Is the monthly outstanding employee award feasible?

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Editor's note: Users of this website "Yellow Cat" and "lygterry" raised the question of how to motivate employees according to the situation of their respective companies. Ms. Zhao Junyan, Director of Human Capital Consulting Project in East China of Mercer Consulting Company, proposed specific solutions respectively.

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Is the monthly outstanding employee award an effective way to motivate employees?

Question: The company decided to implement the monthly outstanding employee award, one quota per month. However, because the department has high requirements for teamwork and there are many overlapping parts in the work, it is difficult to evaluate individual performance. I am worried that such selection will have a negative effect and dampen the enthusiasm of other employees. Ask the experts, any better incentives or suggestions? (asked by: yellow cat)

Answer: According to your brief description, the monthly outstanding employee award is not suitable for your company, because your department has high requirements for teamwork, high work intersection, and simple Using the quota method to select outstanding employees of the month will not only fail to motivate, but may be counterproductive. In addition, the use of monthly rewards is too intensive, and the work results of many jobs may not be revealed in the monthly cycle. Therefore, the mechanical use of monthly selection methods cannot fairly and objectively reflect the real situation of performance.

For teamwork organizations, it is recommended to mainly use team assessment and rewards. For example, after the entire team achieves a certain stage achievement or milestone, the news can be announced to all employees through the company's internal network, thank the entire team members for their efforts in this process, share their experiences, and can quote the team's Some specific stories are shared with other employees. In addition, at some key points, entertainment activities such as team dinners can be used to celebrate, further strengthen the cohesion of the team, and celebrate the achievements of the entire team.

Of course, for teamwork organizations, this does not mean that individual assessments should be abandoned. In personal assessment and reward, we must pay attention to the method and cycle. For example, the assessment cycle should be based on the achievement of a certain stage by the entire team, or a relatively long period of time, such as half a year or a full year, which can fully reflect the specific performance of each member of the team in a certain period of time.

In terms of assessment methods, each team member plays a different role in the entire team, so their performance should be assessed based on their specific roles and responsibilities. However, it is necessary to be cautious about whether to use the so-called "quota method", because if the "quota method" is used, it actually advocates the comparison and competition between employees, rather than the comparison between employees and the organization's requirements. In addition, in terms of compensation incentives, it is also necessary to consider the results of individual performance and team performance at the same time, and appropriately bundle the two, guide employee behavior through the performance and compensation management system, and more effectively demonstrate the behavior and performance required by the organization.

How should design salespeople be motivated?

Question: We are a large-scale equipment manufacturer, involving a series of services such as the design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and maintenance of a complete set of equipment. Therefore, the performance of the sales staff is closely related to the planning and design staff, who must rely on them to provide the ideal design solution to win the project. In addition, the performance of construction personnel is also related to the progress of the project, final acceptance, etc., the final payment of the project, and customer satisfaction. The question that has been troubled is, how should such salespersons conduct performance appraisal and what kind of incentive mechanism should be adopted? And how to coordinate planning, designers to motivate their work performance? How are performance bonuses distributed? (asked by: lygterry)

Answer: The following aspects are usually considered when designing sales staff compensation. First, by analyzing the external competitive environment where the company is located, the key success factors of the industry and the company's business goals , clarify the company's business strategy and marketing objectives, such as new product strategy, market share/profit objectives, pricing strategies and means.

The company is in different stages of development, and its marketing strategies and marketing goals are different. For example, in the early stage of the company's development, sales volume and market share are the most important, and as the market share increases, the company's product line Increase, profit targets, new product / high-margin product sales as a percentage of total sales and other indicators will become the focus of attention. These goals will have a direct impact on the assessment focus of sales staff and the incentive system.

As for the salary of the salesperson, the target total income of the salesperson should be determined according to the external market data, the company's salary concept and payment ability. Then, determine the compensation mix, such as the ratio of fixed income to variable income, based on the salesperson's role in the sales process and the level of influence the salesperson has. Sales work can generally be divided into direct sales, contract sales, distribution, professional sales, and order processing. According to your description, your company's sales form is more similar to contract sales and/or professional sales.

In addition, it is necessary to consider the degree of personal influence of the salesperson in the sales activities, such as the influence of the product and company in the sales process, the influence of the personal sales relationship, if the salesperson transfers other tasks or leaves, the sales The size of the risk of loss, etc.

A salesperson's influence will affect the compensation mix, and the greater the percentage of variable income, the greater the impact on behavior. In addition, what needs to be determined is the leverage ratio, that is, the chance of earning more than the target salary due to outstanding performance; if each further sale becomes more difficult, the additional sales profit is substantial, and the company expects to widen the gap in revenue, it can be Use a larger leverage ratio. vice versa.

Assessment of salespersons should be those that are small, measurable, and that salespersons can influence. In addition to some quantitative indicators, such as sales, market share, customer satisfaction, new customers and other indicators, sales staff can also add some qualitative indicators, such as internal collaboration satisfaction, personnel training, etc.

In terms of your company's situation, in addition to the sales staff, the work of planning, design and engineering implementation personnel is closely related to the sales results. It is suggested that the evaluation content of planning, design and engineering implementation personnel can increase the satisfaction of internal collaboration, such as the sales department Satisfaction with inter-departmental cooperation between planning and design/engineering implementation departments.

In addition, the calculation of the bonus pool for planning, design and project implementation personnel can be tied to the sales completion to a certain extent, so as to increase the attention and cooperation of these personnel to the sales situation.