creative Ideas for Employee Rewards Recognition -HR series 1

how to design Employee Rewards Recognition  

Employee engagement and retention are  directly related to the care and concerns management show

in the  well being of people

Any initiative called Employee Recognition should keep in mind that there is power in  mere

acknowledgment .Psychological stroking

Appreciation touches powerfully the emotions if done sincerely .

If you do  want to be seen as  genuine boss , do these when recognizing

1. Be Sincere and look interested - spoken words  and body language must be aligned while reflecting authenticity.
2. Be Fair and Consistent- Reward Not  a tool for a favor.
3. Do it Timely- instant execution.
4.  Do Frequent- as often and not once in blue moon or when you like to do Flexible- not too many conditions/rules.
5. Select Appropriate action- Identify one action that deserves reward
6. Set one goal per reward --not too many things to do  even to qualify 

Seven critical success outcomes :

• Reinforces desired behaviors , practices, principles, and values.
• Gives the ability to show appreciation.
• Builds self-esteem. 
• Promotes trust and respect.
• Facilitates and encourages change. 
• Drives improvement. 
• Creates positive work environment . 
• Improves the quality of work life. 
• Motivates individuals and teams to do their best. 
• Enhances loyalty. 
• Creates a brand .
• Addresses the basic human need to feel appreciated.
• Reflects  a commitment to each other. 
• Inspires accomplishment and achievement.
• Empowers individuals and teams .
• Drives out fear. 
• Improves the bottom line. Benefits of effective recognition

Word of caution:

Reviewing 128 studies on the effects of rewards  Deci et al. (1999, p. 658) concluded that: “tangible rewards tend to have a substantially negative effect on intrinsic motivation (…) Even when tangible rewards are offered as indicators of good performance, they typically decrease intrinsic motivation for interesting activities.” Rewards have even been found to make people less creative and worse at problem-solving Word of caution

The Social psychology behind Rewards:

We're hungry to bond, and most of us experience the workplace first as powerful  social setting to bond.This is what makes recognition so powerful: celebrating accomplishments with co-workers and managers makes people feel  happy

 The psychology behind reward: 

The Collector mentality :
It's human nature to gather things  of status. Plaques with years of service engraved appeal to the desire  of  status seeking . Other types of incentive programs tap into this drive of  motivating people through their desire to acquire more possessions.

The retainer instinct : 

 People are motivated to defend what they got through their efforts. The winner of last year's "Top in Sales" title isn't going to let it go without a fight. Seed 1 player never easily let goes and employees engaged by strong recognition programs will work hard to protect their company against competitive threats. 

Typical management dilemma-

Cash or noncash?:noncash management dilemma-
Researchers have shown it's physically more likely for the brain to access a real image from the right brain . Symbolism is more long lasting in mind

Cash Incentives::   are abstract numbers, not a clear image, so they're stored in the left, logical side of the brain and accessed less frequently and in less detail.

Best Strategy

Go Long/Spread wide to Send a Strong Signal :
The longer the duration, the greater is the chance that employees get our message and make positive behavioral change Cover as many as we can-to create engagement

Peer Recognition:
This type creates "culture of peer recognition " not the boss but people who are hierarchal equal give each other praise or rewards for good work

When employees get  rewards instantly from the  supervisor  it empowers immediate supervisor

What the best companies  do:

 Hewlett-Packard
Idea Generation
The Golden Banana Award is one of Hewlett-Packard's most prestigious honors for inventive employees. It began when a company engineer burst into his manager's office with the answer to a problem they'd been struggling with for weeks.The manager searched his office for a way to mark this accomplishment, but all he came up with was a leftover banana from lunch. Still, he handed over the banana and said "Well done! Congratulations !"
That got institutionalized

AT&T Employee Recognition :
AT&T Employee Recognition At AT&T Universal Card Services in Jacksonville, Florida, paper is used as the key element for "World of Thanks"; one of their most popular programs. The program helps create a culture of recognition and higher performance in a simple way: anyone in the company can write a message of thanks to someone else and send it. To make it official, employees use a sheet from a globe-shaped pad of colored paper. In four years, employees at AT&T have written more than 130,000 thank you notes.

Walt Disney World Employee Recognition :
There are 180 different employee recognition programs at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. One of the most coveted is the Spirit of Fred Award. It's named for Fred, who advanced from an hourly to salary position by exemplifying the values necessary for success at Disney: friendly, resourceful, enthusiastic and dependable. Fred makes each award (a certificate mounted on a plaque) as well as The Lifetime Fred Award, a bronze statuette of Mickey Mouse given to multiple recipients of the Spirit of Fred Award .


Producers Assistance Safety Program :
Producers Assistance Corporation provides contract personnel to the oil and gas industry, an area where employee safety is critical. To refresh their safety program, they chose reloadable gift cards as an incentive. Here's how it works: when an employee takes an action, like attending a safety meeting, points are loaded onto their card. The lure of point collecting (and spending) has focused employees back on doing the right thing? to be safe. After a 6-month trial, participation had more than doubled and there was a significant decline in the incident rate.

Merger Reward Program :  During the merger of two pharmaceutical giants, a task force was charged with making the transition a smooth one. Members worked nonstop over six months, planning how to blend operations of the two companies. The team was rewarded for its sacrifices with gift cards that were, literally, the gift of time. The personalized cards were hand-delivered with a letter from the project leader, and gave recipients their choice of services: housecleaning, lawn care, carpet cleaning, pest control, and more.

Few Reward programs that worked 

1: Pat on The back

Recommendation 1:Each supervisor  gets to give spot awards -max 12 per annum for the team members-
Eligibility-All employees other than managers ---Rising above and beyond of duty ---Promoting brand ----Act that got customer appreciation ----Extending help to team member o solve any problem
Type of Reward- $ 20 gift card with appreciation letter --manager notifies the employee/ recipient and informs HR Process-HR mails card with appreciation note
Recommendation 2:  Half yearly- award 4 awards
Eligibility-all Full time Employees consultants exhibiting extraordinary technical skills and or initiative to solve difficult technical issues Manager nominates to the Reward committee who decides Value- 200$- and Appreciation letter
Recommendation 3-: Long innings
Eligibility-Any Fulltime employee who completes 5 years of continuous service-
Value- 1000$- for family outing within USA one additional paid vacation- to be used within one year of completion date .HR owns and administers Budget-
Recommendation4: Celebrate Marriage/Childbirth
Eligibility- All employees
Value :Gift of flowers gift card value$100- HR to be notified by employee HR administers Budget-

Recommendation-5 Annual award-
Eligibility- All employees iconic award Given to one employee who exhibits all round loyalty, lives company values, promotes company image, extraordinary performance on the job.; peer admiration. Exemplary Leadership qualities
Value $1500 Nomination to be filed by any manager- can nominate anyone with specific details/substantiation as to why the person deserves to the rewards committee  celebrated in Christmas party

Recommendation-6: To encourage Emerging leaders
Eligibility-All employees Frequency-Annual Nomination by Reporting manager Criteria– any exhibition of leadership qualities , pro-activeness, initiatives that resulted in customer delight, more business, enhanced teamwork, etc.
Reward amount- 1000/- to be spent for any external training nomination approved by manager/HR 26

Critical issues to remember Managers’ education
Transparency
Consistency
Timeliness