfly always take into consideration the speed at which participants will be positively reinforced (i.e. receive some sort of recognition) when they achieve a targeted goal or demonstrate a desirable behavior. We have always maintained that the closer to immediate this is, the more effective the incentive program will be. I recently came across an interesting research study that further validates the importance we place on this. The study is titled "Motivation by Anticipation: Expecting Rapid Feedback Ehances Performance" and was conducted by Kerri L. Kettle and Gerald Haubl of The University of Alberta. Essentially, this study shows that merely the anticipation of rapid feedback will improve performance. Thus, if you can can create and manage an employee incentive program that consistently delivers positive feedback in frequent intervals, you should realize quantifiable improvements in targeted areas.
Interested in viewing/downloading the complete study? CLICK HERE
View Post
Employee Incentives Cartoon - March 2012
View Post
Gamification after Twelve Years and 150 Million Games: Sixteen Key Discoveries for Success
Snowfly was incorporated in 1999 with a mission to insert games into the employee incentive program equation. Since that time, over 150 million games have been played in a real world work environment. This paper identifies sixteen key findings for organizations considering utilizing gamification techniques.
VIEW/DOWNLOAD CASE STUDY
View Post