Many of the award programs I have helped develop or transition have incorporated new recognition and incentive components. These state of the art recognition and incentive programs often involve creative ways to entice reward program participation, provide participants with an outlet for recognizing co-workers and allow program information to be disseminated quickly and easily.
Trend #1- Generating Excitement
There are many ways that companies can entice participation by generating excitement for the employee recognition or incentive program. The most common method this year was incorporating themes into award program websites and communications such as posters and newsletters. Many of my clients ask participants for their input on possible themes to spice up the recognition or incentive program in order to draw attention and enthusiasm to the program.
Trend #2- Encouraging Peer Recognition
Many of my current clients expanded their recognition programs to allow employees to visit the recognition website and submit nominations for peer recognition awards. I also spent a lot of time this year with new clients developing guidelines for their peer to peer recognition programs. Modern reward programs allow all employees to give kudos to co-workers for outstanding performances, lending a helping hand or going above and beyond.
Trend #3- Asking for Participant Feedback
I feel that one of the most important trends was that companies realized participant feedback at the initial set up and throughout the employee recognition or incentive program makes a huge difference in the way the program is accepted and deemed relevant by participants. By defining expectations and allowing participants to suggest how they want to be awarded in the future, reward programs can be more successful than ever. Modern recognition and incentive programs give opportunities for participants to submit feedback online and depending on the size of the workplace, via suggestion boxes.
Trend #4- Communicating by Email
Emailing participants is the quickest and easiest way to disseminate award program information. For my clients that could view emails in html, often they added photos of award events or pictures of the merchandise awards to their emails to add a little pizazz. Keeping everyone informed on the progress of the reward program not only generates excitement, it increases participation over time. Emails should always include a link to the award program website to encourage users to become familiar with the online reward program.
It is the time of year when companies begin to look at their award program results and decide how they should tweak the recognition or incentive program for the upcoming year. By incorporating some of these trends into your employee recognition or incentive program, you will be able to keep the award program fresh and relevant to employees, thus increasing participation and reaching your objectives more rapidly.