Not all employee rewards and recognition programs are the same. When designed effectively, your program should motivate your employees to achieve certain business goals. When certain benchmarks are made, your employees are rewarded appropriately. In the end, your business is stronger, and so is the bond between your employees and the company.
Here are the elements of a successful employee rewards program:
Inform your employees:
What exactly do you want your employees to do? Start by determining what goals you want your business to achieve as a result of your employee rewards program. Whether it’s an increase in sales, or increasing market share of a particular product, clearly identifying your goals is an important first step.
Don’t stop at just your sales team when determining your program participants. Consider other employees outside of a sales function or external team members who should also be included. Are there service teams that help lead customers to a sale? What about your sales support team that has direct customer contact? Do you have channel partners who can be included? Take all of these audiences into consideration when designing your rewards program.
Engage your team:
Next, you must determine the rules of the program, and then communicate those rules to all of your program participants. Your employees should clearly understand what their expectations are, and what they need to do to succeed within the reward and recognition program. Communicating often and in a variety of ways is critical to program success.
Ensuring you have the right technology to support your reward program is also important. Don’t adopt a DIY approach that includes multiple spreadsheets and disparate data. Instead, look for technology that organizes your reward program, clearly showcases key data, and is user-friendly for your program participants. If your employees experience frustration because the rewards portal won’t load, or they can’t access the rewards program on their mobile devices, they will quickly lose interest and you won’t meet your business goals.
Rewarding your employees:
Cash isn’t a good motivator, and therefore isn’t a good reward for your top performers. People use cash on everyday items, therefore it’s not very memorable or exciting. Because of this, your participants will forget what actions they completed to earn the cash in the first place. That doesn’t help with long-term motivation.
Instead, reward your team by giving them a choice. This includes offering:
- eCatalog with varying rewards at different point levels. Top prizes include technology, athletic equipment, eGift cards to popular retailers, event tickets or individual travel discounts.
- Prepaid cards that can be both single load or reloadable.
- Group travel to popular destinations for your top performers and their families.
Evaluating your program:
Did your rewards and recognition program move the needle and increase your bottom line? Determine just how successful your rewards and recognition program really was by checking to see if you exceeded your original goals. You don’t have to wait until the program is completed to start measuring success. Take a look at your key performance data along the way and adjust your program accordingly.
Interested in seeing an incentives and recognition platform that combines all these elements? Learn more about the power of PerformX® here.
