JP7706788B2 - Employee Motivation System - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an employee motivation system that can increase employee motivation.

For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a system in which a customer sends a tip (money) and a message to a store employee from a personal terminal, and the employee receives compensation from the business owner for the tip and also receives evaluation points based on the message, allowing the business owner to evaluate the employee based on the number of tips and evaluation points. With this configuration, employees receive compensation and evaluation based on the tips and messages they receive from customers, which increases employee motivation and allows business owners to evaluate employees fairly.

JP 2023-56599 A

However, in the conventional configuration described above, the customer pays the tip (money) that they have paid themselves to the employee, so in countries where the culture of paying tips for services is not well developed (such as Japan), it is extremely difficult for customers to send tips to employees. Furthermore, customers who do not send tips tend not to send messages either. For these reasons, there was a problem with the conventional system described above not functioning adequately in countries where the tipping culture is not well developed.

The present invention proposes an employee motivation system that can solve the problems mentioned above, and can steadily generate a flow of employees receiving rewards from customers for their services, and can increase the motivation of employees by receiving such rewards.

The present invention is an employee motivation system comprising a management server that is connectable via a network to an employee terminal operated by an employee who provides goods and/or services to customers and a customer terminal operated by the customer, and that performs predetermined operations in accordance with instructions input by the employer who employs the employee, and is characterized in that the system comprises: an employee information storage means in which employee identification information for identifying the employee is stored; an employee information providing means in which the management server transmits the employee identification information selected from the employee information storage means to the customer terminal in response to a request from the customer terminal; a coin distribution means in which the management server transmits non-cashable coin information to the customer terminal in accordance with the instructions input by the employer; and a designation providing means in which the customer terminal that has received the non-cashable coin information designates an employee and transmits the coin information addressed to that employee, via operation by the customer.
In the configuration of the present invention, when a predetermined coin providing condition is satisfied, a predetermined reward is provided from the employer to the employee based on the coin information addressed to the employee transmitted by the designated providing means. Here, the coin providing condition can be set as a request from the employee being input to the management server, a predetermined unit period (e.g., one week or one month) having passed, or a cumulative number of coins reaching a predetermined number. In addition, "allowing a reward to be provided" refers to performing a process for providing a reward to an employee, and includes, for example, performing instructions or procedures for providing a reward, and the like, without being limited to performing a process for providing a reward to an employee. In addition, the reward refers to money or goods as a return gift or a reward, and further includes education and experience events.

In this configuration, the remuneration (so-called tips) given by customers to employees is covered by the original funds (non-cashable coin information) from the employer, so the remuneration does not impose a financial burden on the customer. In addition, because the coin information provided to customers is non-cashable, it has no direct value to the customer other than sending it to employees. For this reason, even in countries where the tipping culture is not well developed, it becomes easier for customers to send coin information to employees, and a stable flow of sending coin information from customers to employees can be created.

The configuration of the present invention allows the rewards given to employees according to their evaluation to be given to them through the customer, rather than by the employer, and this can dramatically improve the value employees attach to the rewards. In this way, employees can receive rewards based on coin information as customer evaluations, which not only improves the employee's motivation for work, but also appropriately increases the employee's self-awareness about their lives, including their work. Having a customer who evaluates employees also has the advantage of improving the employee's autonomy in their work and reducing employee turnover. Furthermore, the coin information that employees obtain through customers allows employers to evaluate employees fairly and stably.

In the employee motivation system of the present invention described above, a configuration is proposed in which the management server is provided with a coin counting means for counting the coin information transmitted from the customer terminal by the designated provision means for each employee and storing the counted cumulative coin number in the employee's identification information, and a third party's terminal and the management server are connected via a network, making it possible to view at least the cumulative coin number in the employee's identification information on the third party's terminal.

In this configuration, by allowing third parties to view employees' accumulated coin counts, it is possible to stimulate third parties' interest in employees with large accumulated coin counts, which is expected to attract new customers. In addition, it is also possible to arouse third parties' desire to work with employees with large accumulated coin counts, which has the advantage of being able to expect an increase in new employment and make it easier to secure excellent human resources. On the other hand, it is possible to motivate employees to actively work on days and times when they have more opportunities to come into contact with new customers.

In the employee motivation system of the present invention described above, a configuration is proposed in which the employee terminal that acquires the coin information by the designated providing means is equipped with an employee-to-employee providing means that, when operated by an employee, designates another employee and transmits the coin information to that other employee.

In this configuration, since the coin information obtained from customers can be provided by employees to other employees, employees can evaluate each other by providing the coin information. This can improve the motivation of other employees who receive the coin information from an employee, and the effect of the present invention of improving employee motivation can be achieved more stably. In addition, there is an excellent advantage that employers can know each other's evaluations by employees providing each other with coin information.

Another aspect of the present invention is a system including a management server that is connectable via a network to a plurality of employee terminals operated by a plurality of employees who provide products and/or services to customers, and that executes a predetermined operation in accordance with an instruction input by an employer who employs the employees,
an employee information storage means for storing employee identification information for identifying said employees;
An employee distribution means for transmitting non-cashable coin information to the employee terminal by the management server in accordance with an instruction input by the employer;
The employee terminal that receives the non-cashable coin information includes an employee-to-employee providing means that, when operated by an employee, designates another employee and transmits the coin information to the designated employee;
The employee motivation system is characterized in that non-cashable coin information sent from the employer to the employee is converted into cashable coin information by being transmitted to other employees by the employee-to-employee providing means.
In this configuration, it is preferable that when a predetermined coin provision condition is met, a predetermined reward is provided by the employer to the employee who has the coin information based on the coin information converted from non-cashable to cashable. Here, the coin provision condition, "causing a reward to be provided," and the reward are the same as those in the first aspect of the present invention described above.

In this configuration, employees can send non-cashable coin information obtained from their employer to other employees, allowing employees to evaluate each other through the exchange of this coin information. Here, since the coin information sent to other employees is provided by the employer, there is no financial burden on the employee. Furthermore, non-cashable coin information has no direct value other than for sending it to other employees. This makes it easier to send coin information obtained from the employer to other employees, creating a stable flow of sending coin information between employees.

This configuration improves the value employees place on the rewards they receive based on their evaluations, since the rewards are not given by the employer, but are given through the employee to other employees. By having employees exchange coin information, the motivation of employees who receive the coin information can be improved. Furthermore, the coin information exchanged between employees allows employers to evaluate employees fairly and stably.

As described above, the employee motivation system of the present invention makes it easy for customers to send coin information to employees, creating a stable flow of sending coin information, and dramatically improving employee motivation by earning the reward.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an employee motivation system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functions of an employee motivation system 1 according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of sending and receiving information in the employee motivation system 1 of the first embodiment. 2 is a flowchart showing a process performed by the employee motivation system 1 of the first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functions of an employee motivation system 1 according to a second embodiment (and a third embodiment). FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of sending and receiving information in the employee motivation system 1 of the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of sending and receiving information in the employee motivation system 1 of the third embodiment.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. The employee motivation system 1 of this embodiment is used by employers who employ employees of establishments such as restaurants and shops, the employees, and customers of the establishments.

Figure 1 shows the configuration of the employee motivation system 1 of this embodiment. The employee motivation system 1 is composed of a management server 3, a database 4, and an employer terminal 5, an employee terminal 6, and a customer terminal 7 that can be connected to the management server 3 via a communication network (such as the Internet) 2. The employer terminal 5, the employee terminal 6, and the customer terminal 7 are personal computers, tablets, smartphones, etc. that have the function of communicating via the communication network, and have application software installed that can access the management server 3.

The management server 3 is composed of one or more computers equipped with a central control unit (CPU), a memory device (ROM, RAM), and a transmitting/receiving device that communicates with the communication network 2, and the memory device stores programs and data executed by the central control unit. The database 4 is composed of a memory device that stores and holds data used by the programs of the management server 3 and data updated by the programs.

As shown in the functional diagram of FIG. 2, the database 4 includes an identification information storage unit 11 in which identification information identifying the employer, employee, and customer is stored, and a setting information storage unit 12 in which coin setting information is stored. The identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 11 includes information such as name, ID, and address for identifying each of the employer, employee, and customer, information on coins held by employees and the accumulated number of coins, information on coins held by customers, and employee information on the recipient of the coins. These pieces of information are stored in association with each employee and customer. The setting information stored in the setting information storage unit 12 includes information such as the number of coins to be distributed and the distribution period, the coin rate (reward amount per coin), and reward payment conditions.

The management server 3 includes an identification information management means 14 , a coin distribution means 15 , an information provision means 16 , a coin transfer means 17 , a coin provision means 18 , and an information viewing means 19 .
The identification information management means 14 performs a process of registering and updating the identification information of employers, employees, and customers, and storing and managing the identification information in the database 4.

The coin distribution means 15 performs a process of distributing coins to customers in response to instructions sent from the employer terminal 5. This distribution process is performed by counting the number of coins held by each customer in the identification information registered in the database 4. That is, in this embodiment, the distribution of coins is executed as an internal process of the management server 3. Then, information indicating that coins have been acquired is sent to the customer terminal 7.

The information providing means 16 performs a process of transmitting identification information of employees and customers to each terminal 6, 7 in response to requests from the employer terminal 5, employee terminal 6, and customer terminal 7. Here, the identification information that can be transmitted to each terminal 6, 7 is predefined according to the employer, employee, and customer.

The coin transfer means 17 is a process for transferring coins to a specified employee in accordance with the coin transfer information transmitted from the customer terminal 7. In this process, the coins stored in the customer's identification information are moved to the specified employee's identification information and stored. Information indicating that the coins have been acquired is then transmitted to the employee terminal 6. Furthermore, the coin transfer means 17 performs a process for counting the cumulative number of coins each time a coin is moved to the employee's identification information and updating this cumulative coin number with the employee's identification information.

When the preset coin providing condition is met, the coin providing means 18 subtracts the coins stored in the identification information of each employee and transmits an instruction to the employer terminal 5 requesting payment of the remuneration allocated to the coins. Here, the coin providing condition in this embodiment is set to be one month having passed since the previous subtraction process (reaching a specified date on a monthly basis). As a result, the coin providing means 18 executes the coin subtraction process and the payment instruction transmission process on a specified day of each month (hereinafter referred to as the condition fulfillment date). Note that these processes are executed by accessing the identification information of each employee stored in the database 4, and therefore the subtraction process and transmission process are not executed for employees who do not have coins in their identification information.

The information viewing means 19 transmits the employee's identification information to the third-party terminal 8 in response to a request from the third-party terminal 8. Here, the identification information that can be transmitted to the third-party terminal 8 is predefined and is limited compared to the identification information transmitted by the information providing means 16. The third-party terminal 8 is a terminal such as a smartphone operated by a third party other than the employer, employee, or customer, and can be accessed via the communication network 2 by installing a specific application software.

Meanwhile, the employer terminal 5, employee terminal 6, customer terminal 7, and third-party terminal 8 have the following processing functions thanks to the application software:

As shown in FIG. 2, the employer terminal 5 includes an identification information update means 21 and an information management means 22. The identification information update means 21 can execute a process to confirm or update the employer's identification information by starting the application software and accessing the management server 3. The information management means 22 can execute a process to confirm the identification information of employees, customers, and third parties by accessing the management server 3. Furthermore, when the employer terminal 5 receives a remuneration payment instruction from the coin dispensing means 18 of the management server 3, it can carry out a predetermined procedure to pay remuneration to the employee.

The employee terminal 6 includes an identification information update means 23 and a message sending means 24. The identification information update means 23 can execute a process of confirming or updating the employee's identification information by starting the application software and accessing the management server 3. The identification information update means 23 has a function of displaying information when it receives information from the management server 3 about coins acquired from a customer. The message sending means 24 can execute a process of sending a message to a customer who has transferred coins by accessing the management server 3. The message sending means 24 has a function of creating a message using sentences, fixed phrases, emoticons, etc. arbitrarily determined by the employee, and sending the message via the management server 3.

The customer terminal 7 includes an identification information update means 25, an employee information confirmation means 26, and a designated transfer means 27. The identification information update means 25 can execute a process of confirming or updating the customer's identification information by starting the application software and accessing the management server 3. The employee information confirmation means 26 can execute a process of viewing the employee's identification information by accessing the management server 3. The designated transfer means 27 can execute a process of transmitting information on the transfer of coins to a designated employee by accessing the management server 3. Here, the designated transfer means 27 has a function of sending a message to the designated employee along with the transfer of coins. This function sends a message created by the customer using sentences, fixed phrases, emoticons, etc., that the customer determines at his/her discretion, via the management server 3.

The third-party terminal 8 includes an identification information update means 28 and a viewing means 29. The identification information update means 28 can execute a process to confirm or update the identification information of a third party by starting the application software and accessing the management server 3. The viewing means 29 can execute a process to view the identification information of an employee by accessing the management server 3.

Next, the process flow of the employee motivation system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
As described above, the identification information of the employer, employees, and customers is registered in the database 4 of the employee motivation system 1. Here, the identification information of the employer is registered in the database 4 by the employer operating his/her own employer terminal 5 to create an account (ID) for accessing the management server 3. Similarly, the identification information of the employee is registered in the database 4 by the employee operating his/her own employee terminal 6 to create an account (ID) for accessing the management server 3. Meanwhile, the identification information of the customer is registered in the database 4 by creating an account (ID) when the customer accesses the management server 3 from the customer terminal 7 using an optical readable code when visiting the store.

When an instruction to distribute coins is input by the employer's operation, the employer terminal 5 transmits the instruction to the management server 3 (coin distribution instruction transmission). When the management server 3 receives this instruction from the employer terminal 5, it executes a process to count the number of coins held by each customer using the identification information in the database 4 (coin distribution process). Through this process, coins are distributed and stored in the identification information of each customer. Then, when the coin distribution process is executed, information indicating that coins have been acquired is transmitted to the customer terminal 7 of each customer (coin acquisition information transmission process). In this embodiment, as described above, the timing and validity period of coin distribution, the number of coins to be distributed (for example, one per customer), the reward amount per coin, etc. are preset and stored in the setting information storage unit 12 of the database 4. The management server 3 executes the coin distribution process according to this information.

When the customer terminal 7 receives the coin acquisition information from the management server 3, the customer terminal 7 displays the coin acquisition information to inform the customer. Then, by accessing the management server 3 with the customer terminal 7, the customer can view his/her own identification information and confirm the possession of the coin. In addition, when the customer has the coin, the customer can operate the input process to transfer the coin to an employee (coin transfer input process). In this process, an employee is designated based on the employee's identification information viewed by the customer through access to the management server 3, and the transfer of the coin to the designated employee is decided. Then, when the employee is designated and the transfer of the coin is decided, information to transfer the coin to the employee is transmitted to the management server 3 (coin transfer instruction transmission process). In this way, the customer can operate the customer terminal 7 to transfer the distributed coin to a designated employee as a tip (gratuity). This coin is stored in the customer's identification information in the database 4 (counted in the number of coins held), and is not subject to payment of reward, and cannot be exchanged by the customer for money, goods, or services. In other words, the coins in this embodiment are stored in the customer's identification information and are not convertible into cash. For this reason, customers can only use the coins as tips to give to employees.

In addition, the customer terminal 7 can input a message to the employee along with the transfer of the coins through the coin transfer input process. When a message is input, it is sent to the management server 3 together with the coin transfer information through the coin transfer instruction sending process. Here, the message may be one that is created arbitrarily by the customer, or may be one that is selected from a number of predetermined standard phrases, emoticons, etc.

When the management server 3 receives coin transfer information from the customer terminal 7, it performs a process of subtracting coins from the identification information of the customer who sent the information, and a process of adding coins to the identification information of the employee specified in the information (coin transfer process). Each time a coin is added, the accumulated number of coins is counted in the employee's identification information. Here, by adding a coin to the employee's identification information, the coin becomes eligible for remuneration payment, as described below. In other words, when a coin is transferred from the customer's identification information to the employee's identification information, it is converted into something that can be converted into cash.

Furthermore, in conjunction with the coin transfer process, the management server 3 performs a process of sending information indicating that the coins have been acquired from the customer, and the message obtained from the customer, to the employee terminal 6 of the employee specified in the transfer information from the customer terminal 7 (sending coin acquisition information). The management server 3 also stores the transfer of coins from the customer's identification information to the employee's identification information. This allows the employer to accurately know the flow of coins by accessing the management server 3.

When the employee terminal 6 receives the coin acquisition information from the management server 3, it displays the acquisition information and notifies the employee. Then, by accessing the management server 3 with the employee terminal 6, the employee can view his/her own identification information and confirm the acquisition of the coin and the customer information of the person who transferred the coin (the identification information of the customer who transferred the coin). Furthermore, when the employee terminal 6 receives a customer message from the management server 3 together with the coin acquisition information, it notifies the employee of the message. Meanwhile, when the employee operates the employee terminal 6 to input a message addressed to the customer who transferred the coin, it sends the message to the management server 3 (message transmission).

When the predetermined condition is met (when the coin provision condition is met), the management server 3 checks the identification information of each employee and performs a process of subtracting coins from the identification information of the employee who has acquired coins (coin subtraction process). In conjunction with this process, the management server 3 performs a process of sending a payment instruction for the remuneration allocated to the coin to the employer terminal 5, and a process of sending information on the execution of the remuneration payment instruction to the employee terminal 6 (remuneration payment instruction transmission). When the employer terminal 5 receives a remuneration payment instruction from the management server 3, it notifies the employer of the instruction. As a result, the employer performs the remuneration payment procedure, and the remuneration is paid to the employee. Meanwhile, when the employee terminal 6 receives the information on the remuneration payment instruction, it notifies the information. As a result, the employee can know that the remuneration will be paid and that the acquired coins have been used up.

When the management server 3 receives the message addressed to a customer from the employee terminal 6, it performs a process of sending the message to the customer terminal 7 of that customer (message sending process). When the customer terminal 7 receives this message, it notifies the customer of the message. In this way, messages can be exchanged between the customer terminal 7 and the employee terminal 6 via the management server 3 in conjunction with the transfer of coins from a customer to an employee.

On the other hand, the third party terminal 8 can access the management server 3 and register the identification information of the third party to view the employee information (FIG. 3). More specifically, the registered third party terminal 8 accesses the management server 3 and requests to view the employee information. When the management server 3 receives a view request from the third party terminal 8, it makes the predetermined employee information viewable on the third party terminal 8. This allows the third party to view the employee information on the third party terminal 8. Here, in this embodiment, the employee information viewable on the third party terminal 8 is limited to basic profile information such as the employee's name (or nickname) and photo (or portrait), and the above-mentioned information on the accumulated number of coins. In this way, in this embodiment, the third party can view the employee and the accumulated number of coins corresponding to the employee's evaluation by operating the third party terminal 8.

As described above, the employee motivation system 1 of this embodiment allows an employee to receive a reward assigned to a non-cash coin distributed by an employer to a customer by transferring the non-cash coin from the customer to the employee, and the coin corresponds to a tip given by the customer to the employee. In this manner, in the configuration of this embodiment, the coin reward paid by the employer is the coin given by the customer, so the employee can receive the coin reward as an evaluation by the customer. This can improve the employee's value of the coin reward, and can effectively improve the employee's motivation for work. Furthermore, such customer evaluation can improve the employee's autonomy in work, which can contribute to reducing the employee turnover rate. In particular, if coins are transferred from multiple customers or multiple times by the same customer, the effect of improving employee motivation and reducing the turnover rate can be significantly improved. On the other hand, since the employer can evaluate the employee through the customer by the distributed coins, there is an advantage in that the employee can be evaluated fairly.

In the configuration of this embodiment, the coins (tips) are funded by the employer's funds and, because they are not convertible into cash, have no direct value to customers other than those given to employees. This makes it easier for customers to give coins (tips) to employees, which in turn stimulates the flow of customers giving coins to employees, and the effects of this embodiment described above can be achieved more stably.

In addition, the configuration of this embodiment allows customers to send messages along with the transfer of coins, and further allows employees who receive coins to send messages to customers. This allows customers to convey their gratitude and goodwill to employees, and by receiving messages from employees, they can feel a personal connection with employees and are more likely to feel happy. This can stimulate customers' desire to visit the store in search of even more happiness, and also has the excellent advantage of making it easier for them to transfer coins to employees again. On the other hand, the coins and messages received from customers can remind employees of the sense of being noticed and supported by the customers. By experiencing such a close and real relationship with customers, the employees' desire for recognition is stimulated, and they are more likely to feel happy and fulfilled. By exchanging messages in addition to transferring coins in this way, it can contribute to further improving the effects of the present invention described above.

In addition, the configuration of this embodiment allows employee information to be viewed by third parties, ensuring transparency in the process of transferring coins from customers to employees. And by being able to view each employee's accumulated coin count, it is possible to stimulate third parties' interest in the employees, which is expected to attract new customers. Furthermore, it is expected that it will stimulate the desire to work with employees who have a large accumulated coin count, which has the excellent advantage of contributing to an increase in new employment and the securing of excellent human resources. On the other hand, it is also possible to motivate employees to actively work on days and times when they have more opportunities to come into contact with new customers, which has the advantage that it becomes easier for employers to arrange employee work shifts.

In the configuration of the present embodiment described above, the communication network 2 corresponds to the network according to the present invention, and the database 4 corresponds to the employee information storage means according to the present invention. The information providing means 16 of the management server 3 corresponds to the employee information providing means according to the present invention. The coin transfer means 17 of the management server 3 corresponds to the coin counting means according to the present invention. The employee information confirmation means 26 and designated transfer means 27 of the customer terminal 7 correspond to the designated providing means according to the present invention. In addition, the coin acquisition information (information indicating that coins have been acquired) transmitted from the management server 3 to the customer terminal 7 corresponds to the non-cashable coin information according to the present invention. The coin transfer information (information to transfer coins to employees) transmitted from the customer terminal 7 corresponds to the coin information addressed to employees according to the present invention.

The employee motivation system 1 of Example 2 has a function that allows an employee who has acquired coins from a customer to transfer the coins to another employee. Note that the configuration of Example 2 is the same as that of Example 1 described above, except for the function that allows employees to transfer coins to each other, so the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and their explanations are omitted as appropriate.

As shown in FIG. 5, the employee terminal 6 of the second embodiment is equipped with an employee-to-employee providing means 31 that transmits information to transfer coins to another designated employee. The employee terminal 6 can send and receive messages between employees using the message sending means 24. This allows a message to be sent to the employee to whom coins are to be transferred when coins are transferred, and a message to the employee from whom coins are transferred when they are transferred. Here, the message sending means 24 has the function of allowing such messages between employees to be created with sentences, standard phrases, emoticons, etc. that employees decide at their own discretion, as in the first embodiment described above, and sending the messages via the management server 3.

The coin transfer means 17 of the management server 3 also has a function of transferring coins to an employee specified in the coin transfer information sent from the employee terminal 6, according to the coin transfer information. This moves the coins stored in the identification information of the employee who sent the coin transfer information to the identification information of the specified employee and stores them there. Then, information indicating that the coins have been acquired is sent to the employee terminal 6 of the specified employee.

A flow of transferring coins between employees in the employee motivation system 1 of the second embodiment will be described.
As in the first embodiment described above, when the management server 3 receives coin transfer information from the customer terminal 7, it subtracts the coins from the customer's identification information and adds the coins to the identification information of the employee to whom the coins are to be transferred, and then transmits the coin acquisition information to the employee terminal 6 of that employee. The coin acquisition information is then displayed on the employee terminal 6.

In this manner, an employee who holds a coin can transfer the coin to another employee. As shown in FIG. 6, the employee operates the employee terminal 6 to designate another employee based on the employee's identification information viewed by accessing the management server 3, and to decide to transfer the coin to the designated employee. Then, information indicating the employee designation and the transfer of the coin is sent to the management server 3. Note that if an employee holds multiple coins, the employee can arbitrarily set the number of coins to be transferred, and can also designate multiple employees to transfer.

When the management server 3 receives coin transfer information from the employee terminal 6, it performs a process of subtracting coins from the identification information of the employee who sent the information, and a process of adding coins to the identification information of the employee specified in the information. It then performs a process of sending information indicating that the coins have been obtained from the employee, and the message obtained from the employee, to the employee terminal 6 of the employee specified in the transfer information. The management server 3 also stores this movement of coins between employees. This allows the employer to accurately know the flow of coins between employees by accessing the management server 3.

The employee terminal 6, which receives the coin acquisition information from the management server 3, displays the acquisition information. This allows the employee to know the acquisition of the coin and the employee information of the employee who transferred the coin. This information can also be confirmed by accessing the management server 3 with the employee terminal 6. Furthermore, when the employee terminal 6 receives a message from the transferring employee along with the coin acquisition information, it notifies the employee of the message. Meanwhile, when the employee operates the employee terminal 6 to enter a message addressed to the employee who transferred the coin, the employee terminal 6 sends the message to the management server 3. This message is then sent to the transferring employee terminal 6 via the management server 3.

In addition, in this embodiment, coins transferred from one employee can be further transferred to another employee, and coins can be transferred between employees multiple times. This transfer process is also performed in the same way as the transfer of coins acquired from a customer to another employee described above.

In addition, even if a coin has been transferred between employees in this way, when the date on which the above-mentioned conditions are met arrives, the reward allocated to the coin will be paid to the employee who owns the coin. This payment process is the same as the process for paying rewards for coins transferred from customers (coin subtraction process and reward payment instruction process).

As described above, the employee motivation system 1 of Example 2 allows employees to transfer coins acquired from customers to other employees, thereby improving the motivation of the employee to whom the coins are transferred. In particular, if the coins are transferred from an employee who acquires coins from many customers (a so-called charismatic employee), the motivation of the employee to whom the coins are transferred can be dramatically improved. Furthermore, by transferring coins between employees, the bonds between employees can be strengthened, which can improve the effect of reducing turnover. Meanwhile, by checking the flow of coins, employers can learn how employees evaluate each other, allowing them to evaluate employees more fairly.

Furthermore, the configuration of Example 2, like Example 1 described above, involves the transfer of coins from customers to employees, and therefore provides the same effects as Example 1.

The employee motivation system 1 of Example 3 has a function of distributing non-cashable temporary coins from the employer to the employee and enabling the temporary coins to be transferred to other employees. Note that the configuration of Example 3 is the same as that of Example 1 described above, except for the function of distributing temporary coins from the employer to the employee and the function of enabling the temporary coins to be transferred between employees, so the same components are denoted with the same reference numerals and their explanations are omitted.

In this embodiment 3, the coin distribution means 15 of the management server 3 has a process for distributing temporary coins to employees in response to instructions sent from the employer terminal 5. This distribution process is performed by counting the number of temporary coins held by each employee in the identification information of all employees to whom temporary coins have been distributed in the database 4. Here, the temporary coins in this embodiment indicate coins that cannot be converted into cash, and are processed separately from coins that are the subject of rewards (coins that can be converted into cash). In addition, the coin distribution means 15 transmits information indicating that the temporary coins have been acquired to the employee terminal 6 of each employee to whom the temporary coins have been distributed. Note that the distribution of these temporary coins is also performed as an internal process of the management server 3, just like the coins described above.

The coin transfer means 17 of the management server 3 has a function of converting temporary coins into coins according to temporary coin transfer information transmitted from the employee terminal 6 and transferring them to the employee specified in the information. This transfer and conversion function is performed by subtracting the number of temporary coins held stored in the identification information of the employee who transmitted the temporary coin transfer information, and counting the number of coins held stored in the identification information of the specified employee. Then, information indicating that coins have been acquired from another employee is transmitted to the employee terminal 6 of the specified employee.

As shown in FIG. 5, the employee terminal 6 of Example 3 is equipped with an employee-to-employee providing means 31. The employee-to-employee providing means 31 of Example 3 executes a process of transmitting information for the transfer of temporary coins by designating another employee. The employee terminal 6 can send and receive messages between employees using the message sending means 24. This allows a message to be sent to the employee to whom the temporary coins are to be transferred when transferring the temporary coins, and a message to the employee from whom the coins are transferred when they are transferred. Here, the message sending means 24 can be created by the employee using sentences, standard phrases, emoticons, etc. that are arbitrarily determined by the employee, as in Examples 1 and 2 described above.

A flow of transferring the provisional coins distributed to employees between employees in the employee motivation system 1 of the third embodiment will be described.
7, when an instruction to distribute temporary coins (non-cashable coins) to employees is input by the employer, the employer terminal 5 transmits the instruction to the management server 3. When the employee to whom the temporary coins are to be distributed is specified, the employee information of the recipient of the temporary coins is included in the distribution instruction and transmitted. The employer terminal 5 can also transmit an instruction to distribute coins to customers, as in the first embodiment described above.

When the management server 3 receives an instruction to distribute the temporary coins from the employer terminal 5, it executes a process to count the number of temporary coins held by each employee using the identification information in the database 4. Through this process, the temporary coins are distributed and stored in the identification information of each employee. Along with this, information indicating that the temporary coins have been acquired is sent to the employee terminal 6 of each employee. Here, if an employee to whom the temporary coins are to be distributed is specified, the temporary coins are distributed only to the specified employee. Note that even for these temporary coins, the distribution time, validity period, number of distributions, etc. are preset.

When the employee terminal 6 receives information about the acquisition of the temporary coin from the management server 3, it displays the information about the acquisition of the temporary coin to notify the customer. Then, by accessing the management server 3 with the employee terminal 6, the employee can view the employee's own identification information and confirm the possession of the temporary coin. Here, the employee terminal 6 notifies the possession of the temporary coin, distinguishing it from coins that can be acquired from the customer terminal 7 described above. This allows the employee to correctly distinguish between non-cash temporary coins and cashable coins.

In this state where an employee has a temporary coin, the employee can operate the employee terminal 6 to execute an input process to transfer the temporary coin to another employee. In this process, the employee accesses the management server 3 and views the identification information of the other employee, and designates the other employee, and decides to transfer the temporary coin to the designated employee. Once the other employee has been designated and the transfer of the temporary coin has been decided, information on the transfer of the coin to the employee is sent to the management server 3. An employee who has been given a temporary coin in this way can designate another employee and transfer the temporary coin by operating the employee terminal 6. Note that the temporary coin is not convertible into cash as mentioned above, and is therefore not eligible for payment of reward. Therefore, an employee who has been given a temporary coin can only use it to transfer the temporary coin to another employee.

Furthermore, when a temporary coin is transferred, the employee terminal 6 can send a message to the employee to whom the temporary coin is transferred. This message is sent to the management server 3 together with the temporary coin transfer information.

When the management server 3 receives temporary coin transfer information from the employee terminal 6, it performs a process of subtracting the number of temporary coins held from the identification information of the employee who sent the information, and a process of adding coins to the identification information of the other employee specified in the information. Through these processes of subtracting and adding temporary coins, the non-convertible temporary coins are converted into convertible coins. In addition, in conjunction with these processes, the management server 3 performs a process of sending information indicating that coins have been obtained from an employee, and the message obtained from the employee, to the employee terminal 6 of the other employee specified in the temporary coin transfer information. Furthermore, the management server 3 stores this movement of coins between employees. This allows the employer to accurately know the flow of coins between employees by accessing the management server 3.

The employee terminal 6, which receives the coin acquisition information from the management server 3, displays the acquisition information. This allows the employee to know the acquisition of the coin and the employee information of the employee who transferred the coin. This information can also be confirmed by accessing the management server 3 with the employee terminal 6. Furthermore, when the employee terminal 6 receives a message from the transferring employee along with the coin acquisition information, it notifies the employee of the message. Meanwhile, when the employee operates the employee terminal 6 to input a message addressed to the employee who transferred the coin, the employee terminal 6 sends the message to the management server 3. This message is then sent to the transferring employee terminal 6 via the management server 3.

Even if the coin is a conversion of a provisional coin in this way, when the above-mentioned condition is met, the reward allocated to the coin will be paid to the employee who owns the coin. This payment process is the same as the process of paying the reward for the coin transferred from the customer (coin subtraction process and reward payment instruction process).

As described above, the employee motivation system 1 of the third embodiment is a system in which temporary coins (non-redeemable) distributed by an employer to an employee are transferred from the employee to another employee, whereby the temporary coins are converted into convertible coins, and the other employee can receive the coins as a reward. This configuration can improve the motivation of the employee to whom the coins are transferred. In particular, if the coins are transferred from an employee who is popular with many customers and other employees (a so-called charismatic employee) or an employee who is a workplace leader, the motivation of the employee to whom the coins are transferred can be dramatically improved. In addition, by transferring coins between employees, the connection between employees can be strengthened, which can improve the effect of reducing the turnover rate. Meanwhile, the employer can know the evaluations of each employee by checking the flow of coins, and can evaluate employees more fairly.

The configuration of Example 3, like Example 1 described above, transfers coins from customers to employees, and therefore provides the same effects as Example 1.

In the configuration of the above-mentioned embodiment 3, the coin distribution means 15 of the management server 3 corresponds to the employee distribution means of the present invention. The temporary coin acquisition information (information indicating that a temporary coin has been acquired) transmitted from the management server 3 to the employee terminal 6 corresponds to the non-cashable coin information of the present invention.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned Examples 1 to 3, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, Examples 1 to 3 are intended for use in restaurants and shops, but are not limited thereto, and can also be used in accommodation facilities such as hotels, transportation facilities such as railways and airplanes, entertainment facilities such as theaters and sports facilities, facilities for legal professionals such as lawyers, or corporate offices.

In the first to third embodiments, a payment instruction for the coin reward is issued every month (coin provision condition), but this is not limited to this and the coin provision condition for issuing a payment instruction can be changed as appropriate. For example, it can be set to every period of one week or three months, or when a certain number of unpaid coins (e.g., three or five) have accumulated. Furthermore, a payment instruction may be issued in response to a request from an employee.

In the first to third embodiments, the information on acquired coins is transmitted and received between the management server, employee terminal, and customer terminal, but this is not limiting, and coins (data) may be transmitted and received. In this case, the coins (data) correspond to the coin information of the present invention. Similarly, in the third embodiment, virtual coins (data) may be transmitted and received between the management server and employee terminal.

In the first embodiment, the coin stored in the customer identification information is non-convertible, and the coin stored in the employee identification information is convertible, but this is not limited thereto. As in the third embodiment, a provisional coin may be stored in the customer identification information, and the provisional coin may be converted into a convertible coin when it is stored in the employee identification information.

In the second embodiment, the coins can be transferred between employees multiple times, but the present invention is not limited to this and a maximum number of times that the coins can be transferred between employees can be set. For example, only coins acquired from customers can be transferred to other employees, and coins acquired from one employee cannot be transferred to another employee.

In Example 2, the coins transferred from the customer are transferred to other employees, but this is not limiting. Example 2 may also be supplemented with a configuration (Example 3) in which temporary coins are distributed by the employer to employees and can be transferred to other employees.

In the third embodiment, the temporary coins distributed by the employer are transferred to other employees, but the transferred coins can also be made transferable to other employees. In this case, it is possible to set a maximum number of times the coins can be transferred, or to make them non-returnable to the original employee.

In the first to third embodiments, non-cash coins distributed to customers by employers are transferred from the customers to employees, but in addition to this, a configuration may be adopted in which customers can purchase the coins themselves. In this configuration, customers can transfer to employees not only coins distributed by their employers, but also coins that they have purchased themselves.

1. Employee Motivation System 2. Communication Network (Network)
3 Management server 4 Database (employee information storage means)
5 Employer terminal 6 Employee terminal 7 Customer terminal 8 Third party terminal 15 Coin distribution means 16 Information providing means (employee information providing means)
17 Coin transfer means (coin counting means)
26 Employee information individual means (designated provision means)
27 Designated transfer instruments (designated provision instruments)
31 Means of provision between employees

Claims (2)

A management server is provided so as to be connectable via a network to employee terminals operated by employees who provide products and/or services to customers at a store, accommodation facility, transport facility, entertainment facility, professional facility, or office, and to customer terminals operated by customers who use the store, accommodation facility, transport facility, entertainment facility, professional facility, or office, and which executes a predetermined operation according to instructions input by an employer who employs the employees,
an employee information storage means for storing employee identification information for identifying said employees;
an employee information providing means for transmitting the employee identification information selected by the management server from the employee information storage means to the customer terminal in response to a request from the customer terminal;
a coin distribution means for transmitting non-cashable coin information to the customer terminal by the management server in accordance with an instruction input by the employer;
a customer terminal that receives the non-cashable coin information is capable of transmitting the coin information only to the employee, and the customer terminal is provided with a designated providing means that, by operation of the customer, designates an employee and transmits the coin information to the employee;
When a predetermined coin provision condition is met, a predetermined reward is provided from the employer to the employee based on the coin information addressed to the employee transmitted by the designated provision means ;
Furthermore, the management server
a coin counting means for counting the coin information transmitted from the customer terminal by the designated providing means for each employee and storing the counted cumulative number of coins in the employee's identification information;
When the coin provision condition is met and a predetermined reward is provided from the employer to the employee, the number of coins held by the employee is reduced,
A terminal of a third party other than the employee and the employer is connected to the management server via a network, so that the accumulated number of coins corresponding to the employee's evaluation can be viewed on the terminal of the third party using the employee's identification information, and the number of coins owned by the employee that is deducted when the coin provision condition is met and a predetermined reward is provided from the employer to the employee is excluded from the number that can be viewed on the terminal of the third party.
An employee motivation system comprising: The employee motivation system as described in claim 1, characterized in that the employee terminal which obtains the coin information by the designated provision means is equipped with an employee-to-employee provision means which, when operated by the employee, designates another employee and transmits the coin information to that other employee.

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