Employee Incentive

Getting Happy with the Rewards king.

Mr. Bob Nelson, ideas on the benefits of reward are not new, but he has brought to attention its limited application to the workplace and has developed novel ways to adapt it to specific situations.

The ideas of Alfie Kohn seem to be diagonally opposite ideas. Mr. Kohn may not agree with some of the "simplistic" solutions of Mr. Nelson but to be totally be against any form of rewards makes me think he is short sighted. Positive reinforcement works for all human beings in whatever setting and this will hold true till emotionally insensitive robots some day take over companies. Rewards cannot be a solution to all the problems a company faces but can be one of the valuable tools to promote employee productivity and morale.

Reward need not be monetary as Mr. Nelson points out. He has come up with some very interesting, sometimes corky ways of rewarding employees. They must be working otherwise he may not be commanding 12,500$ a day. Critics may argue that results of his technique may be difficult to measure. It appears his lectures on motivating employees are very practical and not theoretical. When you come with practical ideas, you often risk appearing simplistic compared to when you talk more concepts and theory.

The article seems to talk a lot about Mr. Nelson's extensive training and experience. He appears to be an effective communicator with a genuine sense of humor.

I agree with most of Mr. Nelsons' ideas. Workers make the workplace and if they are motivated the workplace can follow suite. My philosophy is slight different : "A sincere word of thanks from the right person at the right time, on occasions a raise, sometimes a formal reward and always a suitable work environment' will go a long way in motivating employees.