A Cure for the Pink Slip Plague
November 07, 2008
The symptoms are all there: Profits—down. Budgets—low. Workforce—unmotivated. Your inbox flickers with new e-mails from your fellow workers with their respective goodbyes and thank you's. Across the hall stacked boxes line the corner office—yet another lay off. And on your desk are pyramids of paperwork left behind by the ghosts of your once-fellow-colleagues. It's the plague of the pink slips.
By Karen Yi
Here is the ugly truth: companies are scraping the bottom of their bowls and trying to survive in the midst of economic disarray, which often means employee lay offs. The infectious economy is forcing employees to swallow mass staff reductions and heavier work loads at often equal pay, but how can employers maintain motivation and focus among their workers?
Saying "Thank You" Doesn't Cost a Cent
One way is through cost-efficient employee recognition says Ben Miele, vice president of sales at Globoforce. "Recognition is very powerful in this type of economic climate because it can really build a lot of good will and create human connections that are often stronger than paychecks," he says.
A key motivator for sales employees is hitting the sales mark, but that is becoming exceedingly difficult. "Energy and enthusiasm isn't being reinforced by the close of a deal or the acquisition of a new customer," says Miele, so you have to keep people going with alternative motivation strategies.
And employee recognition is often cheaper and can yield significant returns. "A lot of times it's a simple thing of connecting with that human being who's working hard for you and your company that makes a difference," says Miele, and that can be as simple as saying "thank you."
There are three types of thank you's, Miele says: behavioral; action and execution; and result driven. Rewards for behavior and successful executions should be more frequent with nominal prizes attached to them. Nominal prizes can include taking your employees out to lunch, distributing movie tickets or giving gifts that cater to your employees' interests (Miele gives the example of giving sunglasses to an employee constantly on the road). Results driven rewards can be less frequent with greater prizes.
Miele says thanking your employees must be "sincere" and "meaningful" in order to "demonstrate that you listen to them and that you really heard what they are doing."
Giving Goals, Getting Loyalty
But this communication goes both ways. Miele reinforces the need for companies to not only tune into to their employees' achievements, but clearly communicate the goals and expectations of the company. "Understand clearly what the mission of your team is. Try to make sure [you] clearly communicate and articulate what each individual's responsibility to the achievement of that goal is," says Miele.
Increased communication will help build resilience and maintain solidarity, reinforcing the importance of teamwork. "The more you are driving everybody toward the same common goals, the more you should be able to drive productivity toward those goals," says Miele.
When things get tough, there's an "obligation to make the remaining people motivated and enthusiastic about carrying the mission forward of the smaller company," says Miele. It's about keeping people on track and working together toward a better future.
If we're going to survive this economic epidemic, the strongest antidote is to invigorate the vigor of your workforce and enforce team relationships. Miele's prescription? "Increase the amount of recognition, the amount of enthusiasm, the amount of energy, the mobilization of the work force," because "it doesn't necessarily require you spending huge amounts of money," he says.
Editor's Note: Was your job another casualty of the current economic crisis? Read "The Laid-Off Low Down" from Incentive, our sister publication, for seven secrets to survive (and stay motivated after) a job loss.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
|
|
RSS
