May the Young and the Restless Take Over

Seth has a great post today about creating a business environment where workers really care. In addition to the fun interactive promotions listed in his article, I add this: If you really want to make the front line care, give them a real incentive. A piece of the pie.

Give the sandwich maker a small commission on every sale, and he will be more concerned about giving the customer a good product, value and experience. He'll want them to come back. The more sandwiches he and his co-workers make, the more money they take home.

This could apply beyond food service to every day retail. How quickly and accurately do you think your cashiers will ring up your customers if they get paid a commission on every product they ring up, even if it is small? An extra $20 to an employee on a busy day will make sure they do what it takes to make every day a busy day.

Remove the tip jars. Add a commission on every sale for the whole staff. Watch your employees become salespeople, customer service reps, teammates and company champions all in one. It used to be that way; perhaps it's time to bring it back.

One thing's for sure... it's going to take a slew of new business leaders to create the environments needed to enable employess to care. May the Young and the Restless future business leaders take over soon.