Non-material incentives and their results. Non-material incentives for staff work activity


Modern economic realities force company managers to look for ways to stimulate the growth of labor efficiency of their employees. Typically, to achieve such results, bonuses are paid and salary levels are increased. This produces the required output, but cannot be practiced over a long period of time. This type of motivation can gradually turn into an expensive pleasure. Costs are seriously increasing. Therefore, non-material incentives, practiced in different countries of the world, become important.

How to stimulate the productivity of your employees without increasing salaries and paying bonuses. Everything about non-material incentives for staff.

What is meant by non-material motivation?

Incentives, defined as intangible, include those types of incentives that do not require the direct use of monetary resources. The value of a particular company for many of its employees lies not only in the size of the salary. People are also interested in something else:

  • career growth;
  • acceptable working conditions;
  • friendly staff, etc.

Employees are willing to reciprocate if they feel that the company is interested in them. Increasing the level of loyalty is the only thing that can be achieved through non-material incentives.

The proposed type of motivation is more relevant for that part of the staff that is interested in development that can lead to career growth. The workforce is heterogeneous. Some strive for something, while others serve a kind of duty imposed by the environment of existence. The latter want little: to receive their salary on time and nothing more. There can be no talk of any development here. This necessitates testing of employees to understand which category they belong to.

Types of incentives

Typically, the classification of motivations within a team leads to the formation of two groups: material and intangible. At the same time, individual and collective incentives are distinguished.

Financial incentives do not require lengthy explanations. And so everything is clear. Prizes and various bonuses are given. This has a positive effect on the quality of work, since monetary reward is an effective incentive. At the same time, the system regulating wages requires annual revision. Employees must understand that their quality work will be rewarded under any circumstances.

As for non-material motivation, it can be indirect in nature: paid vacations, sick leave, health insurance, training aimed at improving skills, etc.

Also, appropriate motivation is provided through:

  • creating conditions for career growth;
  • recognition of the importance of employees, which is confirmed by thanks and certificates from management;
  • creating a comfortable environment within the team, strengthened at various events. Joint events bring employees together, which ultimately leads to positive changes. Employee work becomes more efficient.

In the West, the term team building is often used to denote the process of forming a team, which is done in order to successfully develop the company. Competitions are held, joint trips are organized, sports competitions are organized and much more that could contribute to the so-called team building. As for companies from Russia, they are just beginning to become involved in this type of practice.

If you think that non-financial motivation does not require monetary expenditures on the part of the company, then you are mistaken. The implementation of activities that fuel this kind of motivation cannot be carried out without investing money. Although direct cash payments to employees are not made in this case.

The development of motivation without a material component must be carried out individually in accordance with certain factors that characterize a particular company. Corporate culture, development resources, goals and objectives should be taken into account. Important points include the life position of workers, their importance, gender and age. All this helps to identify the priorities of employees in relation not only to work, but also to life.

The motivation system is largely based on the individuality of companies, but there are also general principles based on three principles:

  1. The goals and objectives of a particular company are the basis for creating the type of system under consideration. It is necessary to introduce the selected incentive methods only when their effectiveness in terms of contributing to the company’s strategic plans is clear.
  2. The company's resources and budget are important elements without which it is impossible to stimulate labor, even if it is intangible. For example, issuing certificates to employees confirming the improvement of their qualifications can serve as a good motivating solution. But this is only available if there are funds for it.
  3. When creating motivators, it is necessary to identify the individual needs of employees. You cannot operate with information obtained based on the requests of the average employee. This does not contribute to the efficiency of the system.

Types of non-material motivation

The success of the company is ensured not only by monetary rewards for employees. Non-material incentives, which can be as follows, are beginning to become increasingly important:

  1. Creation. It is necessary to create conditions for employees to express themselves. If a person has ambitions, then they must be realized. Employee training makes it possible to improve their qualities. This should not be neglected.
  2. Satisfaction. Working for a company must bring satisfaction. It is good if employees are involved in solving the company's problems. They should have the right to vote.
  3. Moral component. Physical fatigue and nervous tension require release. It is necessary to help employees, which is achieved by providing additional free time, increasing the length of vacation (?), making the work schedule more flexible, etc. Public incentives are important to maintain moral motivation. High-quality work should be confirmed by verbal thanks, certificates and medals.
  4. Education. Increasing the level of skills (knowledge) of employees is a costly endeavor, but it is worth it. Labor efficiency increases when implemented in the company. The opportunity to improve their skills is valued by the majority of employees. Rotations are required within the company due to changes in jobs.

Requirements for the incentive system

To create an effective incentive system, it is necessary that its functioning is consistent with the following:

  1. Selected motivators are directed to solving priority problems.
  2. The incentive methods defined within the system cover everyone: from production workers to management employees.
  3. Non-material incentives keep up with business development. The growth of a company is moving from stage to stage and solving corresponding problems. The incentive system requires the same approach. Its development is natural.
  4. Methods of non-material motivation correspond to the needs of employees. This can only be achieved if information is collected regarding the individual needs of the staff.
  5. The concept of non-material incentives is changed on an annual basis. Over time, the motivation system becomes outdated. She stops stimulating.

Human resource management using the example of Japan

The rapid development of the Japanese economy in the middle of the last century is due to the way relationships with personnel are built in this country. The success achieved is associated with three principles:

  1. Guaranteed employment when a Japanese worker works for the same company all his life.
  2. Career growth depending on age and work experience.
  3. Features of the trade union movement.

Collectivism is too developed in Japan. Employees of the same company are almost family. Group psychology helps solve not only production problems, but also personal ones related to the achievement of individual goals.

Incentive system tools

Companies may define specific goals and principles of non-material motivation in different ways, but the general set of motivators is approximately the same for all:

  • benefits – reduction of working days. A scheme is gaining popularity when an employee is given the opportunity to use several days a year at his own discretion;
  • events - celebrations, excursions and other types of collective pastime. They create a “family” atmosphere in the team, which has a positive effect on the quality of work;
  • recognition of merit - career growth and various incentives for those whose activities significantly helped the development of the company;
  • non-financial rewards - symbolic gifts, benefits, health insurance, etc.

Material and non-material rewards, as well as mixed ones, are considered as incentives. However, they can be somewhat unique.

Material

  1. Incentives of a material nature, aimed not at the employee, but at his household: a subscription to a salon, provision of additional education, etc.
  2. Bonuses for the lower tier of employees, a percentage of profits for the middle tier, and ownership of company securities for the top tier.
  3. Ceremonial events, gifts and bonuses for those who have been working in the company for a long time.
  4. Gift certificates giving the right to purchase goods in a particular retail chain for a specified amount.
  5. Subscription to high-end magazine products, membership in clubs and various types of associations, which are offered to the employee to choose from.
  6. Dining certificates that allow you to visit expensive restaurants with family members.
  7. Specific gifts related to employee hobbies.

Non-material incentives for employees

  1. Verbal gratitude.
  2. Awarding the title “Best Employee” based on the results of the month.
  3. Transfer to another job horizontally, when it is not intended to promote career growth, but to provide more comfortable working conditions.
  4. Hanging framed thank you letters in a specially designated place.
  5. Placing information on the notice board located in the staff rest area indicating that the rewarded employee completes all tasks assigned to him on time and with high quality.
  6. Planning work schedules and rest time taking into account the wishes of the employee.
  7. Placing a photograph in a newspaper published by a company as a corporate publication.
  8. Issue a message to express gratitude for good work.
  9. Organization of ceremonial farewells for employees who have shown themselves to be positive and who are leaving the company due to a change of job.
  10. Expanding the circle of authority without changing the workplace.
  11. Recording in a personal file, which can be understood as a work book (see?), thanks.

Mixed methods of personnel incentives

  1. Creation of a photographic album reflecting the employee’s work activities.
  2. Symbolic gifts with inscriptions such as “Best Worker”: mug, T-shirt, etc.
  3. Original badge.
  4. Office supplies, distinguished by high quality execution, in the form of a rolling pennant: from one employee to another as a result of labor success for a certain period (week, month).
  5. Luncheons, when distinguished employees meet at the same table with the company's management.
  6. Sending to seminars or similar events outside the city where the company is located, the topics of which are of interest to the rewarded employee.
  7. Visiting exhibitions with a specific specialization.
  8. Training paid by the company in view of possible career growth or expansion of existing responsibilities.
  9. Mentoring (paid) within the company, carried out at the peer level.

Material incentives for personnel are widely used in countries with developed economies. Material incentive methods are used to encourage employees.

Those payment systems that involve the issuance of awards and bonuses are not comprehensive. But they are used quite widely today in many organizations. Among the purposes of financial incentives are the following:

  • increasing the creative activity of the organization's employees;
  • increasing the specialist’s interest in the success of the business;
  • increasing labor activity and improving staff performance.

Encouragement of company personnel

Rewarding employees can take different forms. It is designed to ensure high quality goods and stimulate staff efficiency. It has been noticed that enterprises reduce losses from rework and defects, and significantly improve the consumer properties of goods if they provide bonuses to employees.

Labor productivity increases and production profitability increases if labor is stimulated by bonuses. In addition, the volume of products increases, specialists provide better services.

The introduction of material incentives for employees at an enterprise contributes to greater productivity of personnel in terms of labor and allows the company to take a strong position in the market.

Managers must carefully consider the benefits of introducing a bonus system. Economic analysis will make it possible to find out whether the introduction of material incentives will affect the mass of profits and whether the company’s production costs will decrease.

What to pay attention to when developing a system?

When developing a bonus system, it is necessary to clearly define the circle of people who can apply for a reward. For this purpose, bonus indicators and their number are prescribed. It is indicated how they will be recorded and how bonus factors will be assessed. In addition, the company's management must determine the amount of remuneration.

Information about this should be indicated in the collective agreement, or a special provision on material remuneration can be drawn up, which is an annex to the collective agreement.

  • Material incentives are paid based on a number of indicators. These usually include:
  • quality improvement;
  • growth in the value of company shares;
  • company profit;

The size of the bonus fund is determined by the management of the organization, then the funds are distributed among employees. The criteria may vary. The length of service at the enterprise, the number of days worked in a six-month period, etc. are taken into account. Sometimes funds from the fund are simply divided equally among employees. In other cases, they simply give a bonus based on the base salary.

There may be several options, but it all depends on what exactly the company management wants to encourage. This could be loyalty to the company, employee discipline, qualifications. Those employees who worked on the project as part of a team can receive a bonus for their contribution to the development of the company, solidarity, etc.

By combining the material interests of the employee and the company, significant results can be achieved. The enterprise, stimulating the work of employees, directing their efforts to achieve the goals necessary for the company, receives high labor indicators and increases production output.

Motivation and remuneration of staff require increased attention from the employer. It is estimated that remuneration is considered significant by employees if it is at least 10% of annual salary. Another condition must be met. Every employee of the company should know exactly how the amount of remuneration is determined.

If the management of the enterprise does not convey this information to specialists, then the introduction of a material reward system will lose all meaning.

When developing a reward system, it is worth using not only material, but also moral incentives, but the former should dominate. There are several rules that should be taken into account by the management of the enterprise when implementing a bonus system:

  1. If the head of the company decides to use a system of material incentives for staff, then care must be taken to ensure that it is easy to understand and understandable to every employee of the company.
  2. Positive work results and outstanding achievements of an employee should be rewarded immediately. This is why it is worth developing a flexible reward system. Improvement of the system should be carried out regularly, but changes should be made only after they have been comprehensively studied.
  3. You need to pay close attention to the size of the incentive. Significant contributions are worth giving out big bonuses. Intermediate work results should also be rewarded if the employee has achieved significant breakthroughs. Such bonuses may be issued more often, but the amount of the reward will be less.

Designing a material reward system

The reward system should be designed so that employees of the company feel that bonuses are given fairly. For assessment, indicators that are understandable to everyone and recognized as correct should be used. For example, the employee who made the most sales during the reporting period receives a bonus.

It is necessary to develop such an incentive system so that the company’s employees are interested not only in improving their own performance, but also in working as a team, closely interacting with other specialists.

Specialists working at the enterprise must understand how their work affects the common cause, whether there is a relationship between the results of their activities and how quickly the enterprise achieves its goals. Specialists must clearly understand how their mistakes affect the company’s activities.

Economic motivation can be a very effective tool if used correctly. The company's management needs to think about how many times the company's employees will receive remuneration (in addition to salary). It can be accrued 1 or 2 times a year, once a quarter, monthly or every week. It is best to use such a distribution of benefits when not only a person’s individual work is encouraged, but also his interest in the success of a common cause.

Remuneration policy at the enterprise

Personnel remuneration is all those types of costs that an enterprise bears on the basis of an employment agreement. It is necessary to take into account that material reward alone is ineffective; it must be combined with socio-psychological factors.

Company managers widely use a number of organizational and administrative factors to motivate specialists. The latter include:

  • comfortable working conditions;
  • transferring the most interesting work to the best employees;
  • recognition of the employee's success by the company's team;
  • promotion of a specialist on the career ladder;
  • privilege and power;
  • participation in making important management decisions.

Material motivation of personnel is designed to satisfy the various needs of the employee, for example, safety, or his physiological needs. It is necessary to take into account the fact that the organization’s staff views high wages as a sign of status. A high salary indicates a person’s high status in the company and the respect of this employee as a specialist.

High salaries and bonuses can satisfy a person's self-esteem needs if he is focused on professional growth. All information about the remuneration policy should be indicated by preparing a special statement.

Employee remuneration and its types

Everyone is different; for some employees, what others consider trivial may be valuable. HR specialists, working with company personnel, operate with two types of remuneration:

  1. Intrinsic reward. These may include self-esteem, a sense of achievement, and a sense of meaning in one's work. This type of reward is quite easy to provide. The company's management is required to precisely set the task and create suitable working conditions.
  2. External reward. It is provided by the organization. These are symbols of high status, recognition and praise of a specialist, promotion of an employee. In addition, this is a high salary, a number of additional payments, which may include payment of some expenses and the issuance of insurance. This also includes additional vacation.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that the system of material incentives for workers can influence the ability of an enterprise to attract the necessary personnel, retain them in their jobs, and successfully motivate them.

If a manager has approved an ineffective reward system, then people may become demotivated. This causes high staff turnover. Labor productivity decreases, and conflicts often arise in production. Dissatisfied employees sabotage the work process and may stop working professionally. Conflicts are brewing within the team, and a clash with managers and the director of the organization is possible.

By adopting an effective bonus system, managers will increase the productivity of their subordinates and direct their activities in the right direction.

Choosing motivation for company employees

It is very important for the HR specialist and manager to find out the employee’s motivation in a timely manner. If a person is focused on the external attributes of success, he can be motivated not only by increasing his salary, but also by offering a variety of bonuses. Such an employee will diligently avoid penalties; he will not allow his name to get on the board of shame.

Those employees who truly love their work will appreciate it if management assigns them more complex projects. This will be recognition of their professionalism.

It is worth considering that a lot depends not only on the specialist’s motivation, but also on a number of other factors. Firstly, this is the employee's position. You need to understand that a sales specialist has one motivation, while a department manager has a completely different motivation. Secondly, social motivation is important for many people: verbal praise from management, ceremonial presentation of an award, etc. Another important factor is the specialist’s involvement in the work.

Determining the motivation of specialists

In order to find out a person's motivation, HR employees and managers use questionnaires and observation methods.

Using surveys, you can understand whether an employee is interested in external motivation. If a person is ambitious, then the external attributes of success will be important to him.

Attracting and retaining qualified personnel is a pressing problem for Russian business. Motivational programs that are designed to increase the efficiency and loyalty of staff to the employer company help solve this important issue. According to experts, today only 20% of Ekaterinburg companies effectively use motivational tools in their practice. How justified are the costs of such events and what mistakes do Ural businesses most often make when implementing motivational programs?

Motivation as a function of managing the process of creating internal motivation among members of the organization to act in order to achieve the goals of the organization in accordance with the responsibilities delegated to them and in accordance with the plan. Experts divide the company's approach to personnel motivation into two main types: achievement motivation and avoidance motivation. To put it simply: the stick method and the carrot method. The goal of achievement motivation is that the employee is driven by positive motives, the desire for a higher salary, career growth, and recognition of his merits. When a company puts avoidance motivation into practice, employees are punished in the form of fines, disciplinary action, and so on. According to experts at the Corporate Training Strategies company, it is undesirable to give preference to any one type of motivation.

Elena Pyatnikova, General Director of the company “Corporate Training Strategies”: “There should be both. You can't just encourage and you can't just punish. We need balance."

In the form of incentive motivation, humanitarian - monetary motivation, material non-monetary motivation, non-material motivation. Ural companies, as a rule, give preference to incentive programs, and today various options for humanitarian motivation are actively used. As experts note, a number of companies are interested in Western systems.

Elena Pyatnikova, General Director of the company “Corporate Training Strategies”: “Enterprises set strategic goals for themselves. These goals are communicated to departments, within departments to each person, and each person is assigned a number of indicators against which the effectiveness of his work is measured and, accordingly, wages are tied to this effectiveness.”

Properly developing such indicators is not an easy task. As experts note, most regional companies implementing these types of systems for the first time make mistakes precisely at the development stage.

Elena Pyatnikova, General Director of the company “Corporate Training Strategies”: “Either the indicators are too low, then people receive 200-300% bonuses, or the indicators are too high and people say that they will never achieve such indicators, or the indicators are assigned without discussion. These problems are quite common today.”

Today, one of the most common types of motivational programs is material non-monetary ones. Companies use a wide variety of tools for such motivation, for example, the provision of company vehicles, payment for cellular communications, kindergarten, education, corporate medical care and even the provision of housing.

Olga Antipkina, head of the MTS contact center: “We have a good social program, we ensure delivery of all evening shifts. That is, employees who finish their work at 8–9 pm and later are delivered to their place of residence.”

A wide range of such tools is used by the Euroset company. The Ural branch employs about four thousand employees, more than 70% are employees of retail chains. Therefore, when developing motivational programs, Euroset focuses specifically on retail personnel. The company trains sales consultants, provides financial assistance in particularly difficult life situations, and operates an effective medical care program.

Evgeny Bryksin, head of the insurance group of the Urals branch of the Euroset company: “In our holding there is a certain social package called Eurodiscount. It includes several products, one of them is voluntary health insurance. An employee who has worked for this company for 6 or more years has the right to purchase a voluntary health insurance policy.”

Euroset widely uses bonus programs designed to increase sales volumes. Employees are rewarded with tourist trips as an assessment of their achievements. There is an opportunity to even win a car. On October 1, the company launched a unique incentive program for sales consultants, during which employees can win new apartments.

Yana Lentach, director of people relations at the Ural branch of Euroset: “They sell certain brands of phones, and based on the results they earn certain points. This point system is then translated into square footage, and the most active, energetic and successful can get an apartment or a down payment on a mortgage.”

According to experts, the main thing is to individualize the approach to each employee. In the optimal option, the system of material non-monetary motivation is built on the principle of a cafeteria menu. Each employee receives from the company the type of assistance that he needs.

Elena Pyatnikova, general director of the company “Corporate Training Strategies”: “That is, a list of what the company does for its employees. Depending on the person’s position in the company, how long he has worked, and the importance of the position, different parameters are entered. A person has the right to choose from this list what he needs directly.”

A special type of motivational programs is non-material. According to experts at the Corporate Training Strategies company, which specializes in business training in the field of personnel management, when developing such systems, approaches must be divided into tools for attracting future employees. For example, a company with a transparent salary and career development system has a better chance of attracting highly qualified specialists. Thus, many Ural companies try to explain their prospects to employees at the initial stage. In particular, this practice exists in the Euroset company.

Yana Lentach, director of people relations at the Ural branch of the Euroset company: “There is a training center that, let’s say, at the very start explains the policy of behavior in the company, the policy of possible career growth, and this is positioned not only at the level of departments for working with people, but also branch managers. That is, employees understand that there is an opportunity to grow and develop.

When developing motivational retention systems, experts divide personnel into those who are loyal to the company and those who are loyal to their profession. For those who are loyal to the company, a variety of motivation programs are suitable, including professional competitions, corporate trainings, and various forms of recognition. The company’s informational openness to staff also contributes to retention. Professionals, on the contrary, are not easy to motivate, since the main incentive for such people is self-development; they may leave the company if they are offered more favorable conditions for professional growth elsewhere. As an intangible tool, experts advise involving such employees in the management decision-making process.

Elena Pyatnikova, General Director of the company “Corporate Training Strategies”: “The most important factor that works for retention is the attitude of the manager directly.”

As experts say, the Ural labor market today is close to depletion, there are practically no free human resources on the market, so companies are increasingly using the method of poaching personnel when recruiting personnel. In such a situation, the presence of clearly defined motivational programs in the company becomes particularly important. However, in only 20% of Ural companies these systems work effectively, 60% of companies have only just come to understand the need for them, and in 20% of companies there are no motivational programs or tools at all. This is often due to the fact that managers doubt the profitability of investing in motivation, and it is these companies that suffer the greatest losses from so-called staff turnover. The effectiveness of investments in personnel is always difficult to calculate, but, as experts say, when investing in people, you get the effect or you don’t get it; without investing in personnel, you absolutely do not get the results expected from them.

  • Motivation, Incentives and Remuneration

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