Employee of the month schemes don't work well in the care sector

Do you have an employee of the month scheme? Are you working in the care sector? Then such schemes may be working against you.

By Metis HR.

You will probably have introduced an employee of the month scheme to recognise good performance. The scheme praises an employee's 'external' performance, often to other staff.

If you are working in the care sector, your best staff will be relationship focused people, people who do much of their work away from direct supervision and other staff, especially in a domiciliary care setting.

To these staff, employee of the month schemes can feel like schemes that recognise performance based on what was observed, they can seem arbitrary and unfair. In trying to recognise good staff you may actually be demotivating the very staff you are trying to motivate.

Care sector staff, because they get much personal satisfaction from building relationships, genuinely caring staff will be far more appreciative of a personal communication that tells them how valued they are within the organisation. Consider sending a personal note to the staff you value every year, maybe send it to their home address where their families will see it, after all many decisions to leave employment are driven by family pressure.

If you have an employee of the month scheme ask your staff what they feel about it, is it doing what you intended, is it incentivising your staff? Is it motivating them?

If it isn't, review what you are doing and consider introducing a mechanism for a more personalised appreciation of their contribution. Metis HR would like to thank Neil Eastwood of Sticky People Ltd for his insight into this topic.