Last week I wrote about making employee award programs relevant for all and this week I really wanted to follow up that article and discuss how an organization with a diverse employee base can ensure the award program appeals to all demographics. In the past 50 years, our company has witnessed many changes in the recognition and incentive industry. Companies are moving from handing out logo’d merchandise to delivering brand name, lifestyle merchandise. In addition, the computer age has allowed catalog or paper-based programs to evolve into sophisticated online incentive programs that offer an innovative employee award program. With all of the possibilities and impact a modern employee recognition program can have, it is not surprising that many of my clients question what the recipients would prefer. It seems that as different generations enter the workforce population, tastes change. How can one employee award program appeal to a diverse corporate audience?
The key to making sure your employee award program really appeals to everyone involved is knowing your participants. Employees with access to the internet at work would probably prefer the online gift program, whereas employees without might tend to prefer mail and catalog gift programs. A younger group of employees would probably prefer access to the online gift program whereas an older group of employees might tend to prefer access to mail-in and catalog orders. Knowing the demographics of the audience can help a person decide what would be best for the employee award program. For a diverse group of employees, an innovative hybrid award program can be created with the choice of online redemption and mail or fax redemption. Many of my clients who work in large organizations will use this method to ensure that everyone feels they can easily find out information about the employee award program and place an order when it comes time.
The other component to a successful employee award program is the actual awards being given. Corporate gifts vary widely and offer options for different sexes, tastes and age levels. Lifestyle merchandise can range from name brand bicycles to karaoke machines and from designer jewelry to paid hotel and airline tickets. Effective employee reward programs offer the total experience to a recipient. This means that he or she will have plenty of high quality, name brand merchandise to select from and that the gift is backed by a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee.
Catering to large audience can be frustrating when one does not evaluate all of the options a modern employee award programs has to offer. By looking at what type of program would serve the audience best, an organization can ensure a rewarding experience for all participants.