2012 Workplace Trends Report: It's All About Me -- Rewards and Recognition
ABSTRACT: More than an employee benefit, recognition programs are used to engage employees, encourage repeat positive behavior, and execute on the corporation's goals and objectives, as well as support its mission, vision, and values. Top-performing companies across the U.S. leverage a combination of organization-wide, grassroots, and/or department-level employee recognition programs.
The ways in which people are recognized and rewarded have significant impact on the effectiveness of recognition on a company's bottom line. Most managers falsely assume that rewards have to be big and expensive to get the point across. We will begin to see more reward and recognition programs that use peer-to-peer platforms, non-monetary accolades, and innovative incentives to drive behavior.
BRIEF: It's all about me: Rewards & Recognition
By Heidi Hastings-Brien
Senior Director, Motivation Solutions, Sodexo
Forget What You Know: Five Paradoxes on Motivation at Work
The mechanisms of motivation at work are more complex than they seem. To create long-lasting motivation, you have to resolve a few paradoxes.
Your Employees Want a Clear Framework. Don't Forget Autonomy.
For people to be able to give the best of themselves, it is essential that they know what is expected of them.
It seems apparent that the more precise and ambitious the objective, the stronger their motivation-assuming, of course, that it is realistic.
In 90% of cases, very ambitious and clearly defined objectives will lead to greater performance than vague objectives, such as “Do your best.”
However, watch out: when setting objectives, you have to leave room for autonomy. Human beings also have a fundamental need to make their own choices about how they do things-to have power over their own lives. So, yes to a clear framework, but no to “Do this, do that.”
Your Employees Keep Talking About Pay? Don't Forget Enjoyment!
Salary is often among the foremost demands of employees: it is seen as a key to a comfortable life. Yet, if you dig deeper, it becomes clear that other elements are as important, if not more so.
No, just human. A salary covers a person's fundamental needs, but once these are satisfied, other factors come to the forefront, such as the need for recognition or to do something of personal interest to them. Thus, expectations must be taken as a whole, and it requires a whole pallet of tools to respond to them.
According to a survey of more than 90,000 employees in 18 countries, the main factors for motivation are the following: management's interest in the well-being of employees, opportunities for learning, the company's reputation on social responsibility, employees' capacity to participate in decision-making, and the quality of solutions offered to clients (Gallup, 2011).
You Want Better Results? Loosen Things Up.
There was once a time when companies could afford to use carrot-and-stick methods to increase their employees' productivity. But the world has changed. Using stress as the principal lever for motivation is incompatible with the complexity of tasks, the need for innovation, and the rising importance of services. Focus instead on empowerment, flexibility, and well-being.
In the United States, 77% of employees who feel that they benefit from flexibility at work intend to stay with the same company, versus 41% in companies that do not offer this kind of benefit. In Germany, a recent study showed that the introduction of measures in favor of the work/life balance could save companies 50% of the costs induced by absences for family reasons.
You Want Employee Engagement? Focus on Values.
A privileged relationship with clients, the desire to work together, goodwill: a relational culture based on certain convictions, values, and norms make these things natural and easy. Similarly, an organization's management style and transparency influences employee engagement: people respond to the way they are treated.
The revenues, profit growth, and ROI of companies with programs focusing on social responsibility are, on average, 10% greater than those of companies in the same sector without such programs. (Watson Wyatt, 2008).
You Want to Satisfy Your Shareholders? Take Care of Your Employees.
Happy employees make happy clients, and thus high performance. This is the principle applied by companies like HCL Technologies (India) and Southwest Airlines (USA), who promote an “Employee First, Customer Second” and has proven it in performance terms.
In five years, the vision of HCL Technologies has allowed the company to secure the loyalty of its employees, triple its revenues, and increase productivity and customer satisfaction. Today, it is one of the highest-growth companies in its sector (IT services).
