Goodies And Gimmicks Won’t Get You A High-Performing Workforce

A while back, I shared my thoughts about the all-too-common Goodies, Gimmicks, and Gala Events approach to morale and engagement and why it’s such a huge mistake, a HR manager raised her hand and shared her experience with this approach.

Each year, her employer spends about $20 per employee on a Christmas gift (this was before the PC Police starting trying to make people pariahs for using the world Christmas). They have about 3,000 employees, so this was a $60,000 per year expenditure.

An all-too-familiar story

She said how one year the gift was a plush beach towel and the previous year’s gift was a really nice picnic basket. She commented on three things she noticed:

1. Employees now expected some kind of gift, so leadership felt obligated to do something each year, even though they questioned whether these gifts really made a positive difference.
2. There was a fair amount of grumbling because regardless of the gift, it was “wrong” gift in a certain percentage of employees’ eyes.
3. She realized that she herself had stuffed the picnic basket in a closet and had never used it.

Does some variation of that story sound familiar?

Things you can do

• An employee’s daily work experience and how their manager treats them play a far greater role in how happy employees are, how hard they work, and whether they want to stay.
• Find out what specifically you as an employer do that positively and negatively affects employee morale and engagement. Clone those things that are being done well. This is perhaps THE most effective thing you can do.
• Identify Bright Spots—practices that are working really well—acknowledge and celebrate them … then spread the word.
• Eliminate or minimize those things that negatively affect employee morale and their ability to do their jobs well.
• Assess the skill level of your managers and invest in professional development and coaching to help them bring out the best in their people.

Stay away from more goodies

So, don’t waste your money heaping on more Goodies, falling for the latest Gimmick, or putting on big, fancy Gala Events.

Instead, focus your finite time, energy, and financial resources on creating a work experience out of which naturally springs passion, commitment, and go-the-extra-mile effort.

You’ve got recommendations on how to get started.

So if you’re serious about having a high performing workforce, get started today.