Home agents are finally becoming common place. There are many benefits for agents and the organization. One of the few downsides is that many significant, traditional workforce motivational practices are no longer effective because the agents are not on site. To a high degree, you’ve disarmed yourself. Thus, delivering effective employee incentives becomes a more formidable challenge. Unless you recognize the differences between home based and office based agents and update your employee recognition and incentive programs accordingly, you’re probably wasting time, effort and money.

What has been lost that affects KPI’s and morale?

•       The feeling of camaraderie and belonging to a team
•       Public recognition i.e. “wall of fame” and award presentations
•       “One on One” recognition i.e. the boss delivering a hand written “thank you” note
•       Social relationships and interactions i.e. coffee breaks, lunches, pizza parties, ride sharing

Here are critical recommendations for updating your employee incentive program that I hope you find helpful.

Your incentive program must be simple, easy to explain and use powerful and specific motivators.
•       Clearly identifiable goals visible at any time
•       Show current status compared with goals
•       Allow the easy review of goals, accomplishments & reward history
•       Give small rewards frequently for small precedent activities rather than large, infrequent rewards for large goals
•       Make having fun a key and frequent goal in the reward process; games played at the office must be replicated electronically and offered at every opportunity (spin the wheel, draw a ticket from a fish bowl, select a sealed envelope)
•       Provide immediate & visible reward credit for every achievement
•       Offer a very wide choice of desirable rewards

If your agent incentive program is not addressing & compensating for the lack of a physical, common presence, you will fail to achieve the maximum benefit of using home agents.

About Snowfly
Snowfly is the leading provider of Internet based employee incentives, recognition and loyalty programs and has extensive expertise with home based agents. Snowfly-facilitated employee incentives and recognition programs utilize the enormous motivational power of immediate positive reinforcement to focus employee behavior on company objectives. Compared with home-grown programs, Snowfly significantly improves KPI’s almost immediately, reduces a huge administrative burden and reduces costs. The results are easily seen within weeks and there is no long term contractual obligation. Customers include multiple Blue Cross/Blue Shield providers, Hyatt Hotels, Time Warner Cable, financial institutions, utility companies, cable/satellite providers, various BPO companies (business process outsourcers), and collection departments/agencies. Snowfly’s web site: www.Snowfly.com. For more information, contact Snowfly at 1-877-SNOWFLY (766-9359). Or email Bob Cowen at rcowen@snowfly.com