Organization want to see some tangible benefits of employee rewards and recognition programs to justify their investment. Hence it is important for the HR team to demonstrate these program benefits on a continuous basis.
At HiFives, we have had long and deep engagement with our clients for their employee rewards and recognition programs. Based on this, here are a few of the benefits of employee rewards and recognition programs:
Good employee rewards and recognition can motivate good performance by employees. This would have a positive impact on key business metrics such as revenues, costs, customer satisfaction, etc.
For example, an employee rewarded for good customer service is likely to continue performing at the same or higher level. It might also motivate his peers to demonstrate higher levels of performance.
The same would be true for an employee who is being recognized for cutting costs or driving innovation.
Rewards and recognition programs can drive desired behavior from employees in sync with the organization’s core values. These core values may include ethics, commitment, customer-centricity, passion or collaboration.
For example, employee who met a critical deadline might be eligible for an award under the category of commitment.
Another case could be that of an employee who resisted attempts to secure a contract by offering ‘personal incentives’.
In both these examples, the behavior and the outcomes should be kept separate.
The organization can drive specific values such as innovation, process efficiency, punctuality, social awareness, etc. through these recognition programs.
For example, employees can be incentivized for good suggestions on process improvement.
Another example could be that of recognizing an employee who participated in a important social initiative outside of the organization.
It is difficult to incentivize such behaviors through the traditional performance assessment and regular compensation system. Hence employee rewards and recognition could be a useful tool in the HR team’s toolkit to drive such behaviors.
Employee rewards and recognition can help create a positive atmosphere of celebration of achievements within the organization. It can help foster individual-level motivation and overall team spirit. Open recognition of employee achievements can go a long way in building a great culture of appreciation.
It is important for organizations to track the benefits of their employee rewards and recognition programs and to take action based on the gap between the actual and expected results.
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