Incentive Programs in Funeral Service

Johnson Consulting Group feels that there are 4 areas to consider when utilizing incentives at a funeral home. Most of your leading funeral homes in the United States do some, if not all, of the following. Yet, interestingly enough, there are still those who do little, if anything, to incent their employees. The following are our thoughts on the matter.

1. Random or Spontaneous Acts – These are just instances where an employee goes above and beyond the call of duty. How can you reward them? It could be as simple as public recognition to the employees peer group. It always goes a long way, but many miss the opportunity. Other options you can do in this case are gift certificates to restaurants, movie tickets, sporting event tickets, gas cards, spa treatments, etc., etc.

2. Another type of incentivizing your employee group is through Team Building. Having a social event from time to time for the group: company BBQ’s, ball games, happy hours, or associate of the month awards. The Fish Bowl program where there are a group of prizes placed in a bowl, from ipads to gift cards. Employees get tickets based on their performance. Drawing is held quarterly with all present.

3. Community Involvement – Reward staff for their community service. Encourage your staff and allow time for them to pursue and participate in community events. Recognize them for their efforts internally and via press releases, where applicable. Also, Facebook can be used as well as your own company web site.

4. Structured Incentive Plan – Define the amount of the potential award and describe how it can be earned. Can be paid quarterly, bi-annually or annually. It should be performance based and aligned with the company’s objectives. It must be measurable and in line with the overall company performance. Subjects that we see often are customer service, (hopefully you have a survey program to monitor) revenues, average sale per type of service, accounts receivable and number of families served. There are more categories, but these are the ones that we see most.

Incenting employees is a key function of the owner/manager of a funeral home. No matter how big or how small the firm. It can take employees to the next level. We encourage all funeral directors to use some sort of continued incentives in the future. The dividends it pays is on your bottom line.