Tip Of The Day - 1/11/06 - Employee Bonus

Don't know if anyone does something similar....

Not always easy to get employees to do a lot of things - some as important as showing up on time sober (worst case scenario), and other things as simple as signing their time sheet when they arrive and signing it when they are done or leave. Assign points (rewards) for employees for what they do correctly...and subtract points for things they do not do or do incorrect...have a scoring system and make the points equate to some sort of bonus (money, time off, extended vacation time, etc....) >>> for example - 300 points in one month gets them a $50 cash bonus - can even go as far as we did and create almost a catalog of sorts where they can go shopping with their points....big time motivator

 

I worked for a company that was really into this, but I believe in the recent past has dropped the whole thing. Points were given to employees for continuing education units, for good reports coming back from clients, for attendance, wearing uniforms, equipment and truck maintenance, and so on. Unfortunately because of the nature of a teams route or work, often bonuses would favor one person or crew rather than another.

Part of the bonus was weighed upon the ratio of billable hours to total hours. In theory this was and is a good idea, but because of unfair situations and human nature it didn’t work. Guys who had longer routes with more driving time had fewer billable hours to total hours worked. After a while, people began to leave accounts early in order not to show any non billable driving time on paper. Basically the clients got robbed of good service at the expense of employees who wanted their bonuses.

There were other reasons why the bonus program didn’t work for this company, however this isn’t to say that with careful planning this couldn’t be made to work for someone else.

 

I tried multiple bonus systems over the years. Two in particular that dealt with strictly points was; employee monthly evaulations, where employees could either earn free lunch, or a warning to shape up or ship out.

And the second was where I would drive around and grade employees QUALITY on customers properties. Now I wouldn't grade all of the properties, I would just select a certain few each day. That make sure that the employees never knew which properties I was going to be at, and so they would stress quality all throughout the day.

All of the employees in the crew were graded with the same score and that helped stress the team factor. It was graded on anything from; whether sidewalks, driveways, and beds were clear of grass debris, to how well the trimming looked, all the way up to whether they reported damage or major weed problems in the lawn.

You could either earn a postive or negative point. At the end of the pay period (bi-weekly), the employee was given cash based on each point that they earned. Basically one point, equaled one dollar. It wasn't much, but it was cash and at least something.

This also gave the employees an evaulation of the property and where they could improve on it. It really worked big time too.

 

Nice Idea Tiedeman.

I like the fact you are measuring Quality Control and rewarding the crews!

The random selections is a great idea, too! This will keep them on their toes and build consistency.

I might do this this season!

Thanks for the tip!

 

Freshcut, you took the words right out of my mouth, that is a great idea
I plan on something similar to that as well.