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Making Employee Recognition More Rewarding
Making Employee Recognition More Rewarding

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In a competitive business environment, business owners are looking for ways to improve their quality, and sustain themselves while reducing costs. The transformation of the business climate has also led to a drastic change in workplace culture — changing the way HR functions evolve. With talent shortages and high attrition rates, there isn’t a more important time to keep employees' morale high and find effective ways to counter existing challenges. 

Today, employees are looking to get far more out of their employers’ than they did a decade ago. One such way to boost employee motivation is by introducing employee rewards and recognition (R&R) programs to drive a cultural shift and change work habits. 

Delivering a Near-Perfect Employee Experience 

Employee rewards and recognition is the driving force behind many successful companies in delivering a near-perfect employee experience. According to a recent SHRM survey, 56% of HR professionals said that rewards and recognition programs help with recruiting new candidates. 

Employee rewards and recognition systems ensure employee engagement and productivity, help build a positive company culture, improve employee-manager relationships, boost team morale, empower employees, improve employee retention, provide timely and continuous feedback, and increase employer brand loyalty. 

Although these two terms; rewards and recognition — are used interchangeably, they should be considered separately. Employee rewards systems are used to motivate employees at the individual or group level. They are tangible, could be transactional or monetary in nature. These are an added cost to the company, and could include stock options, variable pay, profit sharing etc. Employee recognition programs, on the other hand, are more relational, intangible and a way to form an emotional bond with the employee by making them feel more appreciated. Recognition can take on many forms; regular recognition events, privileges, additional support, coupons, symbolic recognition, peer-to-peer recognition, etc. 

Technology in Employee Rewards & Recognition 

While many organizations might have some systems in place for rewards and recognition, a lot of them face challenges and some of the reasons might be as follows;

  • Lack of digitization of rewarding and recognizing employees 
  • A generic program to cater to all employees which might not suit an organization 
  • Appreciation is limited to a certain segment of the workforce 
  • Ill-timed or infrequent rewards and recognition systems 

The constructive use of technology can help reward and recognize employees more effectively and in a timely manner; driving better performance and company-wide behavioral change. Here’s how:

Instant Recognition: It is considered a good practice to recognize and reward an employee as soon as they have achieved a goal. Timely rewards and recognition have the power to motivate even the most dormant of employees; and also displays that employees have an equal possibility to achieve success It also ensures that the level of productivity is sustained between reward periods. 

Data-Driven Insights: With a data-driven approach employer’s can keep track of adoption trends, and measure the programs’ success. A software system which provides real-time, actionable and dynamic insights along with pre-built reports, timely nudges and custom data reporting provides personalized recognition to match an individual or group’s achievements. A system which identifies the desired performance, measures behavior based on past achievements, determines appropriate rewards as well as communicates the program's benefits is the way forward for organizations. Furthermore, with a full-suite analytics platform organizations can assist managers track an individual's goals, identify top performers while eliminating bias and improving transparency. 

Ease of Budgeting: R&R programs can be expensive especially for small businesses, but with the implementation of an appropriate HRMS software or analytics platform organizations can determine sufficient budget allocation for a program, as well as track expenses in a single place. Right from automatically replenishing budgets, assigning budget owners and uploading bulk budget templates, organizations can expound budgets as per requirements. 

Creating a People-First Approach 

Businesses all around the world are reeling from the effects of the pandemic, the Great Resignation and economic uncertainty. And, while there might be no silver bullet to solve these issues right away, small steps in the right direction can help move forward. R&R initiatives have little to no use if they are not tracked, centralized and adaptive. Therefore, with an effective, technology-first R&R system in place, employers can create a system that streamlines HR processes, right from onboarding to performance management and even manage routine HR tasks enabling a culture of growth and recognition. Furthermore, with a tech-first approach to R&R, organizations can also identify the employee recognition ROI which is discovering the financial impact of driving behavior change, building culture and retaining talent through recognition.

At a time when the workforce is dominated by a new brand of workforce; millennials and GenZ — not only is motivation and a productive environment important to make employees feel appreciated but also employer’s need to ensure the successful implementation of their R&R programs. This involves adopting a bottom-up approach and communicating with managers, leaders and employees what the intent behind the programs is, and how one can achieve set goals. Lastly, for a successful program there needs to be room for tweaks, improvements and assessments based on the ultimate impact. 

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About Author —

Avinash Gautam — Chief Architect, Vega HR 


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