Non-Cash Incentives

Primary Keyword: Non-Cash Incentives.
Secondary Keyword: Employee Motivation, Cash Incentives.
This article is written in American English in a style suited to the web.

Non-Cash Incentives

An organization’s employee pool is perhaps its most important asset. To ensure continued growth, the organization needs to initiate schemes that improve employee motivation. Such schemes should include both Cash Incentives and Non-Cash Incentives.

Cash incentives like annual bonus and salary increments induce employees to contribute to an organization’s development. Modern Human Resource Executives, however, have begun to realize that tough Cash Incentives are still held in high esteem, Non-Cash Incentives also play an important role in boosting the morale of employees. In fact, they sometimes work better.

Non-Cash incentives include both Recognition Rewards and Performance Based Rewards.

Recognition Rewards

Employees are human. Every human being desires to feel special and valued. Recognition Rewards show a worker that the company values the special skills he possesses. These awards include:

• A verbal thank you.

• A personalized note/email sent by a superior complimenting the employee on a job done well.

• Declaring a worker as employee of the month and other similar tactics.

A Recognition Reward acts as an effective non-cash incentive since such acts fulfill an employee’s innate need to feel appreciated.

Performance Rewards

These include merchandise like mobile phones, television sets or expensive watches. Such products are gifted to employees who meet a required sales target or manage to exceed the target. These rewards are usually announced in advance. Performance Rewards tap into a person’s natural competitive spirit. They encourage employees to strive to meet required targets. Instead of merchandise, some organizations offer an all expense paid trip to an exotic location, concert tickets or something similar.

Along with rewards other miscellaneous factors also ensure employee motivation. These factors prevent an employee from seeking employment elsewhere and encourage him or her to work for the company’s growth. For example, organizations can boost the morale of an employee by:

• Making the employee perceive the job as a huge learning opportunity.

• Providing ample scope for professional, personal and intellectual growth.

• Offering flexible working hours that allow employees to deal with family obligations, socialize with friends or indulge in creative hobbies.

Ultimately, if an organization wants to extract quality work from its staff, it needs to view each employee as an asset, and design a combination of Cash and Non-Cash Incentives to improve employee motivation.

By
Sandhya Joseph