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The 100 Club Helps Employees Give 100 Percent A survey of employees at Diamond Fiber Products, Inc. indicated that 65 percent of the workers felt that management did not treat them respectfully, 56 percent approached their work with pessimism, and 79 percent felt they weren’t rewarded for a job well done. To counter these perceptions, the company developed a program called the 100 Club, which stresses attendance, punctuality, and safety for employees. The 100 club is a "points" program in which an employee earns 25 points for a year of perfect attendance, 20 points for going through a year without formal disciplinary actions and 15 points for working a year without sustaining a lost-time injury. For each day or partial day of absence, the company deducts points. A worker also earns points for supplying a cost-saving idea or safety suggestion to management and community service participation in blood drives, the United Way, or Little League. When an employee reaches 100 points he or she gets a nylon jacket with the Diamond logo with the words "The 100 Club." This might seem like a trivial thing, but it means a lot to the people who earn jackets. A teller at a local bank once described a woman who came in the bank and proudly modeled her baby blue 100 Club jacket for bank customers and employees. She said: "My employer gave me this for doing a good job. It’s the first time in the 18 years I’ve been here that they have recognized the things I do every day." During those years she had earned $230,000 in wages, which had paid for cars, a home mortgage, food, other essentials, vacations and college educations. In her mind, she had provided a service for all those earnings. The money wasn’t recognition for her work, but the 100 Club jacket was. As a result of the program, in the first year the division has saved $5.2 million, gained a 14.5 percent increase in productivity, and reduced quality-related mistakes by 40 percent. Since the program was initiated, a new survey indicated that 86 percent of the employees reported that they thought the company and management considered them to be "important" or "very important," 81 percent responded that they got "recognition by the company," and 73 percent said the company showed "concern for them as people." On average, 79 percent said their attitude toward work quality was of much more concern to them than before. This is good evidence that a well thought out rewards program can earn bigger motivational dividends with employees than any number of more traditional organizational rewards such as salary raises and benefits alone. As management guru Peter Drucker says, "Economic incentives are becoming rights rather than rewards." To get and keep employees motivated today you need to look beyond what they are paid and also focus on recognizing them for their contributions to the organization. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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