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
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March 26, 2012 16:56 by
rcowenIf 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
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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
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January 27, 2012 21:04 by
rcowenHere’s a heartwarming story about the human spirit that you may find hard to believe. I promise you it is true!
I have seen many management fads come and go in my 40-year career as a human resource manager for PepsiCo and Texas Instruments and as a professor of management at Southern Methodist University and the University of Wyoming. My corporate experience has always led me to question whether or not this or that “flavor of the month” can actually have a meaningful application in the real world, while my academic background has trained me to be skeptical of everything. Peer-to-peer recognition is one of the newer management trends I have been hearing about, and I admit to a dash of dubiousness. Then something happened that rocked my world.
Read the complete article: HERE
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