Having an Employee Recognition or Incentive Program Is Valuable – Making It the Best is Critical

November 8, 2013 by

incentive program rewardsTwo recent publications, the 2013 Incentive Market Study (Incentive Federation, Inc.) and the 2013 Colloquy Loyalty Census, present a number of very interesting facts and observations about the recognition, incentive, and loyalty market. Among the more salient of those facts are:

  •  74% of U.S. businesses use non-cash rewards to recognize and reward key audiences, and
  • on average, U.S. individuals and households are enrolled in more than 20 loyalty programs.

Clearly, incentive, employee recognition or loyalty program has become a well-established and essential feature of U.S. commerce – for both the sponsor and the program participant. But that (fairly obvious) observation led me to a couple of questions that bear further examination:

1 – What are those businesses in the 26% that don’t sponsor recognition and incentive programs giving up?

2 – How does the program sponsor make his/her program stand out from all those competing programs in which their customers and/or employees are participating?

The answer to the first question is – a lot! As we point out in the Best Practices pages of our website, employee recognition and incentive programs are uniquely suited vehicles for communicating in a meaningful way with your employees and best customers – and for obtaining critical data from them via key performance indicators. So, if you’re part of the 26%, you may want to reconsider and examine the possible benefits of offering your own recognition or incentive program.

And the answer to the second question lies largely in the same Best Practices to which I refer above. The best programs:

  • create a value proposition that truly resonates with the participant,
  • award/recognize their participants frequently and consistently,
  • continuously analyze results and make appropriate adjustments, and above all
  • they communicate, communicate, communicate (to borrow from a popular real estate mantra).

If your program does these things well, it will become differentially valuable to your participant – and thus separate itself from those competitor offerings found in your participant’s portfolio of programs.

We invite you contact us if we can help on either of these fronts.

Employee Recognition – Positively Impacting Engagement, Morale and Performance

November 4, 2013 by

Employee recognition and incentive programs help improve employee engagement, lift morale, and improve performance.  Positive results, however, are not automatic.  Many times programs are implemented for the right reasons, but fail because of various factors directly tied to program design and communication. I was recently reminded of this through two separate encounters; one with a… Read more »

November: Autumn, Turkeys, and Employee Recognition

November 1, 2013 by

November has always been one of my favorite months. The trees are changing colors, the air is cool, and turkey…lots of turkey.  With November comes my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving! I love spending time with family and friends, eating all different kinds of food, but most importantly the message of the holiday: thankfulness. A popular practice… Read more »

Surveys – Important Tool in your Employee Recognition Toolbox

October 29, 2013 by

While all employees have opinions and ideas it is often difficult to gain feedback from them about such topics as new product introductions, employee satisfaction, general company policies and procedures, and more.  Employee surveys can be a valuable tool, but as Reuven Gorsht points out in this recent Forbes post, the average employee survey response… Read more »

Community Service and Employee Recognition

October 28, 2013 by

Service projects benefit the community but they can also be an important part of your employee recognition program.  Planned projects help to build camaraderie, reinforce corporate culture, and provide employees with a structured way to contribute their time and talents. Coordinating a community service event may seem like a daunting task, but with careful planning… Read more »

Employee Recognition: Not a Quest but a Journey

October 24, 2013 by

My last post – Recognition Matters Because People are Alike All Over – discussed some of the benefits of meaningful employee recognition and offered a few points for consideration.  Implementing an employee recognition program is like taking a journey.  Successfully navigating the “Path of Recognition” requires up-front planning (program design), the proper vehicle (program platform… Read more »