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In today's competitive market, you need employees who stand out from the competition and whilst training and recruitment will start you in the right direction, recognition and reward will reinforce this. It can also motivate flashes of brilliance from your staff that get noticed by guests, in turn driving their loyalty and spend.
If you have some means of measuring performance, such as GEMvisits or GEMdirect scheme, then you have the raw material on which to build a recognition or reward scheme. Here are some ideas to take into account:
1- Recognise excellence
A mystery visit scheme has the ability to catch people doing outstandingly well, it's a great idea to include questions that will allow your Mystery Guest to describe these moments and to identify the employee.
2- Manager bonus
It's the manager's job to galvanise the team, working towards a common goal so many operators set a target performance bonus which is paid. This target is typically an average score from a series of Mystery Visits or Customer Feedback reports.
3- Team rewards
Manager cannot achieve good results without their team. Success can be enhanced if a reward scheme touches the rest of the team. Those on duty when excellent feedback was received could receive an extra hourly rate or relevant prize.
4- Ownership
If all the employees focus on is a bonus scheme, then someone's missing the point. The goal is commercial success but help employees feel that they own a stake in this. Ask them to review the contents of feedback reports or financial results and to be involved in decisions on actions that generate great results.
5- Individual objectives
Every employee should always be working towards something that they lone have influence over- this makes them more than just another employee. The time- tested 'SMART' pneumonic should be applied to objectives- Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Realistic-Timed.
6- Ask employees
If you find it tricky coming up with ideas for reward or recognition schemes, consult your team. You can assess how likely your ideas are to generate buy-in and they will most likely have some creative ideas of their own.
7- Consider the timespan
Try to find the right balance between regular rewards that keep performance front-of-mind and less frequent awards that allow you to build up a headline-grabbing prize, bonus or social event.
