Points Programs

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Attract and Retain Talent: Top Ten Tips for Employee Recognition Success

Given the current economic climate in the United States, many organizations are cutting costs at all levels in an effort to minimize the effects of a sulking economy. One way to reduce costs is to retain the employees you currently employ by providing employees with recognition awards. By utilizing the tips below you can maximize the impact your employee recognition award program has on your bottom line.

10. Motivate employees with tangible name brand merchandise

9. Get feedback on the employee award program

8. Have a written strategy for the goals of the employee award program

7. Celebrate employee years of service milestones with public praise and recognition

6. Accompany public recognition with a gift

5. Communicate the program through different media

4. Allow recipients to redeem online or via mail

3. Make all employees eligible for the award program

2. Receive regular reports and re-evaluate the award program on at least an annual basis

1. Make employees feel like the valued asset they truly are

Motivate employees with tangible name brand merchandise-As a recent article on the HR Zone UK Blogconfirms, the best employee award programs offer recipients non-cash awards as goals are met. By offering a plethora of gifts within a single price point, each employee will be able to select the gift of his or her choice.

Get feedback on the employee award program-Including employees in the beginning and gathering feedback throughout an employee award program helps to make employees feel their voice counts. This vital feedback should be used when the time comes to re-evaluate the employee awards. Finding out what will motivate employees best will help make the award program a success as long as their advice is followed. Susan Heathfield made a good point in her article on What People Want from Work, “Pay attention to what is important to the people you employ for high motivation and positive morale.”

Have a written strategy for the goals of the employee award program-Having the goals and awards posted for employees not only promotes the program but also makes it clear what one must do to reach a goal. Also, don’t forget to use the employee feedback when establishing goals and getting them in writing. For my clients this seems to be a given, but a recent poll suggests that 52% of organizations do not have a written strategy behind their employee recognition programs.

Celebrate employee years of service milestones with public praise and recognition-Susan Heathfield, author of Keep Your Best: Retention Tips on About.com, advises “Recognize and celebrate success. Mark their passage as important goals are achieved.” I would have to agree that in cases where it can be arranged, such as during a monthly meeting, etc public recognition should be given to employees who have reached major milestones in their careers.

Accompany public recognition with a gift-When appropriate, giving a recipient either the symbol of a gift, i.e. a certificate for redeeming a gift or an actual gift, which can easily be taken home by the employee, will definitely help to positively reinforce the employee’s exemplary behavior. When other employees see employees being valued coupled with the investment in the employee (i.e. the gift), this truly helps to communicate your commitment to employees.

Communicate the program through different media-Each employee is different and communicating the employee award program is vital to encourage employees to participate. Depending on the variety of demographics or lack thereof at the workplace, emails, posters and statements, just to name a few, can be integrated in the employee award program. To read a full article on the different types of media that can be used, please refer to my previous entry on the topic Communicating Reward Programs Effectively.

Allow recipients to redeem online or via mail-Employees should be given instructions for ordering his or her gift when given the award. They should be concise and allow recipients to redeem via website redemption via regular mail if not by other means deemed appropriate.

Make all employees eligible for the award program-Nothing seems more discouraging than finding out that you are excluded from a favored group of employees at work. If the employee award program is not fair for all employees then it will not be a success at achieving organizational goals. Please note that exempting employees or making rewards impossible to earn but for a select few is different from giving employees who reach different goals different caliber gifts.

Receive regular reports and re-evaluate the award program on at least an annual basis-I advise clients to look at who has redeemed, what they have redeemed and what percentage of the total eligible employees are redeeming on at least a quarterly basis. This information should allow a person or committee to evaluate how popular the employee award program is and also what items are most popular for employees to order. Goals and awards can then be adjusted if need be on an annual basis.

Make employees feel like the valued asset they truly are-Employees should feel that their efforts are recognized as a major contribution to the overall success of the organization. When you make employees feel like a valued asset they will stop paying attention to how your competitors are treating their employees and will instead focus more on the tasks at hand.

By utilizing the top ten tips above, you can maximize the benefits an employee award program will have on your organizational productivity and turnover/ hiring related costs. If you have found a tip that helped to make your employee recognition program more successful, please feel free to post a comment below.

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