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Greetings,
Thanks for joining me today. I have a great issue lined up
for you...enjoy!
Best,
Mandi
Be sure to visit the SoHo News and Tips blog!
SoHo News & Tips Blog
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Incentives for Workers Combine Cash and Fun
By JACLYNE BADAL
From The Wall Street Journal Online
Deborah Kratzer-Reid says she isn't a gambler, but
she uses her work computer as a slot machine --
with her boss's blessing.
Ms. Kratzer-Reid, who opens accounts and loan
applications for First Interstate Bank of Laramie,
Wyo., has won $2,000 since March 2005 through an
unusual incentive program, dubbed Snowfly, in
which employees can win money by playing Las Vegas-
style games.
About two dozen companies, including financial-
services and marketing firm Alliance Data Systems
Corp. and an eight-person Roto-Rooter Inc.
operation, use Snowfly. Managers credit the program
with increasing sales, reducing turnover and
improving morale.
Snowfly is among a wave of incentive programs that
human-resource consultants say are proving popular
as relatively inexpensive ways to offer extra
compensation, linked to performance. Bill Morin,
chief executive of consulting firm WJM Associates
Inc., says employers frequently tell him they plan
to reduce or maintain salaries while boosting
incentives.
Other employers, such as FedEx Corp. and Edison
International, use reward programs that offer
employees cash or points that can be redeemed for
prizes. The new programs, aimed primarily at
front-line workers, replace an earlier generation
of incentive systems that consultants say largely
failed because they were too random and sometimes
created rivalries among employees.
Many newer programs incorporate elements of
behavioral psychology, offering more targeted
incentives for increasing sales or productivity,
for example. They tend to offer smaller rewards
more frequently so that employees make a mental
link between their behavior and the reward. Ravin
Jesuthasan, managing principal at consulting firm
Towers Perrin, says employers are shifting to
instant-recognition programs, instead of quarterly
or yearly incentives.
Consultants urge employers to take care in
structuring incentive programs, by budgeting care-
fully, choosing rewards that employees will like
and aligning the goals with broader corporate
objectives.
Employers who use Snowfly's service say it is
effective because it offers quick gratification --
and it is fun. Managers give employees electronic
tokens for achieving certain goals. Employees use
the tokens to wager on games such as a slot
machine, horse race or fishing contest. The game
is set up so that employees always win something,
though the haul ranges from two points to 5,000
points. The average game will win 10 points, and
the average company will value a point at one
cent, though that can vary.
"People love to gamble," says Bob Myers, chairman
of the Human Resource Planning Society, a profess-
ional group.
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Snowfly is the brainchild of Brooks Mitchell, a
management professor at the University of Wyoming.
Dr. Mitchell, 62 years old, studied behavioral
science in graduate school and in 1990 founded a
company, which he later sold, that offered
computerized employment interviews.
The inspiration for Snowfly came in 1989 at a
casino in Elko, Nev., when he watched a group of
older people rush off a tour bus to play slot
machines. The passengers seemed too frail to walk
across the room, Dr. Mitchell says, but "they were
almost elbowing each other to get bags of nickels
and quarters."
He began thinking of ways to channel that
enthusiasm for employers. Clients say he succeed-
ed.
LDF Sales & Distributing Inc., a Wichita, Kan.,
beverage distributor, began using Snowfly three
years ago to improve operations in 10 ways. To cut
inventory losses, for example, managers gave
employees tokens each time they double-checked the
quantity of a shipment.
Since then, LDF's inventory losses have fallen by
half, saving the company $31,000 a year, says Bill
Goodlatte, LDF's senior vice president of human
resources.
At First Interstate Bank, President Gary Negich
says he trusts employees to use the system
responsibly. Mr. Negich used to offer a Las Vegas
vacation to the employee who signed up the most
customers for the bank's credit cards. He switched
to Snowfly in March 2005 in an effort to motivate
more of the bank's 45 employees at three Laramie
branches.
The program is more expensive -- First Interstate
spends $12,000 a year compared with $4,000 on past
incentives. But Mr. Negich says it generates more
profit. Each branch has exceeded its goal for
credit-card referrals -- one branch nearly eight-
fold. "I'm a nice guy, but I'm not a fool," Mr.
Negich says with a laugh. "It's making us money."
Ms. Kratzer-Reid, the bank employee, says she
likes the recognition conferred by Snowfly. But
the money doesn't hurt. She uses her winnings to
support her gardening hobby and her 2-year-old
son's train obsession. She plans to use the $500
left in her account for a family vacation to
Philadelphia. "There's no way I can lose money,
but I can always gain," she says.
So what did you think about this issue? Drop me a line and let
me know at mailto:mandi@gophercentral.com
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