From the course: Foundations of Performance Management

Rewarding and recognizing performance

From the course: Foundations of Performance Management

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Rewarding and recognizing performance

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- Have you ever heard the words, "I'm not feeling very motivated because I'm underpaid"? Sadly, such comments are commonplace, and a reminder that it's not easy for people to feel valued and fairly compensated, and as a result, they often end up underperforming, and sometimes even resigning or having to be fired. You don't want this to happen, and to ensure it never does, make a concerted effort to reward and recognize your staff by acknowledging their hard work and performance to date as well as motivating and inspiring them to continue performing well. To help do this, have a competitive remuneration model. Working with your HR colleagues, ensure that the salary levels you pay are fair and in line with the market. Decide if you're able and willing to pay your staff above the market average in an attempt to motivate and retain them. Also, be as consistent as possible so that comparable jobs would have similar levels of remuneration, including in terms of bonuses and commissions. You cannot keep any difference as secret because your staff will talk and compare notes about any discrepancies between each other's pay and salary increases. Be open and transparent about your remuneration model. You may not be able to please everyone all of the time in how you reward them, but hopefully, you can please most of your staff most of the time and adjust your model as needed to make it even more attractive and motivating. Plus, find non-monetary ways to motivate your team. Although we are all motivated by money, it's never the only or even primary reason we feel valued and recognized at work. Your team will be motivated by a wide variety of non-financial motivators, such as being publicly thanked for doing good work or being invited to team dinners, retreats, and team-building events. Others might be motivated by working in a healthy work environment with lots of natural light, or working around colleagues who are very positive and caring, who never allow conflicts and tensions to build up in the office. If you struggle to understand what motivates your team, just ask them either through informal conversations or via an employee engagement survey, which can anonymously collect their views. In such a survey, you can ask them a series of questions to find out how motivated and engaged they feel, as well as to discover what they would like more or less of in order to leave them feeling more valued and motivated. For your team to want to succeed in their work and to give 100% of their time and energy, you must help them feel fairly compensated, valued, and highly motivated, and making this happen is a key part of your role as their leader. You'll know you're doing a good job when rather than complaining and moaning your team starts saying things like, "Wow, I really enjoy working here and feel so motivated and well-rewarded."

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