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Creating a benefit package to help motivate the work force is always going to be a challenge for any organisation.  With so many different “personality traits” (Vecchio 2006: 28), it is essential that any scheme is tailored correctly for a particular individual.  The rewards and benefits must meet the expectations of the recipient in either one, a combination, or all three of these forms; “the need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and the need for power” (Vecchio 2006: 73).  Understanding how individuals learn certain habits and characteristics will enable us to interpret these needs into rewards which will help to increase performance whether “intrinsic” (Vecchio 2006: 92) or “extrinsic” (ibid).

As many organisations already have existing incentive schemes in place at organisational level, I will focus on creating incentive solutions aimed at individuals at three particular areas; Field Engineers, Customer Services and Executives.  This will introduce a “multi-level” (Ashworth Black 2005) scheme allowing individual and organisational goals to be linked; a method also suggested by Ashworth Black.

Incentive Solutions
To determine what motivates employees, it is important to understand how they feel towards their work, colleagues and organisation.  Without addressing the individual needs and goals of these employees, it will be very hard to motivate them.  Without motivation, productivity will be minimal and challenges will occur (Blanchard & Bowles 1998).  However, if these “satisfiers” (Vecchio 2006: 77) are addressed, then their reactions will be favourable, resulting in higher self esteem a sense of belonging and pride in their work and the organisations they work for. Ultimately, this will lead to improvement in productivity and an increase in profit for the organisation.  To be successful, we must align the individual’s goals with those of the organisation’s (Vecchio 2006).

Analysis of Field Engineers
Trusted and hard working, are some of the words used when a field engineer’s personality traits are voiced by many customers regardless of the industry.  Engineers tend to learn by observing how things are fixed rather than by being told how it’s done.  More often than not, most engineers will have been with their respective companies for a number of years - suggesting loyalty.  This group of individuals can also be classed as “self-rewarding” (Vecchio 2006: 54) in that an “intrinsic” (Vecchio 2006: 92) goal has been achieved by solving someone else’s problem.

Through informal conversations and meetings while on field visits with some of these engineers, one has noted their desire to be more involved and informed of their company’s position and strategy.  However, they have also expressed interest in monetary insensitive as another motivator which could serve “as a source of psychological reward” (Vecchio 2006: 78).  They have indicated that customers often ask for information on new products and services, but feel it is outside of their job descriptions.  Career progression was another area of interest which they felt was not being communicated or acknowledged as an option.  With this information, I would like to make the following recommendation for this group.

Suggested Field Engineer benefit package;

• Provide and allocate a quarterly training programme for engineers so that they are updated with new product information and fixes.
• With sales leads captured on most company’s Customer Relation Management (CRM) systems which engineers often also use for site visits, an opportunity can be entered against a customer while the engineer is on site.  If this opportunity results in a successful sale, then the engineer should receive a percentage of the sale – a finder’s fee.
• Once a “one-on-one” (Vecchio 2006: 96) session between the employee and manager has taken place and been agreed, a mentor or external training course should be planned and booked so that natural progression is achieved.
• A quarterly overview report of the company’s progress and strategy should be emailed to engineers – but also to all staff members.  This method of open communication is also encouraged by Blanchard and Bowles (1998).  However, certain company figures and strategy plans should not always be communicated to staff, hence this information must be agreed between the manager and line director.
• A report of all jobs closed by an engineer on a quarterly basis should be sent to each engineer and commended if goals were met or exceeded.  On the other hand, a report on the number of re-visits required should also be produced and discussed so that improvements can be made.
• Where offered - shares in the company once service has reached two years.  People always work harder when they know they own a piece of the company they work for - it also makes it personal.

Analysis of Customer Service
Customer Services teams tend to pride themselves in being able to satisfy a customer and is disheartened if the customer is unsatisfied.  Their reward appears to be more “intrinsic” (Vecchio 2006: 92) in nature.  But they too have aspirations and daily needs that must be catered to.  Following observations and conversations with members of this profession, the following is suggested.

Suggested Customer Service benefit package;

• Empower customer service agent and allow them to spend £xx to remedy a customer complaint (Vecchio 2006: 101).
• Reward the customer service agent who comes up with most creative remedy.
• Reward agent on timeliness of service follow-up calls to customer by use of voucher on quarterly basis.
• Provide with further training in area of interest for career advancement.
• Provide a mentor and allow agent to spend time in area of career advancement.
• Where offered - shares within the company once they have been employed for two years.

Analysis of Executives
The McClelland studies in Vecchio (2006: 73-74) stipulates that managers have different desires and needs depending on upbringing and role performed within an organisation.  The studies also point out that non-technical managers are more concerned with power than affiliations.  The “need for achievement was associated with career advancement, but only at lower-level positions, where individual contributions may be more important than the ability to influence others” (ibid).  On the other hand managers who have progressed from a technical background are perceived to be more concerned with affiliation rather than power.  This characteristic could be seen as a shortfall in that the fear of “disrupting social relations” (ibid) compromises their ability to make decisions.  For a manager to become a ‘true’ executive, a balance of affiliation and power to compliment the need for achievement needs to exist.  Therefore the following is suggested.
 
Suggested Executive benefit package;

• Provide leadership training to technical managers so that they make the transition from doer to influencer.
• Provide bonus to manager based on performance of their department, which is linked directly to the performance of the individuals within these departments.  The performance of company is therefore depended on the performance if each department.
• Provide further education such as MBA for those expressing interest.
• Conduct six monthly meetings with MD to discuss goal and values.
• Where offered - shares within the company which again makes it personal.

Conclusion
Although these suggestions have been made, it is imperative that the area managers for these groups take time to communicate with their staff.  Managers must exercise “Management by objective” (Vecchio 2006: 96) and involve the employee in a “one-on-one” (ibid) session to determine and agree goals and objectives (Vecchio 2006).

References

Ashworth Black (2005). Employee Bonus Scheme [Online] Available from http://www.ashworthblack.co.uk/bonusschemes.htm (Accessed: 19th June 2006)

Blanchard, K., Bowles, S. (1998) Gung Ho! How to motivate people in any organization. London: Harper Collins

Vecchio, R. P. (2006) Organizational Behavior: Core Concepts. 6th de. Mason, OH: Thomas South-Western