Thoughts On Incentive Plans

Asystole RN · Sep 11, 2019

Incentive plan designs are generally tailored to the goals that you are trying to achieve.

The difference between lump versus staggered is often the difference between short-term and long-term goals etc. This is also very different from a commission structure which has a very different incentive.

What is your goal? What are these people being measured on? Is it for a process improvement, customer value-add, retention?

AHAACK · Sep 11, 2019

Thank you so much for your input. We would be measuring process of improvement and retention. Noticing which employees were actively involved in their job (good performer), were on time for their shift, and stayed with the company for a year.

Asystole RN · Sep 11, 2019

Just now, AHAACK said:
Thank you so much for your input. We would be measuring process of improvement and retention. Noticing which employees were actively involved in their job (good performer), were on time for their shift, and stayed with the company for a year.

In that case I would recommend an annual incentive plan with a behavioral modifier.

It will be important to not call this a bonus because bonuses are extra where an incentive plan is considered more of a variable portion of the base income.

This is somewhat complicated by hourly pay but not too much.

Lets say the expected annual income for someone in your organization is $80,000 and you want to give a $8,000 incentive. I would tell everyone that they now make $88,000 but 10% of their income is variable. If the department/hospital/company meets plan they earn 100% of that variable income, if the organization does better they get more and less if not. This provides a long-term teamwork incentive.

To provide an individual incentive you can place an independent variable on that incentive. Maybe if they meet all of their goals they earn a % modifier. Maybe if they absolutely knock their goal out of the park they can get an extra 20% modifier for their incentive, for this example would be and extra $1,600. If they don't meet their goals they lose 20% of their incentive.

The important thing would be to have regular meetings, at least twice a year but quarterly is better for all of the staff. In these meeting you can tell them how they company/department is doing and how they are individually doing. This way they know where they are and how to stay on track. It sort of blends the best of the annual incentive along with the regular more frequent incentives that focus on short-term goals.

If they leave they lose 10% (or whatever you choose) of their income and if they work hard for the team and the meet their personal goals they can make even more.

caliotter3 · Sep 11, 2019

You know, to be quite frank, I would prefer a reward of three days off, consecutive if I choose, to a monetary reward. Some of this is due to the fact that my employer offers no time off or sick time other than the minimum now required by law. Some of us can't elaborate on how welcome it is to have time off to rest without worrying about repercussions.

JKL33 · Sep 11, 2019

2 hours ago, AHAACK said:
Hello All!
I thought I'd reach out to those who are in the nursing field to get the best insight and feedback on annual payouts/incentive plans. It would be great if some of you could give me a reason why nurses should receive a payout (bonus) ie. good performance, PU, fall prevention, medications delivered on time etc.. If it were your company, would you like to receive a payout annually, semi-annually, or quarterly? My thought is that people like to receive a lump sum bonus instead of smaller bonus' throughout the year but there could be some other opinions out there! Can't wait to hear your opinions.

Hello,

What is your vantage point and interest in the topic?

Thank you. ?

Sour Lemon · Sep 11, 2019

2 hours ago, AHAACK said:
Hello All!
I thought I'd reach out to those who are in the nursing field to get the best insight and feedback on annual payouts/incentive plans. It would be great if some of you could give me a reason why nurses should receive a payout (bonus) ie. good performance, PU, fall prevention, medications delivered on time etc.. If it were your company, would you like to receive a payout annually, semi-annually, or quarterly? My thought is that people like to receive a lump sum bonus instead of smaller bonus' throughout the year but there could be some other opinions out there! Can't wait to hear your opinions.

These are things that 99.9%+ of nursing staff will do with no "incentive" when staffing is adequate. Scrap the bonus and staff the unit(s) appropriately to achieve your goals.

NewOncNurseRN, BSN, RN · Sep 12, 2019

I agree with SourLemon. A bonus is nice but it’s better (and easier) to meet those incentive goals if you are adequately staffed.

**CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN** · Sep 12, 2019

Could also add a bonus where each staff member is paid more for the staff members that are short. So, if you're short a nurse or a tech, that "money" would be divided among the staff that have to do the extra work?

Ponymom2 · Sep 12, 2019

Agree way totally with Sour Lemon.. yeah..

AHAACK · Sep 12, 2019

Thank you all for your input!

BlueShoes12, BSN, RN · Sep 13, 2019

Take the money that would be spent on bonuses and use it to ensure adequate staffing. I would also be motivated by 12 extra hours of PTO, or something like that, to use at my leisure.