Sometimes, it’s as simple as a coveted parking spot that makes people feel wanted.
When it comes to making employees feel wanted, the non-financial perks can matter just as much, and in some cases more, than what’s in an employees paycheck.
A pair of speakers shared how their collection agencies structure their compensation packages for collectors and support staff during a webinar, which was sponsored by Peak Revenue Learning. The webinar speakers were Tracy Dudek, the vice president of operations at State Collection Service, and Christian Lehr, chief operations officer at Healthcare Collections Inc.
A copy of the webinar recording can be accessed here.
The parking spots, which are covered, are prizes for employees at Healthcare Collections who have perfect attendance for a month. The three covered parking spots are highly coveted in Phoenix, where temperatures can make the inside of a car feel like an oven at the end of a long workday. Lehr said that the parking spot award has become highly sought after by the agency’s employees.
After noticing that more employees were calling out on Mondays, State Collection instituted what it calls “Monday Funday,” where it schedules fun activities on the first day of the work week as a means of keeping people from missing work. The activities have helped, Dudek said, with fewer people calling out on Monday.
When it comes to actual compensation, both firms employ a base salary plus commission structure for frontline employees. While some longer-serving employees have raised whether the agency would consider switching to a straight salary compensation instead of a salary plus commission, both speakers said they have no plans to switch.
“Nobody wants to jump on the salary bandwagon unless its over and above what they’ve made in their best year ever,” Lehr said, adding that the element of competition among collectors to see who can achieve the highest commission is an important motivator among employees.
While collection and recovery rates matter, both speakers also reinforced the importance of including compliance in a well-rounded compensation program. At State Collection Service, for example, an employee’s bonus can be affected if his or her quality assurance score drops below a certain score. Employees who are sent home from Healthcare Collections for various infractions do not earn commissions on payments that are posted to their accounts while they are not in the office, Lehr said.
