1. A successful employee rewards program should be frequent, spontaneous, and timely, ensuring recognition is given immediately after achievements.
2. Specificity in recognizing behaviors or achievements, providing equal participation opportunities, and maintaining transparency are crucial.
3. Programs should also maximize visibility, align with business objectives, and measure benefits to enhance employee engagement and motivation.
4. By adhering to these principles, organizations can foster a more appreciative and productive work environment.
Employee rewards programs must be designed and implemented methodically to ensure success. Let’s discuss the essential points while developing a successful employee rewards program.
In a survey, 40% of participating employees said that they were likely to put more energy into their work if they were to be recognized more often.
Moreover, 90% of HR professionals agree to the fact that an effective rewards and recognition program helps drive business results.
In another study, 91% of HR executives said that such programs impacted employee retention positively while 80% said that they were likely to invest in strong and effective rewards programs for their workforce in the coming months.
1. Reward Frequently
2. Make Recognition Spontaneous
3. Reward in Time
4. Be Specific about the Behaviors or Achievements being Rewarded
5. Provide Equal Opportunities for Participation
6. Ensure Highest Levels of Transparency
7. Create Maximum Visibility
8. Align with Business Objectives
9. Make the Benefits Measurable
The work environment today is highly stressful and competitive.
This is why it is important to recognize the efforts of employees frequently.
Organizations need to reconsider the tradition of recognizing their employees yearly or quarterly.
Frequent recognition can reassure employees that their organization values and appreciates them for their achievements and contributions.
It is essential for organizations today to ensure that the employee recognition program is lightweight and spontaneous.
Recognition should not be as per a set schedule, but as and when employees do something worth appreciating.
Such spontaneous recognition is more authentic and fills the employees with gratitude.
Rewards and recognition can only provide the best results when offered on time.
Delays in appreciating employees just to adhere to predefined timelines can make the whole process ineffective.
This is because people tend to forget the achievements of others quickly.
Delayed recognition not only diminishes the sense of achievement for employees but also fails to inspire their peers.
Rewards and recognition should be directly related to the recipients’ specific achievements and actions to be more effective.
Hence, a successful rewards program should clearly outline the criteria for which the employees receive appreciation.
Any verbal or written recognition is incomplete unless it mentions the employee’s specific reasons for getting recognition.
A good recognition program should level the playing field for all workforce members.
Hence, this means that the program should encourage participation from all employees working at various levels within the organizational hierarchy.
The program can also be split into segments, each covering a specific level of employees.
Hence, such an approach will boost employee motivation and engagement across all organizational levels.
If, for any reason, employees think that the rewards system is biased, it will render it completely ineffective.
Hence an organization needs to ensure complete transparency while designing and implementing the rewards program.
They should periodically share the policy, criteria, and other details with all employees.
Making the program visible to the entire workforce means that employees get appreciation on a more public platform or forum.
Maximizing the visibility of the program ensures that other employees feel inspired by the commendable work done by their colleagues.
This could be through offline events such as town halls, team meetings, and award ceremonies, as well as their virtual equivalents.
Social visibility can also be achieved through communication on organization-wide digital platforms such as the intranet, Teams, and Slack.
Hence, this motivates other employees to make similar positive contributions and receive similar appreciation and recognition for their efforts.
Recognizing outstanding work is essential; however, it becomes a mere formality if it is irrelevant to the business.
However, when the program properly aligns with the business objectives, employees are likely to experience greater motivation while receiving recognition.
This helps employees understand the gap between their achievements and the organization’s goals and align their efforts accordingly.
Also, it is vital to ensure that the benefits from the rewards program are measurable.
Hence, organizations should be able to quantify the improvement in employee engagement, motivation, and productivity after program implementation.
It also helps organizations to identify any shortcomings in the program and address them to get better results.
Organizations need to consider the above points to ensure the development of a successful employee rewards and recognition program that is beneficial and satisfying for both the organization as well as its employees.
Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked in leadership roles with companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn
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