Employee Incentives For Small Business Owners

We work with lots of area businesses here, and as a result, I get a little crash course in my clients' business practices. It's a fantastic crash course for me and my team.

And since I'm in the financial trenches with so many of them, I see lots of ways that team members are compensated. And it's probably helpful for all of us to learn some of these lessons.

Because I've also seen teams and businesses devolve over haphazard employee incentives, vague sales targets and monetary favoritism before.

Maybe the best solution for your business isn't about simple salary structures?

Maybe the answer isn't to eliminate bonus schemes or monetary incentive, it's just to be a little smarter about it than you might have been in the past.

The last few weeks, we've given you some heavy things to think about ... so my hope here is to move to happier subjects.

Janet's Thoughts On Employee Incentives For Small Business Owners

"One person can make a difference, and every person should try." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Early in my career as a manager, I discovered that when one employee receives a reward or bonus, some coworkers could respond with a little resentment or skepticism.

Until I learned to base these kinds of decisions on objective metrics, such as sales or productivity, my rewards only had sporadic success.

Now, however, these are the kinds of things I look for...

• Specific Job Performance. Spell out requirements in unambiguous terms, and give rewards only to those who exceed expectations.

• Customer Satisfaction. Have you received positive feedback about employees from clients, customers, or coworkers? Document the feedback for use when making reward decisions.

• Cost Awareness. Look for workers who take steps to save money for the organization without sacrificing quality. Calculate the value of their cost-cutting contributions when deciding what kind of award to give.

• Company Policies. Document your employees' compliance (or lack thereof) with rules regarding such issues as attendance, job performance, and respectful treatment of others.

• A Positive Attitude. This can be tricky to measure, but you can still document an employee's eagerness to work, willingness to learn, and ability to support the team in a positive manner.

Yep, here we are in March, and that means that it's GO TIME for taxes. If it takes you a couple weeks to pull things together, and get organized ... well, now is a very good time to start the process.

But don't panic -- even if you're terrible at paperwork, we aren't. It is, after all, what we are wading through every day on behalf of our clients ... and not just to "get it done" -- but to help save you as much as is legally and ethically possible under the tax code.

We have a few tricks up our sleeves, and we love to put them into action on behalf of our friends.

BE THE ROAR not the echo®

Warmly,

Janet Behm

I'm grateful for our chance to serve you and your business through this blog -- and we are dedicated to its success, in every measure.