The objective here is simple, no one likes to work on an empty stomach and so
why not use a little give and take to make the employees feel like they are not
being taken advantage of. It has proven to be effective from the opinions of the
employees I interviewed. The final program I was made aware of designed to
bolster company morale is the “paid time off” program. This allows employees to
take time off from their work for various reasons and to be regularly paid as if
they were working for that period of time. Acceptable reasons for this privilege
cover a wide spectrum including personal vacation, minor illness, funeral leave,
jury duty, holidays, military leave, and marriage. Ms. Pacior explained that
although these programs are not abundantly used, when needed they are greatly
appreciated by the employees and help to curb what would be a falling morale.
Everyone needs time off from work from time to time but a company is certainly
not expected to pay the employee while he or she is not working. In my opinion,
AAA has gone above and beyond their responsibility in an effort to keep the
company’s morale as high as possible. Keeping morale high, however, isn’t the
only means by which AAA motivates their employees. They also aspire to keep
their employees satisfied. Satisfaction is defined as the sum total of feelings
a person has about the factors in the workplace. Although there is little in the
form of specific programs, AAA does in fact show a respectable effort to keep
the factors within the workplace desirable. For example, the office environment
itself is well maintained. It is equipped with new computers, plenty of space
and climate control. All employees are given personal parking spaces, offices,
and their own desktop computers, which cannot be said for similar travel
agencies in the area.
The employees I interviewed all agreed that they are satisfied with the
factors in their workplace and added that their favorite relating policy is the
“dress down Fridays” policy. This permits the employees to dress more casually
than they do during the rest of the week. A company must keep their employees
satisfied if they wish to gain the most out of their performance. It stands to
reason that an unsatisfied employee would not feel compelled to put forth their
best effort if they feel as if their wants and needs are not important factors
to the management. They also agreed that of the three ways to motivate employees
this was probably the one that least applied for their particular company, and
the one that worked the best was rewards. Rewards, Taylor would agree, are the
most effective way to motivate employees. They can come in the form of monetary
bonuses, individual perks, or various forms of recognition. AAA makes use of all
three of these by implementing several reward programs. First, the company
offers several rewards in the form of monetary bonuses. The company’s individual
incentive plan compares the agent’s goal commission with their actual commission
and pays thirty-two percent of the excess on top of their regular salary. For
example if an agent earns $1,000 over what their goal was set at, the agent
earns a $320 bonus at the end of the year. Employees can also earn office
bonuses when the office as a whole exceeds the projected goal.When this happens,
5% of the excess is divided amongst the employees and added to their salary as a
bonus. This obviously motivates them to make as many sales as possible
individually as well as a group. The objective of these programs is to give a
sort of pat on the back that says “good job people!” As one could imagine these
are the most popular programs in the company.
