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COMMUNITY QUESTION
How do you use content marketing in your business?
CA LG A RY H E R A L D
C A P I TA L Q U E S T I O N
HOW DO YOU REWARD YOUR EMPLOYEES? Entrepreneurs explain how they show their appreciation to staff
Roma Pastershank, owner and dentist at Glenmore Park Dental (glenmoreparkdental.ca), says that in addition to praising staff on a job well done, she provides monetary perks as well. “I give small gifts to acknowledge going the extra mile … and I took my staff to Disneyland to thank them all for their hard work and loyalty during a difficult renovation. They receive birthday gifts, year-end bonuses and a year-end party in addition to shopping trips and pedicures.” P H O TO SU PPL I ED BY : ROM A PAS TE RS H AN K
SPOTLIGHT These answers were collected from some of this year’s nominees for the Alberta Women Entrepreneurs Celebration of Achievement award. For more on the nominees and the events to honour them, visit aweinspiringentrepreneurs.com.
“A good employee rewarding system has four components — compensation, benefits, recognition and appreciation — that are directly linked to the company’s strategic development goals. Our system combines the employees’ desire for achieving their full potential with the company’s belief that employees are our best assets. To achieve this level, each employee is assigned a mentor, and together they establish possible outcomes and build a three-year career path ... Based on these results, we provide bonuses, recognize employees during our town-hall meetings, and show our appreciation by facilitating access to training and extracurricular activities they show interest in.” Daniela Ostoici, founder of Fronitech, fronitech.com
“I have a structured initiative program where each team member earns ‘bones’ for going above and beyond … They trade in their bones for whatever items they would like, including gift certificates, paid time off and store products, or they can put it into a pool for larger team awards … I want to ensure our team is consistently recognized for their efforts and feel valued, and this has become a key reason for our team success.”
“Our employees are the reason that we are where we are, so we do small things for people throughout the year that are personal. For example, we buy them a book they want, give them extra time off for their passions, or make sure they are happy and that we are meeting their expectations. Once a year they get an over-the-top gift based on the company’s and their performance, but it’s the little things that matter the most.” Shannon Lenstra, president of Kon-strux Developments Inc., kon-strux.com
“Aside from paying them fairly, I think it’s about the little things. I make an effort to reinforce their good work and tell them their value. I take them for lunch, get them presents for Christmas and birthdays, things like that. Basically, I think of what I would want an employer to do to make me feel valuable, and I try to do those things.” Kamea Zelisko, partner at Red Queen Creative Group, redqueencreative.com
“My employees are rewarded with praise for a job well done, a special appreciation dinner, and a gift. I have a charity, which is Eco Village of Hope Society, so no monetary gifts are given to employee volunteers. My company, Delissitude, rewards employees with praise for a job well done, a special appreciation luncheon and a monetary gift.” Renay Eng-Fisher, president and CEO of Eco Village of Hope Society, ecovillageofhope.org
Megan Armstrong, owner of Dogma Training & Pet Services Inc., dogmatraining.com
“During the holiday season, I reward employees by treating them to extended lunches, shortening the work day and preparing opportunities to get our families together. We have a big holiday party every year, and everyone brings their children to the office. I make all the food, and Santa makes an appearance to bring the kids gifts from Wean Green. And of course, I buy the staff gifts; this year’s gifts include Tiffany necklaces and Kate Spade purses.” Melissa Gunning, CEO of Wean Green, weangreen.com
Getting the word out about your business is key, which is why Janise Bachler, owner and image consultant at The Closet Diva (theclosetdiva.ca), is curious to hear from you: How do you use content marketing in your business? You can answer the question in two ways: Open today’s Capital Ideas email if you’re a member, or visit capitalideascalgary.com. We’ll publish the best answers, along with your business name and website address, on Jan. 8. Happy holidays!
FINANCIAL POST
“In a very small organization there isn’t a lot of room for robust compensation, but we are chock full of appreciation and recognition for business impact ... Tangible, short-term rewards for transaction impact and bonuses that are tied to individual and company results keep all of us focused on the continued penetration of our brands into the market. Everyone involved in the company right now is a ‘founder,’ and we would not be where we are without everything they’ve done to this point.” Melanie Kobelka, founder of Caskade Wines Ltd., caskadewines.com
“Each employee is unique, so it’s very important for rewards to be individualized. At the onset of each employee contract, I find out what motivates them, not only in joining my team, but what will motivate them to stay as well. From there, we draw up a goal-setting and review document that allows us to both know if we are on track. Some rewards are time off, while others want more responsibility or simply a raise or better benefits. For my business, it’s all about person-specific rewards, otherwise the value may be lost and so is the employee.” Melanie Tuck, president of Collegiate Sports Medicine Inc., collegiatesportsmedicine.ca
“I am currently the only employee at my company, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need rewarding from time to time! For me, I am still growing my business so a good reward is always something that I can use with my business. I love to learn, so when hitting certain milestones, I may look at some additional training or a new piece of equipment or software that will help the business in the long run.” Jackie Appleby, owner of Diligent Assistant, jackieappleby.ca
“We like to reward our employees by helping them better their lives and listening to what they like or may need. We had an employee who always arrived with a Tim Horton’s cup each morning, so we rewarded them with a Tim Horton’s gift certificate to show them we appreciated them. Team events are also a great way to reward employees and make them feel appreciated. We customize our rewards based on each employee, just to show that we care about them as much as they care about us” Kita Eserve, digital marketing expert at Metrik Marketing Inc., metrikmarketing.com
“I have actually created my own application that helps me keep track of employee anniversaries, special dates, and any other related information that I choose to put into it. I then allocate them funds that they can direct to the charity of their choice by adding funds to their account in the CRM. They get a message from the application in an email and with a simple click they can select from over 83,000 charities. They also get the tax receipt even though my company provided the funds to the charity. It’s called www.iwillhelp.ca and I built it for Canada’s SME sector to use.” Grant Kelba, president of KelbaCorp Management Ltd., kelbacorp.com
These answers are in response to a question posed by Wellington Holbrook, executive vice-president of ATB Business. Here’s his take: “How to reward employees might be seen as a trick question, because it isn’t nearly as simple as one might think. That is because human beings are not Business owners helping business owners
simple at all. For some people, financial rewards mean everything. For others, it is all about recognition and praise. For most of us, it is a lot of things
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been looking for. Often it is an opportunity to be empowered to use one’s own idea in something. For other generations, other factors will be at play that will speak to what they value and strive to achieve. Personally — and this is just part of my own DNA — I believe the most fundamental reward that we can offer others is the opportunity to feel important and be recognized for making a difference. That is the reward I am seeking every day.”