Government and individuals knew what they were doing most of the time taking out big mortgages and other financial loans/credit cards but a lot of individuals who are now struggling have wound it easy to claim that they were mislead and hide behind the blame of bankers. If you can’t afford something then don’t buy it but we live in a world where people want things before they can afford it and the bankers are only offering a service that has been on offer for years.

I do believe that guaranteed pension scheme e.g. Sir Fred Goodwin should be stopped especially when the company ends up being bailed out by government but if a code is introduced which limits financial rewards it will end up being complicated as people will soon find loop holes in the code.

Banks are companies and writing recommendations to the banks in my eyes is pointless. Banks gain customers regardless of all the hidden issues, if they have a good interest rate they will gain the customer or customers will stay with a bank due to the hassle of changing all their details. I believe that the money and time should be spent setting up an free advisor body that can educate the people who think that taking out loans they can’t repay or stop people being able to open a store/credit card when they can’t afford to pay off the money would be a much more sensible solution.

We all know that out of every recession businesses become stronger as they have to rely on real business knowledge to get through the difficult periods. Therefore, is this not the time when true HR professionals show their true colours and skills using such things as incentive schemes in a different manor? Why can’t good, effective incentive schemes reward employees by getting them to reduce team expenditure and therefore reducing the cost of the bottom line? I believe that many employees are used to HR schemes being introduced by businesses, lets be honest, a couple of years ago HR professionals worked hard at selling schemes into businesses and proving there worth. This in mind, surely it wouldn’t look good when in times of difficulty the schemes were retracted. How will HR professionals ever be able to be taken seriously in the future?

Let’s prove that HR does affect the running of a business in any situation and think of effective incentive schemes that still work for the employer and the employee. We just need to think outside the box and make incentive schemes incorporate aspects of the business that would not necessarily be used if we were trying to drive the business forward.

Please let me know what you consider to be important for you to be incentivised?

The end result for the incentive scheme has to be an increase in profits for the business and rewards for the employee as seen fit.

An example coming soon!

I don’t think it would ever be possible to develop a perfect incentive scheme due to the changing environments and industries the incentive schemes have to work in. I believe it could be possible to develop a perfect incentive scheme model, from which the end result and scheme can be tailored to bring perfect results.

I have started to write a theory on incentive schemes – “Tri To Incentivise”, developing a model on which an incentive scheme can be built and believe the perfect model must follow two main paths – “The Employees wants/aims” and “The Employers wants/aims”.

Please read my theory on incentive schemes called “Tri To Incentivise” for more information: http://www.hrinvasion.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27

When we typically think of incentives we think about the incentive schemes that are planned and the company offers as a policy. But in relation to motivation I believe they are also effective in a different way.

Incentives are offered/used in an ad-hoc manner everyday, without managers and employees realising. In order for a manager to motivate an employee, it is common that without realising it an incentive is offered e.g. while you get that done I will get you a drink. If you finish that off and get it to the customer on time I will let you go early.

The manager will offer an incentive to motivate the individual. I believe incentives are key for short term “Booster Motivation”.

Incentives come in many forms and do not always have a positive effect e.g. I’m sure you can all remember a time when your boss asked you to work late? The incentives offered to motivate and encourage you to put in the extra time could of ranged from time off in lieu, the incentive that it will look good to your boss during a difficult time, or even when redundancies might be round the corner.

Incentives are important and do motivate employees but I don’t believe they are key to motivation due to the fact that they can be used to “Fear Motivate” an employee into being more productive.

Being able to offer incentives are key to driving a business forward as they keep the employee interested and more productive. The type of incentive that can be offered will depend on the factors affecting your business and the outcome required.

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