Incentive & Recognition Programs: Bridging the Disconnect between Design and Impact

Motivating and recognizing your employees’ contribution to the overall growth of your business is really important to the development of a company. An appreciation or an award/reward for the employee creates an effective and positive working environment as well as enhances the employee’s sense of accomplishment, contribution, involvement, and job satisfaction – all of which can improve employee productivity.

This increases customer satisfaction, enhances teamwork and increases retention of quality employees, and lower negative effects such as absenteeism and stress. It all sounds great, but the path to employee happiness isn’t always clear, and setting up an effective recognition strategy doesn’t just happen overnight – it needs plenty of planning and thought to get it right.

Here are 3 ways to craft an impactful incentive & recognition program:

1. Talk to Employees

Your employees are more than willing to tell you what they need to feel properly recognized, so ask them and use the information to make your program that much more appealing. Then follow up, asking them about the program regularly to see how you can tweak and improve accordingly. Also, plan for in-person celebrations and honoring ceremonies when employees reach major milestones, giving them time to relax, reflect, and enjoy the moment.

2. Link Company Goals to Recognition

Many times recognition collapses within an organization because it is not strongly supported from the top down. Sit down with the decision-makers in your organization and decide on specific, concrete goals for your recognition program before implementing it. Do you want to lower turnover, increase engagement, or increase profits? How about all three? Without desired results in mind, it is difficult to track and measure the success of any program.

Research is fundamental to a successful programme. You should spend time researching the different types of recognition schemes, the rewards that will make your workforce go that extra mile, how your employees communicate.

3. Clarify Your Vision

Make sure to document the reasons why you want to start a program. Do you want to inspire and motivate your employees? Increase sales? If you answered the latter, you may want to rethink your motive.

If your motive is to empower your employees so that you can increase the sales of your organization, you are on the right track.