Employee incentive programs should be a primary concern for managers today. It is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain good employees, and competition among businesses for the professional workforce is intense. In most professional positions, it's very difficult to find someone who has the right combination of education, experience and accomplishments for the job. Finding someone who has high motivation, a good work ethic, solid integrity and the willingness to go beyond the job description is even harder. It is only reasonable that once a company finds such a person, it should want to do everything it can to keep that person, and to keep that person happy. Having the right employee incentive compensation program in place is an excellent way to encourage this type of high-quality applicant to consider the company when job openings come up.

Design the Perfect Employee Incentive Program

The right employee incentive program should have the following elements:

• Provides motivation (meaning it's not automatic)
• Is offered at regular intervals
• Is generous without being ostentatious
• Is progressive, based on performance over a long period of time

Employee incentives are different from benefits programs. Benefits are provided to every employee, regardless of performance, and are automatic (or are able to be chosen and received upon request, such as health insurance). Creating an employee incentive program that works takes professional assistance.

Compensation consultants are available to provide this assistance to companies everywhere. For nationwide compensation consulting for companies in any industry, contact Fox Lawson & Associates, a division of Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc at jfox@foxlawson.com.