Awards Network Blog

Top Ten Ways to Teach Recognition from the Top Down, Part Two

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:31:49 -0600

Last week I covered the first five tips from IncentiveMag.com's article on how to teach recognition from the top down and this week I will examine the last 5 tips and provide more insight and advice to make sure your company's recognition program is a lasting success.

(The italicized text is from the IncentiveMag.com article with my comments below)

6. Don't implement recognition practices or programs alone. Create a well-oiled, brainy team that's prepared to make bold actions to ensure continuity of recognition strategies and programs.

By establishing a recognition program committee, responsibility for the long term success of the program is spread across several employees. Recognition committees are better able to manage and monitor a recognition award program because they are more insulated from turnover as opposed to having an entire program be administered by a single employee.

Unfortunately a couple of the recognition programs I have administered fall by the wayside temporarily when the person in charge of the program suddenly leaves the company. Often the person who replaces a key recognition program administrator has to take on a lot of information at once which can be overwhelming to a newly hired employee.

For small businesses, it is common to have a single employee in charge of the recognition program. However, by simply outlining the recognition program goals and the steps the administrator to gather information for reporting purposes, not only can small business insulate themselves from issues related to turnover, but they can also ensure employees are recognized while the administrator is on vacation.

7. Don't exclude senior leaders from accountability for recognition. Pull back the curtain and enlist senior leadership involvement and presence in recognition programs and award events.

For paper-based recognition award programs, including a personalized letter from a senior leader in a recognition package is a great way to show that the gift is truly from the top down. Alternatively, if you have a completely online recognition program, post the letter from a top leader of the company for employees to view when they log in to redeem their recognition award. Personalized recognition letters lend credibility and relevance to the recognition program, especially when they are written by a top leader.

8. Don't leave your recognition strategy without a leader. Following the right recognition path requires a recognition team having an executive sponsor along with manager and employee representation.

Another way to increase the credibility and relevance of the recognition program is to appoint an executive level employee, a mid-level manager and an employee to the recognition committee. Gathering input from employees at all levels of the organization will help to establish the recognition program and also comes in handy when it comes time to re-evaluate the program each year. Over time as an organization's environment changes, the recognition program should evolve too.

9. Don't ignore individual recognition preferences among employees. Recognize employees through providing knowledge, instilling courage in career development, and aligning their passion with work purpose beyond using company-wide recognition programs.

Individual preferences for public or private recognition and opportunities for career development and advancement should be accounted for in the recognition strategy in order to create and sustain employee engagement. The recognition program committee can help to provide some insight into what kinds of mentoring and training activities would be most appreciated by employees.

In addition, don't forget that employee demographics need to be taken into consideration when selecting the types of recognition awards that will be included in the staff recognition program. Lifestyle, brand name merchandise has been shown to be the most appealing kind of tangible recognition award for members of any demographic. A survey by AEIS indicated that 63% of employees feel their loyalty to an organization would increase if their employer offered recognition awards that they find personally meaningful.

10. Don't discount the fact there is no place like home. Recognition best practices from other companies are great to look at, but don't overlook developing your own homegrown recognition practices and programs.

Consulting employees and creating a formal staff recognition committee is an excellent way to ensure your recognition program is specifically designed for the interests and goals of your organization. Gather employee feedback and expectations prior to committing the organization to one type of recognition program. Employee feedback should be taken into consideration when it comes time to re-evaluate the recognition award program as well.

By taking these tips into consideration when planning or re-evaluating your recognition program, you are ensuring that everyone in the organization understands how to recognize and award employees, thus making the program have a greater impact on the bottom line. Increase employee engagement by planning your recognition strategy today.

Top Ten Ways to Teach Recognition from the Top Down, Part One

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:20:36 -0600

I came across an article featured on IncentiveMag.com last month that discussed how to teach recognition from the top down and I would like to expand on the author's points and provide some insight on how each tip can be applied to an employee recognition program over the next two weeks.

(The italicized text is from the IncentiveMag.com article with my comments below)

1. Don't hide your recognition strategy. Make your recognition philosophy, purpose, and plans known through your town hall meetings, e-mail blasts, and intranet.

Depending on how an organization is structured and employee demographics, promoting a recognition program can be done a number of ways. Printed materials such as posters can be displayed in the company lounge and letters or statements can be mailed or individually handed to employees to communicate the staff recognition strategy or philosophy.

On the other hand, recognition websites can also keep employees informed and provide a space online where employees can be recognized. For the clients I have in call center environments, or other workplaces where the staff is familiar with computers and has computer access on the job, employee recognition websites serve as a central hub of recognition activity and communication.

Keeping employees informed on what activities they can do to earn recognition and how and when they will be awarded is vital to a recognition program's importance to employees and its long term success.

2. Don't have employees guess how to recognize people. Create clear recognition policies if they don't already exist and review them from time to time in management meetings.

There are many reasons clients of mine award and recognize employees and over time these reasons change. Recognition awards are commonly given to employees who reach anniversary milestones, meet/exceed budget guidelines, reach job-specific objectives and make safety achievements among other reasons.

Many times companies will keep recognition award cards on hand so that employees can be recognized on the spot for the above reasons and are presented with a stylish card that has award ordering instructions on the back side and the company logo or design on the opposite side.

3. Don't send people down the wrong road. Establish clear and measurable objectives for your employee recognition practices, aligning them with your organizational culture.

Making sure employees understand exactly what is expected in order for recognition and/or an award to be given is vital to maintaining employee engagement. Employers can increase employee engagement by not only establishing goals for staff to pursue but also by explaining to employees exactly what steps to take in order to be recognized for achieving a program goal. Specific examples of what an employee did in order to earn a safety recognition award, for example, will help other employees understand what they can do to earn similar recognition.

4. Don't have recognition owned by one wizardly person or department. Encourage everyone to be responsible for giving each other recognition.

Peer to peer recognition programs have been gaining popularity in the past couple years as many organizations are realizing the impact of co-workers nominating and being nominated for recognition awards by fellow co-workers. Some of my clients also allow 360° recognition where anyone in an organization can nominate any employee for a staff recognition award regardless of his or her position or relationship with the employee.

5. Don't forget to count the costs of your recognition journey. Analyze recognition practices and outputs and correlate the impact on employee engagement.

By establishing benchmarks at the beginning of a recognition program and then evaluating the program's impact on a quarterly or annual basis, justifying the recognition program's budget is a much easier process. Organizations usually track metrics such as productivity, attendance and loyalty or retention rates and use these as their benchmarks to determine the recognition program's impact on employee engagement.

In addition, many of my clients ask me to prepare recognition award reporting to show whether or not employees are actually redeeming the awards they receive and also what kinds of gifts they are selecting. These award reports allow companies to evaluate the interest level in the program and also determine what kinds of recognition awards employees prefer.

Be sure to check back next week for the next 5 tips from IncentiveMag.com and more insights on their practical application in modern employee recognition award programs.

Recognition and Incentive Programs Motivate Employees in Multiple Industries, Part Three

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:50:59 -0600

For the past two weeks I have been discussing how recognition and incentive programs motivate employees in the healthcare and manufacturing industries. To conclude this series I will examine how employee award programs can motivate employees in the public utilities/municipality industry.

Part Three: Public Utility and Municipality Employee Award Programs

Government offices and public utility organizations often are looking for solutions to engage employees in an effort to increase employee loyalty. It is no wonder when one considers a recent Gallup poll showing actively disengaged workers cost employers $292 billion to $355 billion per year. In addition, the poll revealed that disengaged employees have an impact on absenteeism rates and overall employee retention rates.

Organizations in the public utility and government office industry search for ways to reduce costs such as employee recruiting, hiring and training expenses and combat overhead costs related to disengaged employees, low productivity and high absenteeism. Online and paper-based recognition programs are an excellent solution to these kinds of issues commonly experienced by public utilities and municipalities.

Both online and paper-based employee recognition programs can be started to serve a number of purposes. I have quite a few clients in this industry who reward employees as part of a peer to peer recognition, employee anniversary award, employee of the month, retirement award or safety recognition program.

A major concern for my clients in the public utility and municipality industry is keeping the employee award program within budget guidelines. I often hear that a client is trying to put as much of the award program budget as possible towards the actual merchandise awards that employees earn. By presenting employees with simple and elegant employee recognition packages and award ordering instructions, many of my clients are able to keep an average of 95% of their budget towards the actual recognition awards. With 14 price points ranging from $25 to $3500, many of my public utility and municipality clients are able to adjust the award program budget from year to year with much ease, allowing for flexibility in their award program budget.

I hear from my public utility and municipalities clients that although they are building employee loyalty with the employee award program, this loyalty often translates to improved customer retention in the long run. A 5% increase in customer retention can increase lifetime profits from a customer by 75%, according to the The Loyalty Effect ,by Frederick Reichheld.

When employees are recognized and rewarded for their hard work and dedication to an organization, costs due to absenteeism, high turnover and disengaged employees can be drastically reduced. With gifts to fit any budget, it has never been easier for public utilities and government offices to take advantage of employee award programs.

Over the course of this three part series I have presented the unique challenges of three different industries and how recognition and incentive programs can be a useful tool for managers in these industries to overcome their challenges once considered just an accepted part of doing business. What kinds of challenges has your employee award program helped your company overcome? I would love to hear your feedback.

Recognition and Incentive Programs Motivate Employees in Multiple Industries, Part Two

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:13:08 -0600

Last week I discussed how employee recognition programs can effectively motivate staff in the healthcare industry and I this week I would like to continue in this series by examining how award programs motivate employees in the manufacturing industry.

Part Two: Manufacturing Safety Award Programs

Safety compliance can be the difference between life and death for workers in the manufacturing industry and safety awareness and compliance is a major concern for manufacturers. The unsteady economy has been forcing manufacturers to find tools such as safety programs to reduce their costs. According to an article in Today's Facility Manager Magazine from May 2009, "A recent study by Liberty Mutual found that for every dollar spent on safety, facility managers can expect a $3 to $4 return on the $1 investment."

Clients of mine in the manufacturing industry have a wide array of safety-related objectives including: effectively reducing accidents, injuries and fatalities in the workplace, decreasing insurance premiums and absenteeism, increasing productivity and teamwork and boosting employee motivation. Depending on a client's goals and employee demographics, incorporating communication and safety training, safety quizzes, peer to peer safety recognition and motivational safety awards into an online safety program is an effective method for promoting safety at work.

Safety program websites can be coupled with printed safety program supplements, but many of my cost-conscious clients will avoid printed supplements in order to maximize their safety award budget. Online safety programs provide employees with access to the award catalog, program information and participant content from any location at any time. In addition, administrative access and safety program reporting is accessible for program administrators via the safety program website.

However if employees do not have access to the internet or may be uncomfortable with an online safety program, traditional safety recognition awards can be given as employees reach important safety milestones. Depending on the size of a client, sometimes these safety recognition awards are personally presented by management while in other organizations the safety awards are individually mailed to employees.

Safety award programs pay for themselves and can positively impact your organization's bottom line results. June is National Safety Awareness month and if you manage a team in the manufacturing industry, what better time than now to evaluate how a safety award program can motivate your employees to achieve your workplace safety goals?

Be sure to check back next week for the conclusion of my series on motivating employees in multiple industries in which I will focus on public utilities and municipality industry award programs.

Recognition and Incentive Programs Motivate Employees in Multiple Industries, Part One

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:18:51 -0600

Clients of mine work in various industries, each with their own unique challenges and goals. I have come to find that certain kinds of recognition and incentive award programs can be tailored to these industry-specific goals to overcome challenges and help companies create or sustain a competitive advantage. Over the next three weeks, I will discuss how employee award programs can be particularly designed to benefit organizations in the healthcare, manufacturing and public utility/municipality industries.

Part One: Healthcare Staff Recognition Programs

Despite the dour economy, healthcare jobs are expected to grow by 25.4 percent and add 4 million new jobs by 2016. Employee recruitment and retention has been a difficult challenge for healthcare related employers as 7 out of the top 20 fastest growing occupations are in the healthcare industry according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From hospitals and clinics to nursing facilities and medical laboratories, employee recognition programs have helped many organizations attract and retain quality healthcare workers in an increasingly competitive job market.

Healthcare staff recognition programs feature personalized recognition awards that can be privately or publically presented to employees for reaching a plethora of goals. There are many common reasons clients in the healthcare industry present recognition awards to their staff. Some of these include: rewarding newly recruited employees, meeting/exceeding budget guidelines, reaching job-specific objectives, making safety achievements and celebrating anniversary milestones.

"People who feel recognized," Katherine Mehr points out in her recent podcast on linking pay to performance with employee incentives, "demonstrate a stronger desire to help the company grow and succeed." This helps to explain why in an industry facing retention challenges, organizations in the healthcare industry that utilize employee recognition programs can effectively increase retention, boost recruiting top talent and promote employee engagement in the workplace.

Motivating and recognizing healthcare staff is a strong tradition for one hospital client as HR Magazine explains, "[The Hospital] has a nursing staff turnover rate of 4 percent compared with the national average of 18 percent and an overall workforce turnover is 9 percent compared to a 15 percent industry wide rate. La Porte's CEO Jonathan Goble credits these impressive numbers to the organization's commitment to motivating and recognizing its 1,400 employees on a constant basis."

Healthcare staff recognition programs, whether in print form, online or a combination of the two, work to combat the challenges previously thought to be inherent in the healthcare industry. Please check back next week for information on safety incentive program impact on the manufacturing industry.

Justify Workplace Wellness Expenditures during a Recession

Tue, 26 May 2009 11:04:50 -0600

Jeff Archer wrote a great article on justifying spending budget on wellness incentives during the recession that was featured this past April on EzineArticles.com. Archer provides useful information to any company planning on implementing or redesigning a wellness incentive program and I would like to expand upon each of his points and give some insight based on my experiences with wellness programs.

1. Surely Wellness isn't a priority right now?

Employees who have survived layoffs make up a company's most loyal and talented workers. An economic downturn is the time when these committed employees need to feel motivated and recognized the most due to the stress of the economic uncertainty and increase in workload. The fact that wellness incentive programs carry a three to one return on investment means that not only can your company effectively reduce healthcare costs but that you can effectively motivate and recognize employees to reach their health and wellness goals.

2. How do we ensure the wellness message is received positively?

Successful wellness incentives are designed so employees can easily access communication and information on the wellness program at both work and home. Almost all of the wellness programs that I administer have an online wellness website that functions as wellness program hub for employees. Online wellness programs allow employees to learn about the goals they are eligible to achieve, what goals and awards they have already achieved and usually allow a person to look at their performance in comparison to their peers. Wellness program websites increase participation and involvement in the incentive program because employees have access to wellness information, program details and employees see their progress over time.

3. Wouldn't staff just prefer extra cash at the end of the month?

Merchandise-based wellness programs motivate employees to earn wellness awards by accruing points that can be redeemed for gifts from variously priced collections. There are many reasons why tangible wellness awards are more effective than cash incentives-please see my previous post Top Ten Reasons to Award Tangible Corporate Gifts Instead of Cash. In addition, cash and gift cards may carry a federal tax whereas tangible wellness awards may not. For instance, if an employee was required to pay the top tax rate for 2008 of 35% and you also had to pay the 15.3% self-employment tax, the total tax would be 50.3%.

4. How do we justify the extra spend internally and externally?

Wellness incentive research clearly shows that properly implemented programs impact healthcare spending and premiums, lower costs due to sickness or leaves of absence, workers' compensation costs, disability-related costs and costs due to presenteeism. Wellness programs also have intangible benefits such as increasing employee motivation, morale and teamwork. When the wellness program is launched, be sure to include a letter or email to participants on the overall goals and specific expectations of the initiative. Depending on the size of the company, at the start of a new wellness program it might be a good idea to launch a press release and externally communicate the overall goals and specific expectations.

5. Is wellbeing the right place to be spending money?

Motivating and retaining your survivor employees is the name of the game this year for human resource professionals. Your remaining talent and knowledge base is an important part of the company's long term viability and competitiveness. By investing in this valuable asset, your organization will help to motivate employees to be reach their wellness goals while reducing healthcare and related costs- establishing a program is a win-win situation for employers and workers.

6. How do I make the right decision about what to spend the money on?

Fortunately, online wellness incentive programs offer companies very low start up costs and little to no maintenance costs as participants interface with the wellness program via the corporate wellness website. From the wellness goals and personal wellness account information to the wellness award catalog and checkout process, corporate wellness websites allow employees to easily access the information they need in order to reach their health and safety goals. Aside from the wellness program website, employees who reach wellness milestones should be recognized for their achievements. Employee recognition awards can be personally or publically presented and truly motivate and thank a person for a job well done.

Employees need to move beyond the survival mode they are in due to the numerous layoffs and increased workload and work towards learning how to deal with their workplaces in healthy and safe ways. Staff wellness incentives are a priority now more than ever for companies looking to motivate and retain their loyal survivor employees.

Top Ten Tips (Part 2) to Ensure Your Safety Award Program is Rewarding to Participants

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:09:36 -0600

Last week I covered the first five of the top ten tips to ensure your safety award program is rewarding to participants and I will cover the last five tips in this week's post.

Allow employees to lead or prepare discussions for safety topics

Employees who participate in safety topics are more informed and involved in creating and sustaining safety in the workplace among co-workers. Workers can elect to lead and/or attend safety meetings on a variety of topics, many of their choosing, and are rewarded for participating. Since these safety talks are lead by employees, I have heard from clients that co-workers are more apt to listen and be interested in what it said instead of watching a video or hearing from a supposed expert in safety.

Get creative with your safety program goals

Many companies have particular goals quite broad in nature and can be achieved by various activities. For online safety programs or paper-based award programs, employees should be able to submit ideas for goals or activities to supervisors. Workers are a great resource of creativity within an organization and by offering an incentive for submitting feedback, you can be sure your safety program is able to add creative new goals over time.

Incorporating employees' families

A relatively new client of mine recently started to encourage employees to teach their families about safety. Workers are given safety related materials to take home and share with their children and spouses. If employees bring in children's artwork featuring a safety message, the piece is added to the online safety program, displayed in a common hallway for a month and the parents are awarded with safety incentives. I have heard from the client that giving employees flyers with information on creating a safe environment at home and work has helped to create a safety attitude in the workplace.

Top-Down credibility/accountability

Nothing gives a better impression of the importance of a newly implemented safety program than leaders showing it is important to them personally. The author of the blog Positive Influence states in regards to safety incentive top/down credibility, "I don't mean they just wrote a check. I mean they are out doing observations, talking to frontline employees about BBS, attending Safety Committee meetings, and asking questions about progress and participation."

Rewards are proportional to the effort

Susan Lucas at US News & World Report advises, "In order to avoid giving the non-rewarding reward, managers need to make sure rewards are proportionate to the effort." A good rule of thumb I share with clients is that a person should be able to select the reward of his or her choice from the lowest priced collection available within the first 30-60 days of the incentive program given full effort from the employee. If a company waits too long to reward employees, workers will lose and write the safety program off as not worth the hassle.

Establishing a relevant and successful safety program that is perceived by participants as worthwhile and rewarding is a hefty challenge for organizations to take on. By considering these tips however, companies can turn around their poor safety records and impact employee health and safety while minimizing accident and injury related costs.

Top Ten Tips to Ensure Your Safety Award Program is Rewarding to Participants-Part 1

Mon, 11 May 2009 15:01:26 -0600

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration notified more than 13,500 employers nationwide this April that their injury and illness rates are considerably higher than the national average. Safety incentives are a proven method for combating high injury and illness rates. In order for a safety incentive program to be perceived as a worthwhile endeavor by participants, I put together a list of tips that will be presented over the next two weeks. By taking these tips into consideration, you can ensure the long term success of your safety program and effectively reduce your workplace injury and illness rates.

Ensure easy access to award program info

Often organizations mistakenly assume that safety program participants will be comfortable accessing information online. Depending on the employee demographics at a given company, workers may prefer accessing award program information via regular meetings and through printed communications instead of having the information completely online. In order for the safety program to have a chance at being successful, managers must ensure employees have easy access to information on how they can behave safely in the workplace, what goals they are eligible to achieve and what safety incentive gifts they are eligible to earn.

Make assistance available for those with questions or needing help on accessing the program info

Having on-site trainers available to assist employees who need help logging into an online safety program or who have questions about the program is a great way to ensure the safety program's success. For larger companies, offering workers a safety program hotline or support via email is a great alternative and still allows employees who need help accessing the program to have a helping hand. Human Resource Executive Online recently featured an article on creating buy-in for safety programs and reported that employees feel more confident in the award program if they know the employer is committed to providing training and someone will be there to assist them if and when they need it.

Focus on communication

From the safety program kick off to an end of year wrap-up, communicating the award program information, progress and changes will inspire participation. This also tells the workers that the safety incentive program is something consistently supported by management and not just an empty initiative not worth participating in. Many times corporations will seem to be gung-ho about a new project but fail to maintain communication which has a negative effect on the safety program's momentum.

Incorporate team activities and goals into the safety program

Once the main main goals of the safety incentive program are established, a great way to maintain interest in the program is to introduce new goals over time. Incorporating team activities such as establishing a safety committee or conducting team safety audits motivates employees to get involved with co-workers and reinforces positive safety behavior in the long run.

Make safety training and mentoring opportunities available to those who want to learn more

Some clients of mine have established safety training and mentoring as a major component to their overall safety program. Employees who participate in such activities are able to conduct team safety audits of work areas, coach other employees on safe behavior and even learn about ways to make their lives safer outside the workplace. Offering workers a chance to participate in such safety training and mentoring programs brings about a level of involvement that can really solidify a safety culture in the workplace. This practice also allows employees to show supervisors their managerial skills and can help to foster an effective system for determining possible candidates for future internal promotions.

Check back next week for the last five tips on establishing a relevant and successful safety program.

Reduce Costs and Retain Employees & Customers with Incentive Programs

Mon, 04 May 2009 10:50:40 -0600

The HR World Blog featured an article in March that discussed the results of a new Deloitte survey which found that the economy is forcing organizations to think about cost reductions and customer retention. For years research has shown the real impact of employee incentive programs in various areas: lower hiring costs, increased employee loyalty and a rise in employee motivation and workplace morale; all of which foster customer loyalty in the long run. Applying these cost-saving concepts to your company by implementing an incentive program makes more sense than ever given the economy.

Lower Your Hiring Costs

Incentive programs attract high quality employees and help to retain talented employees. An Incentive Central white paper asserts, "Overall, higher levels of motivation and motivated performance translate into a 53% decrease in worker turnover."

Employee incentives and recognition can be an important factor for employees when they consider other employment options. Even though the unemployment rate is rising, finding highly skilled or specialized employees remains a difficult task for human resource professionals. By arming your organization with a motivational incentive award program, you can substantially lower your hiring costs.

Increased Employee & Customer Loyalty

I previously discussed how having happy employees impacts the loyalty of both employees and customers. On average, when employee attitudes improve 5%, customer satisfaction jumps 1.3%, increasing revenue by 5%. New research conducted by American Express reveals that employees report their loyalty would increase if their employer offered ongoing employee incentive program featuring the option for employees to select their own incentive awards from an online catalog containing multiple kinds of items.

I felt this research resonates with what many current clients of mine are reporting. Employees who participate in an incentive program are motivated by different kinds of incentive awards and thus companies need to allow employees to work towards earning the incentive award of his or her choice. To make this possible, many different kinds of incentive awards should be available for employees to choose from.

Increase Employee Motivation and Workplace Morale

"In a tough economy, shared services leaders know that they have to not only deliver value, but strengthen relationships with their customers and with corporate to work effectively," says Susan Hogan, a leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP. Incentive programs are a great way to strengthen a company's relationships while increasing employee motivation and morale. If implemented and monitored correctly, incentive programs utilizing tangible awards increase employee performance by an average of 22%. Team incentives can increase performance by as much as 44%.

By putting employee incentives to work for your company, you can help to reduce costs while retaining more employees and customers. Given today's economic situation, managers should take their time to implement or re-evaluate an incentive program to ensure the business is reaching its goals while achieving cost reductions.

Monitoring Incentive Program Impact during Tough Economic Times

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:11:34 -0600

Organizations have always wanted to maximize the potential of their incentive programs, but often among a plethora of other objectives, incentive program reporting and assessment fell by the wayside. The economic recession is providing companies with the opportunity to take a hard look at the real return on investment that their incentive programs produce and with our new Report Dashboard, this task is easier than ever for my clients.

I have always recommended to new clients with online incentive programs to review the award program progress on at least a quarterly basis. Usually this entailed me preparing and emailing over three months worth of incentive program information to clients for their review which can be cumbersome and overwhelming to say the least. After all, there are many different areas in which companies may want to review the program impact and results.

Armed with our Report Dashboard, my clients are able to more regularly to review and revise the incentive program to ensure effectiveness, relevance and that a positive ROI is achieved. This means instead of holding a formal quarterly review meeting, a company can view incentive program progress at a glance via the Report Dashboard and quickly present this information to upper management and budgetary committees.

As an Account Manager, I set up custom reports to automatically display desired information as soon as an incentive program administrator logs in for a quick snapshot of the award program. In addition to these customized reports, administrators also capable of:

Monitoring the number of assigned/redeemed points to maintain award program budget goals
Tracking participant logins to gauge participation and interest in the incentive program
Auditing point awards by goal completion to maintain award program relevancy
Reviewing participant performance for each goal and plan for new goals or revised ones in future
Evaluating incentive program results for different participant groups or locations
Finding out the top gift selections for award program marketing and improvement in the future

Since all of this program information is available online anytime, I feel that more clients are better enabled to regularly monitor the incentive program progress and make any necessary changes on at least a monthly basis. Given the turbulent economy, this reporting capability is especially useful in giving administrators insight into how the incentive program can be tweaked in order to better achieve its purpose of increasing sales, referrals or performance.

To learn more about tracking and reporting employee award program results, please take a look at this past blog article on the topic.

Create and Sustain Employee Motivation Momentum with Employee Incentives

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:29:54 -0600

Business leaders and managers across all industries are turning to employee incentives as a method to build employee motivation momentum in spite of the poor economic conditions. Nathan Jamail explains in his article on employee motivation momentum, "A leader needs to focus on what he or she can do daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly to achieve the goal: to maximize their team's motivation." I wanted to share what some of my clients are doing daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly to create and sustain employee motivation momentum through the use of employee incentive programs.

Daily Employee Recognition and Praise

Howard Hyden, author of Seven Ways to Fuel the Fire in Employee Performance, provides this advice on regularly motivating employees, "In tough times it may be even more vital to use W.I.I.F.M. [What's In It For Me] to stoke the fires in your employees." Morning meetings or email communications are a great way to transmit some positive energy to your team while giving you a chance to link what employees can do to help themselves and the company on a daily basis. Spotlighting desired employee behavior is a great way to thank an employee while letting co-workers know what they can do to benefit the company and earn similar recognition. Introducing new incentive program goals and different kinds of award merchandise available for employees to earn is a great way to entice participation and increase motivation momentum.

Weekly Incentives based on Job Performance, Communicate the State of Business

Awarding your team with employee incentives for reaching weekly job-related goals is one method clients of mine use to consistently create employee motivation. Generally, clients will award points weekly to employees who reach job-specific goals such as completing reports on time and correctly. Staff members then accrue points over time and are able to select rewards from variously priced collections of award merchandise.

I recommend notifying participants when points are awarded weekly via email or mailed incentive program statements, depending on employee preferences. These communication devices serve to draw attention and traffic to the online employee incentive programs where employees are able view personal account information, available gift merchandise and general program details. When an award program functions this way on a weekly basis, employees are motivated to work towards earning enough points to redeem the gift of their choice.

Monthly Incentives based on Job Performance, Attendance, Anniversaries

Similar to awarding points weekly for job-specific goals, monthly incentives can be given to employees who have perfect attendance for the month (usually defined as on time and at work every day). In addition, some companies will award employees who reach milestone anniversaries and achieve monthly team-based goals or broad company objectives such as meeting budget targets.

Goals or objectives that take a month or longer to achieve should involve public and/or personalized employee recognition via the morning meeting or in private. Employee recognition packages are popular among my clients because personalized recognition is one of the best ways to sincerely award staff members while maintaining a small budget.

Quarterly Employee Recognition and Incentive Program Review and Impact Results

As long term goals are achieved, organizations are making strides in creating employee motivation momentum. Companies need to take steps however to ensure that the incentive program is leading the organization in the intended direction. Online incentive programs enable administrators to access reporting anytime and easily download the desired data into a spreadsheet format for award program review.

Once a quarter, administrators should review what goals are being achieved or not being achieved and also need to evaluate employee feedback on the incentive program. By arming yourself with this information, you are empowered to create or redefine award program goals and consider feedback from your staff to transition the incentive program into a mechanism for sustaining employee motivation over the long term.

Employee motivation is created and sustained through instilling confidence in employees and by linking the knowledge of what an employee's goals are and how he or she personally impacts the organization through consistent communication and employee incentives. By implementing an incentive program, an organization can combat the difficult economy and work towards sustainable employee motivation momentum.

Robert Wilson, author of The Un-Comfort Zone: Keeping the Ball Rolling as featured on ManageSmarter.com sums it up, "The best thing about Momentum is that once you get it, motivation becomes self-perpetuating. Momentum is energizing. It keeps you on your toes. And the rewards come quickly and regularly."

Recognition Programs Boost Employee Retention Amid Recession

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:33:52 -0600

Inspired by the current economy, many businesses are focusing on retaining highly skilled and talented employees. The ability of any sized business to attract and retain employees can be achieved by providing staff members with consistent recognition and motivational corporate gifts.

Whether your company is planning time and budget for employee recognition awards or you already have an employee award program in place, focusing on employee retention in 2009 should be a main component of your benefits strategy in order for your organization to remain competitive. According to a February Managesmarter.com article, the businesses that continue to invest in reward and recognition programs are more likely to outperform their competitors.

"Companies which cut their incentives programs too severely run the risk of losing their top talent once economic conditions begin to improve," reports Norma Jean Knollenberg, author of the article Operation Motivation: Gauging Employee Value. Knollenberg points out IMA research revealing that "non-cash incentives, such as merchandise and travel, are a significant motivator."

One of my clients in the IT industry has been experiencing a lot of cutbacks due to the recession but continues to recognize employees with merchandise-based corporate gifts for reaching anniversary milestones. In order to maintain the employee recognition program this year, my client simply adjusted the dollar amount given to awardees for each anniversary level they award. However, when the economy rebounds the organization will begin offering recognition awards for various accomplishments in addition to increasing the anniversary award program budget.

Recognition programs do not require minimum order quantities and tend to be very flexible for my clients to budget depending on the organization's performance. In times of success, companies are clearly meeting and even exceeding their business objectives and may have a lot of reasons to reward and recognize employees. Alternatively, Paul Hebert reports in the Incentive Intelligence Blog that economic downturns are the best time to focus on rewarding and recognizing employees for contributing to the positive attitude in the workplace, participating in successful team projects and providing high quality customer service. Employee recognition programs offer a great solution to employers looking to accomplish such goals amid the recession.

When you offer tangible employee awards and recognize staff members consistently, research shows that the organization is able to boost employee retention by over fifty percent.

We are experiencing a down economy, but this does not mean that companies should stop all employee recognition efforts. In fact, employee recognition is needed now more than ever for two reasons- so that valued employees will want to stay with the organization and your company can remain competitive.

Effectively Recognize Employees on Administrative Professionals Day

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:20:06 -0600

There are only a couple weeks left before Administrative Professional's Day, April 22 this year, and many companies are planning employee recognition award ceremonies while some managers are still considering their options given limited budgets and time constraints. There are many ways organizations can provide relevant and appreciated employee recognition to administrative professionals and I wanted to go over some tips for effectively recognizing staff during this important occasion.

I highly recommend to clients that they gather employee feedback on how their administrative staff would like to be recognized, as the IAAP suggests in their article on giving employee recognition during Administrative Professionals Week. Many employees differ on how they prefer recognition be delivered and what they consider as motivational recognition awards. Public recognition via an award ceremony and private employee recognition held in closed-door meetings may be used in combination depending on employee feedback and preferences.

Gathering feedback on the types of recognition awards the company should offer employees is another vital piece of the recognition program's overall effectiveness. Whether you are planning a public event or are looking to personally delivery each assistant his or her recognition award, as Derek Irvine at Talent Management Magazine recently advises, "recognition delivers better results than cash." Irvine cites results from a 2004 University of Chicago study that found non-cash incentives were 24 percent more powerful at boosting performance than cash incentives. Lifestyle merchandise collections are appealing to employees of various demographics and tend to be the most popular types of recognition awards used in recognition programs today. Lifestyle awards are brand name and high quality corporate gifts that range from electronics and fashion items to appliances and hobby related merchandise.

Another useful tip is to include an employee recognition letter with a merchandise recognition award in order to give the award a personalized touch. Many of my clients like to present an entire recognition award presentation package to employees, regardless if it is given in public or in private. This recognition award package contains a congratulatory letter signed by the head of the organization, a certificate of appreciation suitable for framing and award catalog/ordering information.

Although this week should not be the only week out of the year in which employees are thanked and given public or private recognition, planning employee recognition events during Administrative Professionals Week/Day is a great way to celebrate the impact that supporting-role staff has on organizations throughout the United States in unison with other businesses and non-profits. Employees and assistants who feel valued and recognized are much more likely to stay with a company instead of looking for greener pastures.

When a company takes the time to effectively recognize employees, it is reinforcing the message to assistants that they are valuable assets worth recognizing and investing in. By planning an administrative professional recognition event the second to last week in April each year, a company can give employee recognition consistently over time and reap the many benefits recognition programs have-including increased employee retention, better performance and improved motivation and morale in the workplace.

How to Write an Effective Employee Recognition Letter

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:21:37 -0600

Recognizing employees is a meaningful process and nothing can destroy a recognition program faster than a poorly written or insincere recognition letter. Alternatively, human resource managers take a lot of time to put together a recognition program that will appeal to employees and increase loyalty over time with a well thought out employee recognition letter. I have identified three basic approaches for employee recognition letters depending on the reason behind the recognition award. In each situation if you are looking to maximize the impact of the recognition letter, be sure to include a corporate gift or ordering instructions to truly reward the employee.

The Generalized Employee Recognition Letter

When a company takes the general approach to employee recognition letter writing, usually the CEO or the company president will be the author. This form of an employee recognition letter works best for years of service awards and can be presented to the employee via email or personally delivered.

An employee recognition letter does not need to be elaborate in order for the employee to feel appreciated. Generalized recognition letters congratulate the employee and link the employee's dedication and service to the company's success. The recognition letter should also thank the employee for their continued commitment to the organization.

The Customized Employee Recognition Letter

The second approach to employee recognition letter writing is to design the letter on company paper stock and/or brand it to match the company's logo, colors or themes. This approach to employee recognition letters is mostly used for safety recognition awards, milestone anniversaries and on the spot or sporadic recognition. This is the most common approach to employee recognition letter writing among my clients. These employee recognition letters are usually printed out and mailed directly to employees' homes or delivered by management at work if feasible.

The text of the letter should be written by the employee's specific store or regional manager when taking this approach. The customized employee recognition letter may discuss the specific contributions that the employee's department or region has made to the overall company. Besides laying out the specific reasons for the recognition award, the customized letter needs to reinforce the positive behavior by thanking the employee and asking for their continued dedication to the organization.

The Personalized Employee Recognition Letter

The third approach to employee recognition letter writing is to personalize the letter and have it written by employee's direct manager. Quite often, these types of recognition letters are hand written on company letter head and are suitable for framing. This approach is mainly used for milestone accomplishments and on the spot recognition and are best when personally presented.

The personalized employee recognition letter needs to include specific information or maybe even a particular incident to provide the reason behind the recognition. These letters need to include praise for the employee and you should feel free to elaborate on why the employee is appreciated and an asset to the company.

"A simple thank you letter, that recognizes specific employee contributions," Susan Heathfield of About.com Human Resources explains, "goes a long way in helping employees feel recognized and rewarded...Some employees experience such gratification that they post the thank you and recognition letter in their cubicle, office, or workstation for years."

I would like to leave you with one last resort in case you just need an idea to begin writing your employee recognition letter. Effective employee recognition programs begin with sincere recognition letters and can lead to increased loyalty and retention.

Employee Recognition is a Powerful tool for Battling Recessionary Disengagement

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:10:11 -0600

I came across an article the other day claiming that some employees are spending hours at work worrying about their job security, leading to decreased productivity rates. Many managers are blaming this perpetuating low employee morale and motivation on a phenomenon known as recessionary disengagement. The World at Work survey sites that "changes in manager behavior, such as a closed door, more private conferences, or less direct communication all represent potential 'exit signs' to many employees."

Let's face it; the recession has affected workplace morale and motivation across the board whether or not doors are closed for meetings. As many of my long term accounts have experienced, providing public employee recognition is a powerful way to retain and engage employees during any economy. An article on Managesmarter.com underscored this point recently by putting employee recognition at the top of their list of suggestions for managers to take in order to efficiently battle recessionary disengagement.

There are simple steps that mangers can take to include employee recognition in the workplace in order to effectively squash recessionary disengagement and increase employee productivity. Having a great employee recognition website is the first step you can take when battling low morale and employee disengagement due to the economy.

Modern employee recognition programs are a great solution for this type of recessionary situation as companies can utilize an employee recognition website to communicate the award program goals, feature employees of the month and allow employees to place orders all on one website. By having the award catalog online, merchandise and travel options are consistently updated for recognition program participants without the costly printing and shipping fees associated with paper catalogs.

Depending on the size of a client's organization, public recognition is not always feasible. However, employees can still be recognized in a number of ways. Mark McGuinness, author of Wishful Thinking Blog, offers his advice on public recognition, "Excellence loves an audience - which should be relatively easy to attract if you're achieving extraordinary things."

Employee recognition newsletters, mailed employee recognition certificates and recognition via the award website are all alternatives to public recognition ceremonies or events. Whenever possible though, giving employees recognition in front of their co-workers in one of the most powerful motivational tools a manager has in the battle against recessionary disengagement.

I like to tell new clients who are looking to start an employee recognition program for the first time in company history two pieces of advice-keep employee recognition consistent and sporadic. This is easily attainable when a company rewards staff members for milestone anniversaries (consistent recognition) and on the spot (sporadic) recognition. On the spot recognition is called many things by different organizations but boils down to the same thing-an employee is noticed by another employee or manager and immediately rewarded for their good behavior.

Some of my clients will keep gifts on hand to award employees in such situations and will hand the employee a recognition award booklet and ordering instructions in front of co-workers for positive reinforcement. I have had other clients report that they will email or give the employee a hand written letter after they recognize an employee going above and beyond their employment duty in a certain situation to communicate their gratitude.

Public employee recognition is not only an effective tool for battling recessionary disengagement, it is the way savvy managers have discovered to retain and engage employees over time.