To combat the personal-day exodus at the end of the year, Educational Testing
Service rewards its people for not using their sick days. "We expect employees
to treat ETS properly by not taking frivolous time off, so we decided to treat
them properly by rewarding them for it," says Rikki Haber, manager of benefits
for the company.
The Paid Time Off incentive program offers employees gift certificates from
GiftCertificates.com equaling $100 a day for every personal day they don’t
take, assuming they have at least three or more unused days left over at the end
of the year.
The rewards are given out the first week in January, after Haber tallies who
is eligible and how much each will receive. Recipients get to choose a gift
certificate for any of hundreds of stores offered through GiftCertificates.com,
or they can redeem the reward for cash. About one-third of the recipients choose
certificates, she says.
"The program rewards people for being responsible corporate citizens, and
it dramatically reduces the number of days off our employees use," she says.
Since its launch two years ago, the program has been popular with employees.
Haber gave away thousands of gift certificates at the end of 2001 and expects to
give even more out at the end of 2002.
"People really responded to it. They started to reconsider their need to
take time off." And even though most employees’ salaries average more than
$100 per day, the reward and the resulting recognition are considered very
valuable. "When we first announced the program, people called to complain,"
she says. "They told me they wouldn’t have used their days off if they had
known about it."
To keep people focused on the program, Haber posts reminders and articles in
the news section of the company’s intranet site, which also features a link to
GiftCertificates.com.
"It’s a great program that showed immediate results," she says. "It
is painless, efficient, effective, and very well received."
Workforce, June 2002, p. 90 -- Subscribe Now!
= Member Only
n many companies, December is the time when employees take stock of their
leftover personal days and start missing more work, taking time off to go
shopping or to go on vacation, or just to use it up before it disappears. It can
be a frustrating trend for busy managers who have no choice but to pick up the
slack, and it can have a significant impact on overall productivity.
