How AI Can Help Companies to Reward Their Employees
After working for a business for awhile, employees naturally begin to desire recognition and rewards for their hard work and dedication to their employer. While many companies have incentive programs and performance review systems in place, they don’t always keep pace with technology. Therefore, it is important for companies to find ways to offer perks and compensation that help to make employees feel more appreciated.
Since the needs of employees change over time, the necessity for new and innovative merit systems grows. While some human resources representatives might find it difficult to keep incentive programs current and interesting, artificial intelligence-driven reward solutions could be the answer that many organizations are seeking. Here’s how artificial intelligence (AI) can help companies to reward their employees:
Determining Incentives
When employees are rewarded for their job performance, the quality of their work increases. In addition, the customer experience is enhanced. This can mean the difference between achieving business objectives and falling short, and poorly structured incentives can result in apathy among employees who feel that their hard work is unappreciated. Additionally, incentives can be important to customers, as more of them are starting to base their support for a company on how well the employees are treated.
With AI at the forefront of employee benefits, it can help employers to better understand what types of incentives make the biggest impact on their workforce. While increased compensation and special monetary bonuses are common ways to reward employees, this isn’t always enough. Today, employees are looking for a better work-life balance, so non-monetary incentives that enhance the overall quality of life are also valuable. Depending on the workplace, a cash gift might not mean as much as a company vacation or a free gym membership, for example.
Personalizing Rewards
In a work environment with diverse demographics, the preferred incentives will typically differ as much as the employees do. Artificial intelligence can help to personalize rewards through a shift toward customization. The beauty of AI-driven rewards is that the technology can tailor the benefits based on the employee, thereby making them feel more appreciated in the workplace. For example, an employee who does not watch much television might not find a free subscription to a streaming service useful. In this case, AI-based incentive systems could gather data and generate a reward based on the employee’s preferences. This type of personalization could result in greater workplace satisfaction and could also potentially improve productivity.
Predicting the Success of Rewards Programs
By using AI systems in the workplace, HR professionals have more opportunities to connect with each employee and review commonalities among the workforce as a whole in order to identify current or emerging trends. Companies that invest in these methods can leverage them as a predictive process in order to better determine how employees would prefer to be rewarded.
When obtaining information about the staff and workplace culture, it’s beneficial for HR representatives to gather the most current employee information available. This can encompass factors such as demographic diversity and the expectations of newer generations. This data-collection process can be accomplished through means such as anonymous employee surveys that are streamlined through AI and machine learning processes. For large companies with thousands of employees, AI can handle the cumbersome task of compiling the data and turning it into usable reports that can help HR professionals to proactively select the best employee rewards.
Using AI to Determine Compensation
While many businesses use competitive pay to attract employees in the initial stages of employment, some companies keep employee wages stagnant for longer periods. Due to fluctuations in the economy, as well as the steadily rising cost of goods and services, employees can become frustrated when they feel as though their compensation isn’t keeping pace with their job duties, the economic climate, or both.
However, when AI-based performance reviews are implemented, employees can obtain recognition based on both their length of service and performance, rather than subjective measures that are common in traditional review structures. Through a data-centric approach, information gleaned through AI can help HR professionals in completing a fair, bias-free wage review, as long as the system is properly set up and monitored closely. This allows dedicated employees to receive proper compensation, which contributes to a positive view of the company.
Furthermore, companies that choose to swap out quarterly or yearly reviews for AI-driven ones can create a promotion system based more on measurable aspects such as skill and knowledge rather than tenure. This can offer employees greater opportunities to grow in their careers. For instance, an employee could potentially lose out on a position to an external candidate, who might appear to be more qualified because the employee has not had a performance review in several months.
The Future of AI-Based Employee Rewards
Keeping up with trends in the workplace and society using AI-driven incentive programs can make a difference in how satisfied employees are. Additionally, if companies begin to implement better systems to help guide practices such as performance reviews, it can foster positive change in the workplace. Companies with higher retention rates and more satisfied employees can create an environment where people stay with the business longer, and potential candidates become more interested in joining the team.
