New ideas of employee motivation

Finding advantages instead of staring at mistakes and recognizing them in time is one of the best incentives for employees

As a manufacturer of brands such as "June Fresh Soy Sauce" and "Huangfeihong Spicy Peanut", Shandong Xinhe Enterprise's annual performance has increased at an average rate of 5% higher than that of the industry in the past three years.

the rapid development of enterprises is certainly a good thing, but for HR, there are also many "growth worries"-not only to ensure the number and quality of personnel needed for business growth, but also to accumulate development potential for enterprises and avoid the growth worry of "radish is too fast to wash the mud".

"There are a lot of manual labor that cannot be replaced by machines in the food industry, so the biggest challenge we face is: how to make new employees, especially front-line employees, accept the product concept of the enterprise and abide by the product production specifications from the heart, so as to ensure that the product quality will not decline while the business grows." Guo Lixin, director of human resources department of Xinhe Company, told the reporter of Enterprise Observer.

under the cultural concept of "people-oriented", Xinhe Company further puts forward the management system of "giving priority to front-line employees", such as "only rewarding and not punishing" the employees in front-line production and sales, and strives to show respect and care in every detail, so that employees can consciously practice the company's brand concept and produce healthy food with a sense of belonging and recognized work.

Reward without punishment

In recent three or four years, the business scope of Xinhe Company has also rapidly expanded from Shandong to the whole country, and the number of employees has also increased from more than one thousand to seven or eight thousand, among which 6% of the new employees are production and sales personnel.

The front-line employees of Xinhe mainly come from the rural areas around vocational schools and factories, and their own requirements for food quality are objectively not high. At the same time, they are the most frequent mobile groups. In the case of low overall quality and frequent turnover, it is very difficult to make employees accept the concept of Xinhe producing high-quality products and abide by and maintain it from the heart.

The usual' practice' is to formulate strict punishment measures, so that employees can remember the rules with "immediate pain". "However, taking tough measures can only make employees obey on the surface, and we will have no bottom in our hearts and it is not in line with Xinhe's values." Guo Lixin said.

Xinhe does the opposite, rewarding instead of punishing, so as to motivate employees to work with a happy attitude and accept the company's concept of "brewing with heart" from the heart. In Xinhe's production workshop, the monthly outstanding employee list is posted. The employees on the list are not only given material rewards, but also invited to have lunch with the factory director and other senior executives to exchange work experience. It is not difficult for ordinary employees to get on this honor list.

Xiao Fang, the production line inspector of Xinhe Weidamei packaging workshop, was negligent in checking the products in April this year, and let a bottle of products with no production date printed into the finished packaging. After some inner struggle, she still took the initiative to report it to the workshop supervisor and the on-site quality inspector. After the rework inspection by the team, the bottle with no production date printed was found out. Instead of punishing Xiao Fang for this, the workshop supervisor praised him for being able to report the mistakes in his work on his own initiative and bravely admit his own mistakes, thus ensuring the overall quality of the products. Xiao Fang was on the list of outstanding employees of the month, and her team was also rewarded. The supervisor encouraged employees to follow Xiao Fang's example, be responsible for each bottle of products, be responsible for themselves, and report problems in time.

In this regard, Guo Lixin said: "The work on the production line is rather monotonous. If an employee can be encouraged if he does a little thing well, he can feel that his work is affirmed and recognized, and his mood and state at work will be different."

Reward employees without punishment, and reward them immediately, which actually puts higher demands on managers. Supervisors should change finding problems into finding advantages, and they need to keep abreast of employees' status and actively find behaviors worthy of encouragement. There is a prize for not making a mistake for one month, a prize for reporting the problem in time, a prize for dressing neatly, and a prize for not leaving leftovers at night meals ... If an employee makes a mistake because his skills are not in place or he doesn't know the production process clearly, the middle and senior supervisors will be punished.

The company's incentive measures are also inclined to front-line employees, such as inviting front-line employees to be spokespersons for greetings and images, inviting the families of outstanding front-line employees to visit the company regularly, and inviting the families of outstanding employees of the year to attend commendation meetings and New Year's parties.

Guo Lixin said that rewarding without punishment does not mean that there are no punishment measures at all. There will definitely be corresponding punishment measures for those who seriously violate the company's discipline and make subjective and intentional mistakes, but Xinhe is more concerned with designing employee reward measures. In this way, it not only encourages employees to develop positively and actively pursue progress, but also conveys an idea to employees: making mistakes is not terrible, but they should be brave enough to take responsibility, learn from them, find out the reasons and propose solutions, and be "sincere, energetic and innovative" people.

put yourself in others' shoes

"If we don't eat our own products, don't sell them to consumers, and don't produce them." These are the words of Xinhe's founder, printed in big letters and hung on the walls of Xinhe company and various factories. It means that when you cook food, you have to push others by yourself. Products that you think are not delicious and don't want to eat must not be sold to consumers.

in respect of respecting and caring for employees, the human resources department is also making efforts in details in this way, and practicing the concept that "respecting, caring for and investing in employees can benefit career development".

For example, Xinhe has set up a laundry room in the staff dormitory area, where employees' tools are cleaned free of charge. After washing, they are ironed and folded neatly and sent to the staff dormitory. This seemingly small job, the chairman of the company has to ask himself, because "the work clothes are not clean and tidy, which will not only affect your work mood, but also bring bad feelings to others."

What also concerns the chairman is the company's "Saturday Kindergarten". The company headquarters and factories have prepared a room, which is arranged according to the kindergarten classroom. If employees need to work overtime on Saturday, they can bring their children here, and the kindergarten teachers hired by the company will take them. In this way, parents who work overtime will feel at ease and it will be a brand-new experience for their children.

Xinhe has many store promoters all over the country, and is solemnly called "food consultant" by Xinhe. WeChat group of food consultants will be set up in each region, and regional directors and some senior executives of the company headquarters will also join. Executives can always know the working status of food consultants, and food consultants can always ask and communicate with them if they have any questions.

In July and August this year, it was the peak tourist season. Xinhe organized more than 7 food consultants from all over the country to visit and study in Yantai headquarters and travel to surrounding cities. Xinhe's food consultants are mainly temporary staff hired by third-party labor service companies. Many people are excited to enjoy this treatment for the first time.

The regional manager of Xinhe is often asked by the local supermarket manager a question: Why are your salespeople so enthusiastic and energetic that they can not only do their own thing well, but also take the initiative to help the supermarket? How do you do it?

Guo Lixin's experience is that the more employees from the front line and grass roots, the more eager they are to be recognized and have a sense of belonging. Once this demand is met, they will bring this pleasure of being respected to their work.

This is also an idea that Xinhe holds in building an employer brand, that is, we must pay attention to internal and external influences. By caring for employees, employees can have a sense of trust and belonging to the company, work happily, and pass this good mental state on to their families, which will then affect more people outside. The inherent logic of this concept is "happy employees produce high-quality products, and high-quality products bring people a high-quality life".