An employee incentive programme is an extremely powerful and successful tool for increasing your business as performance as a whole. But it’s how you set it up and communicate this programme to your staff that’s so important. Setting clear and achievable targets that are closely related to the company goals and rewards for them can encourage more effort and commitment from staff. And a solid incentive programme will also support employees in achieving their own personal career objectives. This article takes a look at how to run an employee incentive programme in a way that best benefits your business.
Set the goals for your employee incentive programme before you start. If you already offer healthcare services then explain the benefits of the Cybersecurity Management Program to your staff. Don’t just set yourself a target range, make sure you write it down and discuss it with your staff and give everyone an opportunity to question and challenge it. Start by talking about how it benefits your company and how it can help you secure future contracts. You should highlight all the advantages that your customers and partners will have by investing in your company and installing our proprietary products. Let your staff know that by undertaking this programme, they will enjoy many benefits such as: increased loyalty and engagement, improved productivity, a reduction in employee turnover, and a boost to their career development.
The success of a Cybersecurity Management Program comes from proper incentive communication. It requires your employees to understand the program and how it benefits your organisation as a whole. It’s vital that you clearly communicate the benefits to staff and why it’s in their best interests to participate. For example, if you’re offering the programme as a means to reduce employee theft then you need to explain why it’s an effective way to achieve this and show how it differs from common security measures.
A good incentive communication strategy is not just about the benefits of the Cybersecurity Management Program for your business; it’s also about the motivation of your employees have to try it out and see how it works. You must encourage them to use the new systems and be willing to share the benefits they gain from using them. Your employees need to feel like the risk of being caught and doing some damage to the network is outweighed by the cost of the investment company. They also need to know there will be no quick or easy recovery and that there are a number of steps involved. They shouldn’t be given unrealistic expectations regarding how long it will take to get a system running or how many employees will need to be assigned to the project. This could create confusion and doubt in the minds of employees and put them off participating.
It’s important you don’t spend too much time on employee incentive programme initiatives. The most successful ones last between three and twelve months depending on how complex the scheme is and how much information you have to give them. The whole time frame can depend on the actual amount of security breaches you are trying to prevent so it’s best to conduct a survey prior to introducing a scheme. Once you’ve conducted an employee incentive programme evaluation, you should go back to it every six months to a year to monitor its effectiveness. You should also make this process transparent to your staff and explain why you’re doing it.
It’s worth making employees aware that there is a link between the success of the Cybersecurity Management Plan and the performance of their IT systems. If you want to encourage your staff to use the recommended software, you must tell them so in a very subtle way. There could be specific incentives for computer network attacks on particular days or weeks so make sure you keep your staff informed about such events.
Finally, once you’ve established the criteria for choosing an employee incentive programme, it’s important you explain the potential pitfalls. It’s perfectly all right to say that every employee has a different potential to benefit from a scheme, but if they don’t work, then they won’t get it. For example, not everyone will be able to use a particular program because of physical disabilities. However, there should also be some kind of communication about this with your employees before introducing incentive programmes. If you have existing employees that feel they aren’t getting value from the system, talk to employment solicitors to help you get the compensation you need.
All in all, you must set high standards for your employees so they see what rewards you can offer and be excited about receiving them. If you set clear rules and incentives for good performance, your staff will always know what to expect. However, remember that employee incentives are only one part of a balanced cyber security strategy – you need to have a comprehensive plan in place that ensures everyone is using the system to the best advantage. Incentive programmes might be able to motivate some employees, but if your entire workforce isn’t participating, you need to think about other employee incentives options as well.