Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

Incentives are not appropriate or necessary for employee groups held on campus, especially during business hours. Consider some in-kind rewards for participating, like coupons for a dinner, free merchandise (even company logoed), and other recognition for their time and opinions. But don't call this compensation. They're already being paid, and it isn't necessary to "compensate" them for their time again.

More importantly, worry about securing their managers' approvals and cooperation ahead of time, and make sure that you don't mix employees of different levels in the same groups (supervisors and line employees, for example).

Also, make sure that the employees are assured of, and are given confidentiality, if not anonymity, for their assistance. Do not put HR people or similar functions in the same room, as this will be coercive.

Good luck.

Dan,
I am a little confused. If they are on site, during work hours, requiring nothing extraordinary of them, and their employer tells them to go - I would think retaining my position would be incentive enough to participate. What the employer tells/pays the employee to do during the time for which the employee is employed is how I see it. They may do it reluctantly, but who's the boss? There are plenty of folks out pounding the pavement to line up for those jobs. But then, maybe I am missing something....

Good Luck!

CVN

Nothing works better than cold hard cash. In a similar situation, we offered employees a crisp new 50 dollar bill and a promise of absolute anonymity. The organization conducting served as the buffer and the location was a neutral one. We had a great group to select from.

Incentives can be less important in employee focus groups; in this case, participation can be more of a factor based on how invested the company is in the research and how easy the company makes it for employees to participate. For example, if they are hourly employees, they should still get paid for the hour they are participating in the group, the group should be held at a convenient time for them which will not prevent them from getting any benefits (i.e., not during lunch hour).

Upper management should communicate its support of the groups to the employees, and employee anonymity must be guaranteed (e.g., no managers allowed in the room who may use the information against any respondent). I have typically seen these types of groups occur in company-facilities, meaning not "traditional" focus group rooms with one-way mirrors, however they can still be videotaped. The moderator has to be sensitive to employees still feeling like they are being watched by management since they are on company turf, and therefore may be reluctant to provide honest feedback. Therefore, the moderator may need to do additional work with the participants in helping them to overcome this potential obstacle.

As with all research, it is important that the management not only support the effort, but make changes or implement recommendations based on what the employees want.

I am with Frank on this one: after guaranteeing anonomity etc, offering cash up front is a great way of actually getting subjects in the room and talk; thus giving you as close as possible to a representative sample.
While many people are driven by non-monetary desires (such as being heard, or making a positive difference in their company), your specific context of dropping out of a service, makes cash a great incentive.

I'm confused too.

If the groups are being conducted openly on site, how can any guarantee of anonymity be taken seriously?

I think you need to:

1. Get the groups off-site, to a safe, neutral place.
2. Pay a small incentive and put on some light refreshments to help create a social, communicative atmosphere.

ChrisB

To my understanding motivation is needed more for the quality of the job done by the focus group rather than mativating people to participate.

I have been reading lately an interesting book that presents scientifically proven ways to be persuasive. Robert B. Gialdini presented 6 universal principles of social influence: reciprocation (we feel obliged to return favors performed for us), authority (we look to experts to show us the way), commitmnet/consistency (we want to act consistently with our commitments and values), scarcity (the less available the resource, the more we want it), liking (the more we like people the morewe want to say yes to them) and social proof (we look to what others do to guide our behavior).

If I were you I would combine commitment/consistency and liking to get things going and enhance the initiative with social proof.

I am sure you will find interesting real casestudies in this book:
Title: Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

While I agree with many of the comments and understand the desire for hard evidence - why not keep it simple:

Recruit with no incentives and see if it works. If not, offer incentives; If it does work - problem solved with minimal effort!

This especially makes sense since:

1) I doubt that any evidence will support such a unique case as the one you describe. Incentives undoubtedly are needed in some situations, and not others, but you're unlikely to find a meaningfully-similar case study.

2) The client doesn't think incentives are necessary and likely doesn't want to spend the money -- no need to try to 'prove' them wrong before you trying it their way since you either get the participants or not.

Best of luck!
-Steve