How the Four Drive Theory Works Within an Incentive Program

“Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices” published in 2002 by Professor Lawrence and Dean Nohria of Harvard Business School discusses how 4 biological drives can effect employee behavior on the job.  Here we take a look at how these drives might be incorporated into incentive programs to drive performance.

The Drive to Acquire Stuff & Status
 

Incentive programs typically use a variety of non-cash awards that employees can earn for achieving certain objectives.  The well designed program will allow the winners to accumulate awards from the initial phases thru completion.  The employees are acquiring personal and luxury items they wouldn’t typically buy for themselves, including trips, deluxe merchandise, gift cards to special places etc. 

The Drive to Bond

Often they are on teams working together and aspiring to reach a higher status. As the program goes on you can see employees discovering all sorts of ways to enjoy the fruits of their labors together. By sharing rewards with family and friends, they are increasing their status in the eyes of their peers.

The Drive to Create

Programs can be anchored with a focus on connecting achievement with individual passions and pursuits. People desire to creatively contribute to something bigger than themselves and can satisfy the desire for purpose and meaning.

The Drive to Defend

The program is standardized, making it a fair and equitable motivator influencing human behavior. The earning rules are clear, and employees are willing to cooperate with one another to achieve results and foster teamwork.

2020 Employee Gift Card Research

Gift cards remain the most popular employee award to use in incentive and recognition programs.  Not only are they most sought by the employees themselves, over 75% of industry professional rated them as effective or extremely effective awards. 

Following are other interesting points from the 2020 research recently completed by Incentive Magazine:

• 55% of the companies surveyed use the physical cards, while 39% used both physical and electronic.
• Gift cards are most often used by companies for sales incentives (55%) followed by business gift (49%) service awards (46%) and employee recognition and engagement (45%)
• About 2/3 of the companies purchase their gift cards directly from the retail brand, while 1/3 from incentive suppliers or gift card resellers

Company Budgets

Ave Spend Per Participant	% Spent
Less than $25	10%
$25 to $49	20%
$50 to $99	18%
$100 to $149	16%
$150 to $199	5%
$200 to $499	15%
$500 to $999	8%
More than $1000	8%

Compared to Cash Awards	%
Equally as Effective	39%
Less Effective	9%
More Effective	29%
Do Not Use Cash	20%
Not Sure	3%

Compared to Gifts	%
More Effective	59%
Equally Effective	28%
No Not Use Gifts	5%
Less Effective	5%
Not Sure	3%

While many companies still purchase individual brands directly from the retailers, studies have shown that when your employees are given the option, most would rather choose which gift cards they want.

A Refresher on Employee Recognition

It’s always good to refresh yourself on some of the fine points that could give your employee recognition program a spark.  Most of you have seen these tips before, but as with anything worth doing, it’s nice to think about what is currently working and what you can do to make it better. 

Actually at times, it could be more effective to just forget about the formal program and just follow these tips.  When you do it's easy to give the recognition your employees deserve:

See every employee as an individual

Every employee responds differently to recognition. Many appreciate public praise. Others shrink from the limelight. Don't pass out praise on your terms; recognize each employee in the way that produces the greatest impact for that person.

Assume too soon is never soon enough

There's an inverse relationship between recognition and performance: The longer you wait, the lower the impact. Praise employees immediately. Don't wait for "the right time," because the only right time is right now.

Provide details that show you know

Generic praise is nice, but specific praise is wonderful. Don't just tell employees they did a good job. Tell them how they did a good job. Not only will they appreciate the recognition, they'll also know you pay attention to what they do.

Be genuine

We've all received recognition that felt forced, like the boss who walks around once a month and says, "Thanks for your efforts." Only recognize hard work and achievement when you mean it.

Skip constructive criticism, at least for now

Say, "You did a great job, but next time..." and all the employee remembers is what they did wrong or could have done better. Follow up at another time with constructive feedback. Let the warm glow of praise be the feeling the employee carries with them.

Actively find employees to praise

We're all trained to spot issues, hunt down problems, and eliminate errors. We're usually not trained to find people doing things well. Spend part of every day looking for positives. (You might be surprised by how skilled your employees really are.)

Leverage the surprise factor

Unexpected recognition is incredibly powerful. Winning the employee of the month award is great, but being recognized in the middle of a meeting for outstanding achievement can feel even better.

Spot opportunities to share the "praise wealth"

It's easy to recognize your great employees. They're great because they perform well. Look for ways to praise less stellar performers when they deserve the recognition. Sometimes all an average performer needs is a little attention and encouragement.

And keep in mind providing praise will get easier over time, because when you do a better job of recognizing employees they naturally perform better - and that gives you even more achievements to recognize.

The Importance of Incentives and Recognition on Workplace Performance in a Tight Labor Market

Research from TLNT shows some interesting facts about the role of incentives, rewards and recognition in companies today.  Following are some key points from that research: 

• While 93% of organizations are aligning their rewards programs with organizational goals, only a third of them say performance or productivity motivation is a primary goal.

• 71% of organizations say the objective of their programs is to increase employee engagement.

 • 45% of companies see IRR programs as strategic, training managers on how to use them, encouraging and monitoring their usage.

• Non-cash incentives are taking on an ever greater importance. In 1996 24% of organizations reported using non-cash incentives. In 2016, 84% were.

 • The effectiveness of cash-based annual incentive plans is questionable. 42% of companies see them as effective; 36% are undecided.

• 37% of HR professions say that non cash incentives in the form of recognition awards, gift cards, etc. have a greater impact on engagement, while less than a third say that about cash.