0 Comment

Should You Reward Underperformers for One-Off Achievements?

Watch the Video

Should You Reward Underperformers for One Off Achievements?


Many line Managers and HR Partners face the dilemma of rewarding underperformers for significant achievements as part of the employee rewards and recognition program. In most cases, the rewards and recognition policies may not explicitly state anything, leaving it to the better judgment of the concerned managers.

Why Shouldn’t Underperformers be Ignored for Employee Rewards and Recognition?

Should you Reward Underperformers for One-Off Achievements?

1. Underperformance might be temporary

Unrealistic

An important point to note here is that consistent underperformers may rarely remain in the system, as the performance assessment process would typically address this issue.

Hence, underperformance might be a temporary phase or it could be just relative. And more than other employees, these employees need more motivation.

2. Critical to be fair and unbiased

Why Employee Rewards App is a Must-have for Organizations

Managers often utilize all available resources to motivate their employees.

This might result in managers ignoring underperformers and focusing solely on top performers when it comes to rewards and recognition.

Hence a truly deserving employee might miss out on a spot award for a significant achievement, due to his or her overall performance history.

3. Might motivate underperformers to do better

Work from Home

Not rewarding underperformers for their record is not only unfair but also counterproductive.

The manager might be missing out on an important opportunity to motivate an underperformer and put him or her back on track.

A top performer who may not truly deserve the award might still receive it due to their track record, but this may not significantly impact their motivation levels.

Our Final Perspective

Hence, we recommend that awards, especially spot awards, be given based on the immediate achievements of employees, rather than their past track records.

Awards should be treated as awards – it okay to reward underperformers for their achievements if they meet the criteria!

Sagar Chaudhuri

Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of experience in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings. Previously, Sagar has held 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

To stay updated on the latest HiFives blogs, follow us on Twitter (@MyHiFives)

HiFives is a global employee rewards, recognition and engagement SaaS platform that enables organizations to digitize, automate and transform their employee experience. It is used by 100+ large enterprises, small businesses and startups in manufacturing, retail, technology, financial services and media, across 25+ countries.