02/23/2023

How To Set Up An Employee Bonus Plan

Behavior often is motivated by a desire for incentives

HR Question: I am having trouble motivating my employees to do more than just the fundamental functions of their job. Could an employee bonus plan help? And if so, how do I set this up?

HR Answer: Yes! While some people are driven solely by their own internal motivation, many behaviors and accomplishments are encouraged and strengthened by external rewards, prizes or incentives. Think about your own behavior. Do you eat healthy all week and reward yourself with a sweet treat on the weekend for a job well done? Or is there a meaningful work project that would suddenly become more tempting to tackle if there was a reward for knocking it out of the park?

“Behavior that is motivated by a desire for reinforcement or incentives” is known as the Incentive Theory of Motivation. From this, we learn that providing the right external rewards can drive human behavior. In a work setting, incentives can help to set your employees’ course of action and encourage them to perform projects or tasks that might be above and beyond their daily work responsibilities, stretch and grow them in areas that will further benefit the company and drive advancement and change in your organization.

Please select this link to read the complete article from OSAP Member Strategic HR.