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All In The Family |
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Employees traveling too much? You might not be able to ground them, but you can reward them for their efforts by encouraging them to spend time with their loved ones. Here are some family-friendly incentives that won’t break the bank.
If you’ve got a crew of globetrotting employees, chances are you’ve heard these complaints and more lately. It’s a tough dilemma for managers: Balancing the need for employees to travel – or log in extra hours on the job – versus their desire to be at home with their families.
One solution: “Offer family-friendly incentives,” says Silvana Clark, a motivational speaker who leads a workshop titled, “Motivating When You Can’t Give a BMW.” Indeed, providing employees with rewards that encourage togetherness with loved ones “makes it obvious that you care for your employees as people,” says Clark.
The incentive can be as simple as letting an individual take a half day to watch her child’s soccer game. But sometimes, a gift with a little more thought is needed. Here are some great ideas for incentives that can be appreciated by the whole clan.
Green Thumb Goodies
It’s still not too late for employees to plant flowers, such as dahlias, that bloom later in the summer. Give them a whole gardening set, from soup to nuts, and invite them to get their hands dirty at home. Last spring, Joann Wolfe, a meeting planner based in St. Louis, wanted to reward her staffers for working three straight weekends in a row. Her solution? She invited a master gardener to give an hour lecture on spring plantings to her entire crew – and then gave them gift baskets, including planters and seeds, when the session was over. “You can bet every one of them spent the next weekend planting with their families,” she says.
Party Starter
For an even more personal approach Clark recommends sending incentives to the home. “When employees meet a sales quota, we usually send flowers and balloons to the employee’s home,” Clark says. “Sending these items to the home lets the family member see what their loved ones are accomplishing.”
Wolfe once gave a hard-working employee who hadn’t been home in three weeks a “party in the box,” which included a barbecue dinner and dessert for the woman and her whole family, along with CDs with festive music and champagne. She’s also given employees picnic baskets stocked with food and wine. “I usually add a note that says, ‘Thanks for your hard work. Now it’s time to play,’” Wolfe says.
Add to the Fun
Clark also advises giving employees tickets to family-friendly events. “If Sesame Street Live” is coming to town, give tickets for your employee and his family. That employee will remember you each time he sees Sesame Street on TV,” she says. “By having that experience the employee realizes the employer took time to take an interest in him and his child.” Another suggestion: You may not be able to send the whole family on an incentive trip, but you can add goodies to a personal trip they’re planning. For instance, if you know your star rep is taking his family to the Caribbean, give him tickets to swim with the dolphins or spring for a sailing class. If the rep is more likely to spend his downtime at home in the summer, purchase a wading pool filled with toys, such as a basketball, beach ball, croquet and board games, along with the note, ‘Turn off the cell phone and enjoy.’
“Items like this are not that expensive,” Clark says, “and they have a lot of impact.”
Bring on the Popcorn
Angela Odorfer, vice president of sales for Media Max Network, a company that sells advertising space for publishing companies like Condé Nast, likes to show clients that she cares about them – and the time they spend with their family. Every year just before Academy Awards night, Media Max sends clients a care package that includes blankets, popcorn and other treats, and a scorecard for them to enter their Oscar picks into a pool. The individual who gets the most correct answers receives a special large Oscar-related gift basket as a prize. In the past, the basket has included coffee table books, issues of Vanity Fair magazine and other goodies.
“ Families enjoy watching the show together,” she says. “We get lots of great feedback when we do this.”
More Than Kidstuff
Employers should also keep in mind employees whose families include a spouse or significant other but no children, Clark says – or a single employee who spends time with extended family members. “These employees value their family time as well,” she says.
Not sure how a single employee likes to spend his free time? Clark looks for clues. For example, when she once heard an employee talk about how his niece was going to be performing in an upcoming concert, Clark gave him a disposable camera and asked him to bring in pictures of her performance. In another case, when a single employee got a new dog, she brought in gourmet dog biscuits. “It’s important to acknowledge these kinds of things,” she says.
The Gift of Choice
Not sure what family-friendly gift to give? Use the Oprah method for giving gifts, Clark says. On one recent holiday, Oprah surveyed her staffers, asking them to list five gifts that would make them turn cartwheels if they received them – and then attempted to grant the staffers’ wishes. One employee asked for, and received, 12 weekends for two in 12 different destinations Bob Graham, vice president of marketing, for Motivation Excellence Inc., an incentive planning company, recommends offering a Web site where employees can choose from a wide array of family-friendly choices. “The goal is to get the family together to pick things that are important to all of them,” Graham says. “When family members themselves get to be involved in picking the gift, it becomes even more powerful.”
Reprinted with permission of Successful Promotions, copyright 2007
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