In today’s world, the companies who are staying ahead of the curve are moving a greater amount of resources and budget to bolstering the engagement of their employees through innovative rewards program solutions. Properly designed employee rewards programs wrapped around existing business objectives can serve as a useful tool in inspiring your employees.
Recognize Your Employees - showing appreciation for employees who excel in their performance or stand out in the crowd can yield dramatic returns. When the appropriate recognition is extended, such as direct from a manager, the employees feel the value they bring to the table, while inspiring those around the employee to perform at their best as well.
Offer The Right Reward - who are we to determine what is best to give someone who performs at their best as a reward. Make sure you give them the option to choose for themselves. Perhaps give them something to work for. For example, perhaps a particular employee would like to get a certain handbag they have been eying in the department store for quite some time. Each time they achieve their goals in the office, reward them points. The employee is more likely to repeat the positive behavior to accumulate more points to eventually redeem for that handbag.
The key to retaining your valuable employees is in showing proper appreciation. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to outperform even themselves.
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We all get it…every company is just working as hard as they can to save money. One strategy that has been getting bigger press recently seems to be in the department of customer rewards and loyalty programs. Just 10 years ago, it seemed as if a customer could take their 20,000 air miles points and fly from New York over to Hawaii. It seems now that 20,000 air miles won’t even get your bag it fly for free (antidotally - of course).
There seems to be a lot more work on the side of customers (and $$ spent) to earn any type of reward what-so-ever. Some hotels, even are upping the number of reward points needed for a complimentary night’s stay by as much as 22 percent from last year.
It’s important for those companies who are considering to implement a loyalty program into their consumer strategies to avoid making the entire program so confusing and expensive to the end user, that they are turned off by the entire program and leave.
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Earlier this spring, the non profit organization WorldatWork, reported on their findings of a survey dealing with employee recognition programs. They surveyed about 5,600 members across the US, and Canada, and measured their responses to their views as to where the trends are going with regards to employee recognition.
Of the 677 members who responded to the survey, WorldatWork reported that over 80% of their employers offered one or more type of employee recognition programs within the last 2 years.
With a median program budget 1% of payroll between the employers, over 50% of surveyed members responded that they felt their recognition programs had a positive impact on employee recognition, motivation, and engagement. Retention, however, feel short at only 42% of respondents indicating a positive shift.
No matter what your budgets may be, its important to remember that just by offering any type of recognition to your employees will have a positive impact on your workforce.
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Over the past several years, many companies in the US have seen dramatic increases in the ROI of their existing wellness programs. Much of the success can be attributed to a well designed health and wellness incentive program interwoven into the corporate culture.
Smart companies are realizing that overlaying an incentive program solution onto your existing wellness program not only engages employees with an increased program participation, but saves a huge amount of money in health care expenses due to a healthier workforce.
For health & wellness programs to be optimized, companies must celebrate with their employees for achieving their goals through exciting experiences and meaningful rewards.
One idea is to implement an activity tracker where employees may list the specific goals they would like to achieve for themselves against a period of time. Perhaps a group of employees wishes to stop smoking within the next several months. They may set a date within the tracker as to when they would like to be ’smoke free’ and monitor how they are doing along the way. If they achieve their goal, you as the employer should celebrate with them by offering a reward.
No mater how large or small the incentives that are tied to healthy goal achievements are, its important to create a culture of engagement and celebration for employees wanting to live a well rounded lifestyle.
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Recognizing your employees can come in a variety of different forms from informal peer ‘thank you’s’, to team performance, to mystery shops, to manager spot awards. Whatever the form may be, it’s important to have at least some kind of employee recognition program woven into your corporate culture these days. Studies have shown that what employees value most about their current work environment is:
- Their work is interesting and valuable to the overall company
- They feel appreciated for the work that they do
- They feel included as part of the ‘corporate family’
According to many of the top executives at today’s Fortune 100 ‘Best Companies to Work For in America’, they all regard recognizing the value and importance of those who work for them” the keys to their success.
Let’s face it, everyone is working harder these days by definition; accomplish more with less. This being said, it’s never been more important to keep your employees engaged through constant recognition and rewards.
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Perhaps one of the most talked about topics in current events has been the ever rising cost of health care in America. According to the National Health Statistics Group, “expenditure in the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990″. With health care costs rising even steeper, today’s top companies are getting creative on ways of keeping their workforce healthy - by offering rewards.
Many companies are now offering an incentives to compliment their existing health & wellness programs. For participating in a wellness incentive program, employees are more motivated to set goals for themselves, and taking positive steps in leading a healthier, more active lifestyle. In accomplishing their targets, employees are celebrated and rewarded by the company they work for.
The truth is in the numbers. According to a study by Brigham Young University, researchers found that employees who participate in health & wellness incentive programs miss fewer workdays, equating to “a cost savings of nearly $16 for each dollar spent on the program”. Further, the Wellness Management Information Center adds that “he percentage of companies successfully measuring ROI for health and wellness programs has “sharply increased” over the years, from 14 percent in 2007 to 73 percent in 2009″. The end result is a healthier, happier employees, with a dramatic increase in ROI.
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As the Dow fell dramatically again this week, and the US sits on the brink of another recession, many companies are struggling with what to do next. Last year, the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) posted a resource article online about engaging employees for economic recovery. One year later, the words still ring true.
As more companies are tightening their financial belts in an effort to stockpile as much savings, its important to not cut employee recognition and rewards program initiatives out of the budget. ”A recent Saratoga Institute study showed that poor communication and a lack of recognition are the top reasons why good people left their organizations.” Simply stated, rock star employees who remain unengaged now, will quickly leave your company the first sign of improvement.
Incentive Marketing Association estimates that as much as “85 percent of a company’s total assets are created by its investment in human capital, it is even more critical - in a post-recessionary economy - to engage every employee in the long-term success of the company.
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International sandwich shop, Pret a Manger, has recently been ripping up the newswires about their creative style in making their customers happier - by engaging their employees. The executives at Pret have discovered that the happier their employees are, they happier their customers will be.
Fully embracing a culture of engagement, Pret has cultivated an ‘out-of-the-box’ environment where pay scale, promotions, hiring practices are based more on ‘cheerfulness’, and how the employee treats customers on the ground level. The sandwich shop has implemented a rewards program that associates scores from ‘mystery shoppers’ and completion of training courses, as milestones with a reward. Even the top executives are getting involved by handing out ‘Wow’ cards to employees on-the-spot. Each card has a scratch-of reward, such as $10, or on up to a new iPhone.
You can read more about how Pret a Manger utilizes employee engagement by reading the article, ‘Would You Like a Smile With That?‘ posted in the New York Times.
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In an online survey conducted by SHRM in 2010, over 1,000 HR professionals from top companies around the US gave their opinions on the state of employee recognition. Results concluded that “nearly 6 out of 10 HR professionals say top management fails to make recognition a priority, and only 38 percent say top managers are very involved in employee recognition.”
So why such dismal numbers? Part of the problem is top management must first understand the significance of employee recognition before a corporate cultural shift can be made. Executives are concerned about expenses, (as they should), however, all too often the toll a disengaged workforce can take on the bottom line is far greater.
It’s important, then to build a strong business case of how implementing a well designed employee recognition and rewards program might seem expensive to implement, will actually save the company money in the long term, with returns of happy employees, greater productivity, and lower turnover.
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In a recent online video, Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman sat down with the Wall Street Journal and talked about how they foster an engaging workplace environment by allowing their employees to be creative, and rewarding them for doing so.
Harrah’s is one of the largest casino gaming corporations in the world with their doors open 24/7 to customers. Being in the service industry, employees interact directly with customers constantly. If an employee is unhappy with their company, it shows. In an effort to keep employees engaged, Gary believes in a well executed employee rewards program
Tangible Rewards - The first prong centers around a systemic approach that measures every category in the effort of their employees and then giving them a reward ‘that’s based on enhancements in measured guest service’. In total, Harrah’s ‘has handed out over $120 M in cash or merchandise benefits to employees who have succeeded in improving service.
Intangible Recognition - Harrah’s also gathers valuable feedback from customers on how their employees are doing and how certain situations are handled, and personally recognizes those exemplary employees from the top.
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