My Company wants to expand our Recognition and Reward Programs to our 20,000 international employees what advice can you give us?

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:11:42 +0000

I applaud your company for seeing the value and wanting to rollout your Recognition and Reward programs to all your employees! Let me be the first one to say one size does not fit all. I would encourage you to form a work team of employees that represent the each country. The key to a successful international implementation will be to ensure you are being cultural sensitive to the norms of each country. I also would recommend that you have HR from each of those countries involved in the “sign off” to ensure all the program materials, awards and examples are all culturally relevant for their country. Of course your resource provider should be able to provide you guidance on this as well. Don’t forget to also include the review of how any awards/points needed to be treated from a tax standpoint and the cost of shipping as well. The other item you will also want to review is the pay parity of each country. You want to ensure the award is meaningful to their current salary level.

The cultural of your company needs to the driver of how these programs look and feel. As always your Recognition and Reward Strategy needs to imbedded into your company’s brand, mission and values. Often times companies have failed to do this for their offices that are not US based, this is a great opportunity to include that messaging and to help drive engagement of all your employees worldwide.

In today’s global operating environment having a way to say “Gracias”, “Merci or “Tarima kasi Tulu” to all your workforce is key to engaging your workforce and for bringing people together to focus on your company’s mission.

Is Recognition less meaningful if you do not give a reward along with the recognition?

admin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:10:32 +0000

There are many forms of Recognition and Reward that can bestowed on an employee. Recognition if its purest form is most meaningful when it is from the heart and from a respected boss or colleague. Mark Twain has said “I can live for 2 months on a good compliment,” Recognition needs to be personable and specific not spread like peanut butter or generic. When recognition is given in a very sincere way like using the person’s name, citing what they did to earn the recognition and often given in front of their teammates, it can be like a gift that will not be forgotten. Research shows us that employees need recognition every 7 days from their management to feel engaged and “noticed” Giving away “stuff” with recognition can be a crunch since you will often place more emphasis on the reward vs. what someone did to earn the recognition. Try recognizing a stranger that is assisting you, see how simple it is to make them feel valued and appreciated. I bet you will also notice them smile and appear more eager to help you. (And you did not give them anything tangible either!) Now, imagine the power of your company if all your managers recognized your employees every 7 days in a meaningful way.

Perks Incentive Blog

My Company wants to expand our Recognition and Reward Programs to our 20,000 international employees what advice can you give us?

Is Recognition less meaningful if you do not give a reward along with the recognition?