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Incentive Pay

Boost health screening turnout with mix of carrots, sticks

05/01/2006

More employers are turning to incentives and penalties to increase participation in on-site health-risk assessments. Attracting employees to this first step can improve their health, which cuts your costs. Use the advice below to choose the best approach for your organization …

Cut costs on duplicate health coverage

05/01/2006

If you’re not doing so already, take steps to discourage employees and dependents from holding duplicate health coverage. Example: Ford Motor Co. now requires employees to pay extra toward their health premiums if their covered spouses have duplicate health coverage …

Workplace abuse trickles down from the top

05/01/2006

Supervisors engage in more abuse of their staffers when they believe the overall organization makes unfair decisions, according to a new study in Personnel Psychology …

Must You Pay Employees for ‘Encouraged’ Volunteer Work?

04/01/2006

A new Labor Department opinion letter says that you don’t need to pay nonexempt employees for time spent working on volunteer civic events, such as building Habitat for Humanity houses, even if your organization encourages such activities and links them to the organization’s incentive-pay plan …

Who pays the tax on gift cards given to employees?

03/01/2006

Q. We plan to give gasoline gift cards to employees as incentives for picking up additional shifts. Are these cards taxable? Can we, the employer, simply pay the employee’s portion of the taxes? —T.M., Pennsylvania

Holiday bonuses are out; performance pay is in

12/01/2005
Holiday bonuses are becoming less of a holiday tradition, as 59 percent of employers won’t award them this year, says a new Hewitt Associates survey. “Employers recognize that the value in …

Cut health costs by dangling the right opt-out incentives

11/01/2005
Issue: Employee health premiums have jumped 73 percent since 2000 and are predicted to rise 10 percent more in 2006.
Benefit: Offering employees a lump-sum payout or other incentive to …

Case studies in ‘strategic praising’: 6 steps to success

08/01/2005
Issue: How to use rewards and recognition in the best (and most cost-efficient) way to motivate employees.
Benefits: By making recognition a companywide effort, you remove a burden from you …

Maintain ties with laid-off employees

07/01/2005
Don’t just throw those fish back in the water, keep them on a line with smart moves. Examples: A financial firm created a tuition fund for laid-off workers, hoping they would …

Work with managers to motivate part-time employees

02/01/2005
Issue: Improving the productivity of your part-time employees.
Risk: Part-timers often feel, and are sometimes treated, like second-class citizens, which can hurt their performance.
Action: Work with supervisors to …