Incentive Research Federation Study on Incentives in the Tech Industry

A recent study conducted by the Incentive Research Foundation found that the top performing technology firms are twice as likely to use employee reward and recognition programs as a competitive advantage over competition.  Top performing firms were classified as those that demonstrated more than a 5 percent increase in revenue or stock price in 2018. Of the 118 technology companies reviewed, only 49 organizations made the cut. 

Other findings of how these companies use reward and recognition compared to average performers include: 

·       22 percent are more likely to structure their programs with the goal of reaching each participant versus only recognizing the top performing participants.

·       25 percent are more likely to look to outside partners for expertise on the best ways to recognize and incentivize their program participants.

·       They spend an average of $6,833 per person for their sales incentive trips, while average firms shell out an average of $6,000 per participant.

·       21 percent are more likely than those at average performing firms to use financial metrics as program qualifiers.

·       They spend about 6.7 percent of participant income in annual spend for rewards and recognition.

·       They award a value of $4,292 on average to their top performers and $2,685 to their average performers in award points, merchandise and gift cards.

·       20 percent are more likely to offer a top performer sales award, with 23 percent of them having that award include a group trip.

·       13 percent award a variable versus fixed number of winners.

·       14 percent have their awardees earn automatically on predefined goals versus committee selection intervention.

·       9 percent are more likely to include achieving 100 percent of the predefined goal to qualify for a trip versus requiring their sales people to exceed their goal. 

·       19 percent are more likely to provide simple rules for their program. 

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Do These Things For Better Employee Recognition Programs

We have been associated with the HR industry for years and years, interact with HR professionals daily, and been involved in countless planning sessions for employee recognition with HR teams. We see every day what’s working in the workplace and what’s not, especially from the standpoint of employee recognition, improvement and performance.  We offer the following five practices you should consider stopping now so you can focus your energy and resources elsewhere and have a better employee recognition solution. These all boil down to essentially stop over-complicating things.

Eliminate Difficult to Operate Programs:  You design and implement programs that you want employees to love and want to use, it shows you care about them.  Don’t ake it so difficult to use them that they perceive it as punitive. 

Stop Adding Apps on Apps:  Different technologies come across your desk daily. From our standpoint, we see the “new” and “best” and “most featured” employee recognition platforms introduced all the time.  Every supplier is vying for a piece of the recognition budget and will develop the ‘end all and be all’ of recognition platforms to get yours. Stop cobbling them together putting one on top of the other.  In recognition, the simplest is usually the best.  Truth be known, probably only about 10% of the available features built into all recognition platforms are ever used. 

Shun Superficial Recognition:  It’s time to get rid of recognition awards that most employees don’t want. Train supervisors to find out what they do want and give them of choice of things that they consider important to them.  Garage sales are loaded with the trinkets and trash of the past.  What may have motivated their parents and grandparents don’t motivate the employees of today. 

Throw Away Employee Surveys:  Ask quick and short questions and listen more frequently and then implement steps or technologies that drive the action.

Blow Up Silos:  With the proliferation of digital technologies it is expected and necessary for all systems to interact.  Recognition across departments and peer to peer recognition are excellent ways to help decrease the problems with silos. 

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

Make Employee Change Personal

In 2018 McKinsey developed a leader’s guide to help companies “Make Work Meaningful.” Its simple premise was that people who find meaning at their work are happier, more productive and more engaged.  Without a rehash of the entire guide, the outline shows four straightforward practices that can help create  an environment where organizational change is personal.  These four practices are:

Reduce Anonymity

Make sure employees know who their customers are (either internally or externally) and encourage them to connect with one.  Build face to face interactions into existing processes encouraging employees to know who is most affected by their work.  Studies show that just this interaction alone can boost customer satisfaction by as much as 14%

Help Employees Understand the Impact of Their Work

Invite customers who have had the best and the worst experiences with your products to talk with employees in person so your team can see how their work affects customers.

Notice, Recognize and Reward Good Work

Create systems where colleagues and customers alike can communicate satisfaction with a task.  Everyone wants to know that their work is noticed and valued. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive, but it does have to happen. “Thank you we appreciate your efforts” are simple words but they can be powerful when spoken with sincerity.

Connect Daily Work to a Higher Goal

Push people to think about their work in a high-level way by asking employees a series of “why” questions about 3 to 5 of their most important daily tasks.

As stated in the Leader’s Guide…

“it’s well understood that people who believe their job has meaning and a broader purpose are more likely to work harder, take on challenging or unpopular tasks, and collaborate effectively. Research repeatedly shows that people deliver their best effort and ideas when they feel they are part of something larger than the pursuit of a paycheck.”

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net

If Employee Recognition is Important, Why Do So Many Companies Limit It?

For years research and communications has touted the importance of recognition in improving employee engagement.  And in turn positive employee engagement seems to be a leading indicator of performance improvement.  In fact a Gallup study showed that companies in the top quartile for employee engagement outperform their competitors in the lowest quartile in many categories, including:

·       10% higher customer ratings

·       21% higher profitability

·       20% higher productivity

·       24%-59% lower turnover

·       41% lower absenteeism

·       40% fewer quality defects

So, why is employee recognition seemingly limited in many companies?  As is often shown in assessments employees regularly complain about the lack of recognition and appreciation. Do companies fail to realize the power of providing frequent and meaningful employee recognition? Are they unaware of the impact that solid recognition and employee ‘thank you’ s’ would have on employee motivation, engagement, and retention? 

Having been fortunate to be in the employee incentive and recognition industry for over 40 years, we can attest that this attitude is not a phenomenon.  It has been around from the beginning.  At the turn of the 20^th century there were programs that rewarded an employee for how long they have been with the company 5, 10, 20, 25 years etc.  And that was often the only time they were rewarded.  And that hasn’t changed much over time.  Sure other types of recognition programs have been added, but are they enough to change behavior?

If executive management really believed that employee recognition would foster better employee engagement and lead to the performances listed above, you’d see more and better recognition programs recognizing more and more employees. 

Does anyone really know what a truly great employee recognition program should look like?  I doubt it.  As we’ve said we been in the industry for over 40 years and can’t remember ever seeing a recognition program that was said to be the best…only ones that were purported to be.

I do know that if we were to build one, or modernize one, we’d start with what you want to accomplish, then reward any and all behaviors by every employee that leads to that outcome, every day!  And don’t stop until you’ve achieved the objectives. When you do, find some different objectives and keep going. 

  

Unfortunately many companies take a more traditional approach.  They start with a fixed budget of on average of say $100 per person and build everything to fit that, whether it’s enough or not. Force only the required number of recognitions into that budget and only that much.  But don’t be surprised if at some time in the near future you have employees complaining about the limited recognition in your company. 

There is a knack to making other people feel important and appreciated.  Try different ways to create opportunities to provide reward and recognition and thanks to your employees.  When you’re finished you will have an environment in which people feel important and appreciated.  It really doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.

For more information on Ultimate Choice Inc.’s products or services or other white papers please contact us at Ultimatechoiceinfo@cox.net