Incept has the great pleasure of spending the majority of our time focusing on the high-performing Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs). There is an Employee of the Month ceremony held each month, and every employee is invited to attend – on the clock. This is an opportunity for Incept to do a lot of personal and specific recognition.
Personalized, handwritten thank-you cards – signed by every single member of Incept’s management team – are handed out to each hourly employee who had perfect attendance for the previous month. Each card has tickets included for a half day of paid time off as a thank you for being a loyal employee and coming to work every shift they were scheduled. In addition, Incept awards an Employee of the Month who receives a framed plaque signed by the CEO and the Director of their division, a $0.50 raise, $50 cash on the spot, and a reserved parking spot for the next month. A Most Improved award is given each month to an employee who has shown outstanding improvement from previous month’s performance numbers. This person also receives a framed certificate signed by the Director of their division and Incept’s CEO, a $0.25 raise, and $25 cash on the spot. In addition to these awards, each Team Leader gets the chance to publicly recognize any and all employees on their team who have had outstanding accomplishments during the past month. Each Team Leader is given as much time to speak as they need to adequately cover the appropriate public recognition for each and every person on their team who has earned that recognition.
This ceremony typically lasts 45 minutes to an hour, and there are four separate ceremonies held each month to ensure that all Incept employees are able to attend. This ceremony is in addition to the daily, weekly, and monthly incentives that are provided at a team level, as well as the impressive bonus programs attached to each program.
We provide a performance bonus that is based on weekly performance to specific key performance indicators (KPIs) that correlate directly to what is defined as success for our clients. In addition, we provide instant incentives like extra breaks, vending machine coupons, client t-shirts and other client products, public recognition, supervisors taking the CME’s calls, team incentives (like catered lunches), games to be played in the rows, and public recognition. We also have an employee referral program for new hires and PTO Ticket for Schedule Adherence on a monthly basis.
Structurally, Incept is organized in teams, where the leader of each team is individually responsible for the performance, attendance, and promotions of the employees on their teams. Numerous studies show that employees don’t leave jobs, they leave managers; by creating a clear relationship with one primary individual within the company, we are able to address individual recognition and/or concerns swiftly and correctly. Each employee is asked to anonymously complete the Gallup Q12 survey each quarter, and each supervisor is ranked and coached on opportunities to increase their scores. Two significant drivers in this survey are “I have been recognized for my work in the last 7 days” and “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person”. By focusing on standard ratings and discussions on these questions, we ensure employees receive appropriate public and individual recognition.
We believe the combination of these items directly lead to our low employee turnover and consistent recognition as a Top Workplace.
What’s your favorite part of Incept’s employee recognition program?