Hey all! I'm The Front Office Manager of a hotel in Florida and my GM just asked me to come up with some ideas. One thing corporate is pushing right now is good survey scores. After a guest checks out they may randomly get a survey asking about their experience. One idea my GM had to get our staff excited about these scores and making sure guests are happy is the have an incentive for ALL employees for each month that we average in the "green" (High scores). I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas. I have a $300 budget each month and about 20 employees.

So far my ideas are:
*Employee pool party and BBQ where everyone can enjoy a day around the pool and eat some burgers and such. The employee with the highest score average gets to push the manager of their choice into the pool.
*$25 gift cards of your choice from Walmart, Michaels, Bed Bath & Beyond
*Bowling Night with food included
*Take everyone out to XYZ restaurant

If anyone has any ideas I would sure appreciate it!

I like the gift card idea, money is something everybody likes.

We always get good responses when we give away a nook or ipad mini or something.

I like the BBQ idea, the money/gift cards isn't going to create morale in a positive way like working towards a goal together and celebrating together when you achieve that goal. Also, everyone loves sticking it to their boss even when their boss is wonderful, I'm mean who doesn't imagine being able to say "take this job and shove it" at even the best job.

Obviously there are always the people who don't enjoy work activities but usually they are the minority.

I like the gift card or ipad/nook idea.

The thought of a bbq/pool party as a "reward" is more of an obligation, pain in the butt reward. My company would have off-site meetings or parties that ran during off-hours and they were mandatory and sometimes so far out of the way, traffic would be a worse nightmare coming home. And this was supposed to be a reward or incentive or morale booster? Now the days I went home with a $50 visa gift card for being personally recognized at an in-house quick meeting before we opened? Glorious day for me!

And as far as pushing their manager of choice in the pool, is it safe to assume every manager will agree to that and be in their bathing suit or you work in that industry? I'd quit my job (yes, literally) if I knew I had to be subjected to being THAT manager. I know it seems excessive (and maybe it is) but that kind of stress would be a deal breaker.

Sorry to get carried away. Your question and suggestions brought out a bit of anxiety in me!!

I didn't think about it from the managers point of view, but despite how work activities seem like an obligation they do create a better work environment than gifts. Why? Simply because a party is for everyone working together for achieving a goal. Me handing you a gift card is for you and 99% of your co-workers are left out. Also, as experience at my old job typically the people who win are always the same people mostly because they stop doing certain aspects of their work in order to win something. And who picks up the slack? The others who are not winning. And it creates bitterness and low morale.

This is just my point of view from working in HR where I was never part of any sales incentive. However, I did have to hear people complain about the sales incentives NON-STOP!

Luckily everyone lives very close so coming to the pool is not out of the way. I'm also not gonna make it mandatory (what's the fun in that?!). As for getting pushed in the pool it would be either myself or the housekeeping manager as the options and she and I are totally game for it! I think it'll be good fun! The GM is prego so she is out, the Maintenance Engineer has a bad hip so he is out and the Sales Manager won't come, so it's only the managers that are willing.

I like the gift card idea as well. I think the $ incentives are the best idea, but I wanted to make it a bit diverse so it's not the same thing every month. Maybe grocery cards one month, home improvement the next, crafty one month, and just change the theme of the cards given? Something everyone can use. Because it's not just one person that would get a gift card - ALL 20 employees would get one (including managers ). I wanted 2 or 3 that could be a group thing. Hmm....

Oh, I misunderstood! If everyone gets a prize than go for the gift cards!

Can you go for time off? Like a day off or 1/2 day off ? Their choice but obviously not at the same time.

That is an excellent idea Emma4545! Thanks! I will add that one!

I just want to say that I like the gift card ideas, but the pool party I am not as fond about. I feel that way only because I think that I think that people may feel that they "have" to go even if it isn't mandatory. I felt that way when my former boss was selling Girl Scout cookies and had BBQ's, group meals, etc. It was implied that one was expected to go and it felt like peer pressure. That is my opinion on that.

I think the time off is a great idea too!

I think the best place to get ideas is from the employees themselves. Ask everyone for their ideas, giving an anonymous way to submit ideas (such as a suggestion box) and a deadline for doing so, then use the feasible suggestions from the box as well as your own, and develop a survey asking employees to rate and comment on the suggestions.

In general, people tend to be more motivated by incentives they helped to implement (even if they're incentives they personally voted against). Feeling that your opinion was truly considered, even if it wasn't ultimately adopted tends to build morale.

Most studies find that monetary and high value incentives are actually anti-motivational if the management style is autocratic and authoritarian (bosses make all the decisions in a like-it-or-lump-it). In an egalitarian, authoritative environment (the bosses respect employees as valued coworkers and make the rules taking into consideration everyone's needs and opinion) both monetary and non-monetary rewards will "work."

Regardless, results are likely to be more positive overall if the employees have some say in choosing the incentives.

out of all the ideas presented here, I personally like the idea of themed gift cards....that's a really neat idea!

however I also like asking the employees for their suggestions and voting on it...as long as there are clear deadlines on the suggestions and voting....(speaking from an experience this year where it took MONTHS to craft a new mission statement and that was with only 6-8 people involved...sigh)

I haven't had a chance to read all the responses, but one year, when gas was really high, my company gave out gift cards to a gas station. It was the best gift card they've ever given out.

Also, at Thanksgiving they give us a gift card to the grocery store.

Practical doesn't really sound fun, but I'd rather spend the gift card on gas and groceries and use budgeted grocery money for a manicure or pedicure.

Those are great ideas, Missy!