With all
these buzzwords floating around the employee engagement world how do you put
them all together to come up with a great employee recognition program?
When in
the process of designing or re-designing your recognition program, it will be
easier if you keep the four important buzzwords, diversity, inclusion, intrinsic
and extrinsic in mind.
Diversity can be loosely defined as the range of differences between
races, ethnicities, ages and numerous other personal traits. Inclusion is the
involvement and empowerment between each of them.
Recognition
is perceived differently by different cultures so it’s important to include
several options of how managers can actually recognize the employees. Based on recent survey’s it is important that
your employees perceive that the program rules are fair and all inclusive. Be
sure to link employee goals to business goals, give your managers training for
the coaching necessary to make sure you are rewarding the correct standout
performance for some while also managing convergent performance for
others.
Your
program should also include both intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the behavior driven
by positive internal feelings, as opposed to extrinsic motivation, which is
driven by external things – praise, pizza, merchandise, gift cards and so on. Be careful of the debate over which is
better, or more motivational, they both have their place and the best results
can be found in the strategic mix of both types. And for organizations dealing with expanding
workplace diversity, balancing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is more
important than ever when it comes to inclusion and motivation.
According
to Christina
Zurek, Solution Manager, ITA Group…
“People naturally gravitate toward what
motivates them, whether that’s pizza, competitions, joining a running club or
volunteering at a homeless shelter. The choices people make represent who they
are, and when businesses help employees make choices they’re proud of, they
build businesses they’re proud to stand behind. After all, the ability to be
yourself and share your passions is precisely what diversity and inclusion are
all about.”
What
awards to use? We’ll leave that up to
the legions of award companies you can choose from to decide. Regardless of
what you use, make sure to include a choice from a very wide array of gift
cards. They still provide the best value
at the best price of any extrinsic award in the industry. And are the most used
of any award ever.
For
more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white
papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net
