Workplace Recognition and Incentive Programs
Recognition has a proven track record of engaging employees and is especially critical after a long, lean period, when employees have often been overstretched and under-rewarded. A recent Manpower study showed that over 60 percent of workers plan to look for new jobs as soon as the economy provides opportunities. After a couple of years of the “lucky-to-have-a-job” message, employees are looking for more stability, opportunity, and appreciation. Proving to a tired workforce that they are individually appreciated may be the only way to engage them and combat exodus through the recovery. A one-size-fits-all approach to recognition programs is not the answer and instead, may leave too many employees feeling cynical, disengage those who are “borderline” and lead them to conclude management “doesn’t even know what I value” — increasing...
In the past few years, employee engagement has become one of the biggest and fastest-growing management trends, and with good reason: There is ample evidence it works. While part of this is common sense – an engaged employee is almost by definition a happier, more productive employee – hard numbers back it up as well. As part of its 2007-2008 Global Workforce Study, consulting firm Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson) surveyed 90,000 employees in 18 countries about a number of topics, including what drives engagement – the desire and willingness of employees to go the extra mile in their jobs, to put in discretionary effort. While the firm came up with a number of answers about how companies drive engagement, the most eye-catching part of the...
The 2009 Hay Group study shows the Best Companies for Leadership to be right at the cutting edge of current trends in demographics and employment. Recognizing concerns about work/life balance and the wider social contribution of their work, they are much more likely to make it easy for people to work from home – and they use their corporate social responsibility programs to attract employees. The best companies are almost twice as likely to have a high proportion of women in senior posts. And nearly all of the best companies look for people with an appreciation of global issues, compared with less than two-thirds of their peers. This indicates they recognize that in today's market,...
Companies who want to achieve outstanding performance need to be clear about their business strategy and objectives. Their strategy needs to be understandable and consistently applied. It needs to be part of the organization's culture. Once understood, the organization's reward strategy needs to be aligned with achieving those business objectives. The approach seems logical, but it takes a coordinated, concentrated effort to accomplish such an alignment. Studies have shown that if followed, tying business strategy to performance management will reap improved organizational performance.Another important component of organizational performance is having the right talent, in the right place at the right time; in other words, talent management. Understanding what competencies are required to accomplish the business objectives is the starting point. Then, ensuring that your talent reward strategy is aligned to...
