It looks deceptively simple, riaght? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Golden Rule feels so universal that it could be a solution for every relationship. Simply treat everyone the same way you would appreciate being handled and everything will run easily, yes?
Just a minute... Something's amiss...
Does your business' twenty-something top gun sales guy want the same benefits from their job that your forty-something office clerk wants? Is your technical staff looking for similar opportunities and reimbursement as your receptionist?
Obviously, their needs and wants are very distinct, but many managers use a universal approach when rewarding their key employees. When a big contract is finished, everyone gets an identical award, be it breakfast or a gas card. Giving an identical reward to everyone is what's right, isn't it? But do you think it's actually fair to your top staff?
Keep the Top People
Surprisingly few business owners know that the 80/20 rule applied to their workers teaches that only 20% of their workers are delivering 80% of your entire business' bottom-line. In addition, almost every management book cites studies which compare the productivity of the top team members to the not so skilled (yet still effective) team members. The gap between the top and bottom has been reported as broad as 100 to 1. The closest these numbers ever seem to get to one another is at best 4:1. So now how much more does this extraordinary variance in value end up costing?
Assuming that your annual salary for the company's least skilled staff member is $30,000, how much does it cost for your top staff? Since a fair bit of the costs for an employee don't change, those costs don't increase in relation to base salary. For the intent of this examination, let's use some worst-case figures, $60k. Assuming that your $30k person delivers $30k of value (otherwise you'd let them go, right?). If your top employee is a mere four times more productive than the worst, they deliver far more value for how much more they cost.
If your business invests in more classes for your least valuable members, costs immediately increase, but without any promise that productivity will likewise increase. Consider, also, what part of your salary is factored into the "cost" of this moderately competent employee? Probably none. Management costs are usually invisible, factored away as overhead. It certainly
feels like you're being productive - trying your hardest to bring along the strugglers, hoping that they eventually rise above their shortcomings. Consider how much of your time is spent with either of these employees:
- The self-managing dynamo who, with speed of a bullet train, handles customer complaints, delivers defect-free results, and even cleans up after himself in the breakroom
- The newbie who has a few interpersonal issues, occasional quality issues, difficulty listening to reason, and shows up late to work because of his occasional hangover
Indeed your top performers are worth their salt. As such, it's crucial for every small business owner to retain their winners, as this group of your greatest makes up most of your team's value. Their experience with your unique processes together with their skills and ability to get the job done in a pinch makes them practically priceless.
So, what's the most effective way to show appreciation for your top people? What should you do to indicate to those top performers that they're wanted, and increase the chance that they'll stay with you?
What's the most effective way to reward your best people?
Pay them cold, hard cash. If your $30k employee cranks out 80-hour weeks during the final push of a key project, most exclusively monetary rewards would come in at a rate
less than minimum wage. Simply reconsider this choice. This can be quite offensive, seen, instead, as a paltry offering to pay them off and ease your guilty conscience. If you do decide to follow this path, after the taxman gets his share, the ultimate impact of this cash can end up being a lot less than it costs to give it out.
Pay for a training trip. Some people might be thrilled to get a chance to attend a class in a place on the company dime. They may even ask to spend the week before or after, on their own, just to cash in on this opportunity to rest up. Watch out though, this could be mistaken by your superstar that you found their performance lacking. They might wrongly assume that they need further classes to be deserving of the real reward that lies waiting. If your staffer is sensitive, they might get worried that all of that extra work they went through was a warning sign to you that they were struggling along. Proposing a training reward in this situation could be mistaken that this difficulty was obvious, and now you are taking remedial action.
Promote them. Though the draw of a striking title or tangible gains accompanying a promotion may motivate some, more and more workers have come to realize the hazards of the Peter Principle. They're worried that their work lives will shift a great deal when they become manager. Your powerful personnel probably
delight in their current job. That's why they're so darned talented at it. Before considering a promotion as praise, make sure that the new position leverages the talents and skills exhibited by these talented folks, or you may end up having to replace them. If you think it's best to risk it, ensure your rewardee knows that they can get their old job again if things don't work out with the newly promoted job.
Give extra paid time away from work. Everybody likes time away from the office, right? However, if you give this bonus to a very committed worker who is so wholly immersed in their career that they have little else in their lives of work, they may not know what to do with themselves during this spare time.
Do unto others as they would have done unto them.
As you can see, there are quite a few methods to reward your top. It's dangerously simplistic to give all of your staff the same reward. It's
especially dangerous to give them an award you would be happy to get.
These examples take us to an all-important process:
communication. Simply put,
ask your superstars what they
really want. What reward will allow them to truly feel respected? The path that leads someone to become an excellent salesperson is very distinct than the life of a great office manager. You may be stunned by the answers you hear. If truth be told, your employees may be delighted, as well, to discover that you are listening to their ideas to decide upon the award for their efforts.
- Do they want cash?
- Do they want more demanding assignments?
- Do they want a little time away from work to appreciate their children?
- Would they like more mentoring?
- Do they merely want to be praised at a company gathering?
- What have they received in the past that really made them feel good?
The results can fluctuate significantly for each individual, depending upon their long-term ambitions, how their needs are currently being fulfilled in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and the current challenges in their life. Don't make the blunder of presupposing that the answer you get now will remain the same throughout your key performer's career.
In the end, as opposed to attempting to reward your staff the way you would prefer to be rewarded, break The Golden Rule, and invest your time actually learning their needs and wants. By involving them in decisions that affect their lives so directly, you might inadvertently benefit from the Hawthorne Effect, and motivate your employee by demonstrating you care. You will probably find that you've produced a work environment that makes your high achievers happier than they've ever been. Accordingly, they will uncover methods to push themselves to new levels of productivity, understanding that their efforts will bring about rewards that are truly important to
them. You may even earn their admiration and loyalty for a lifetime.
