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Incentive programs can be powerful productivity tools, but you won't get the most out of them if you're not
careful about how they're designed. For one thing, as Mary Shanley has learned at The Telemarketing Co., in Chicago, your employees need to
believe the rewards are within reach.
Shanleys first program gave each of her telemarketers an only one-in-32 chance of winning the weekly
prize-discouraging odds. Then one of her supervisors threw out the individual competition and in its place created four eight-member teams, each
shooting for the $50 lunch awarded to the Team of the Week. "Now, instead of only one person getting to the top, eight people do. That's a
25% chance of winning," says Shanley.
Not only has productivity risen 20% under the team arrangement, but Shanley credits the new incentive system with
building morale and fostering teamwork. "It makes our telemarketers help one another out more and keep one another motivated." Shanley says.
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