Motivating Contract Employees Through Incentive Programs

Contingent workers are fast becoming an important part of today’s workforce. More companies are using more of them because doing so allows companies to be more flexible and cost conscious.

But it also raises a few concerns, such as acclimating these temporary employees to your corporate environment, working to make them mesh with your full-time employees and motivating them to work as hard as your regular employees.

Incentive programs can go a long way toward motivating your contract workers. These programs don’t have to involve a lot, because relatively small efforts can have big payoffs.

One way to help motivate your contingent workers is through a point program. In this system, workers accumulate points based on their performance, and they can use these points toward the purchase of items in a catalog. This has added benefits because it is not a once and done thing. The workers can look through the catalog to see all of the items available and the things they might want, and then they can work toward them.

Another simple but powerful incentive is to recognize and praise people for a job well done. You can do this in a variety of ways. One way is to send out an email to all employees in which you recognize a worker and explain what he or she did that was so valuable to the company. Verbal praise is also quite effective, especially if done so in the company of co-workers. But it is important that with the praise you also explain why the worker is being recognized.

Another incentive for contractors is coaching or mentoring. You can have managers meet with workers on a routine basis where the managers can offer their insights and help the workers with any problems they might be having.

You can also offer training sessions to people as an incentive. These can take a variety of forms; they can be conducted in-house by a staff member or by a consultant. They can even be offered online.

Giving people trophies, plaques or certificates is another way to show recognition, and something that might be an incentive for people to work for.

Other incentives might involve time off or greater flexibility with work schedules, or a leadership opportunity.

The important thing is that contingent workers feel welcome at the company, that they are valued as an integral part of the workforce and not looked at as second-class citizens.

Whether you own an insurance company or you’re in charge of insurance issues at a company, when you need to hire insurance professionals quickly, contact Insurance Relief™. We can source, vet and place reliable professionals for your temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire opportunities. Contact us today.