Investing in an employee recognition solution is kind of a big deal. After all, if it works well, you’re setting yourself up for some exceptional productivity-boosting, morale-advancing, bottomline-enhancing employee engagement. On the other hand, if it doesn’t do the trick, you’ll be undoing all the good work that went into getting C-suite buy-in, rolling out the programme, etc.
In short, when you pick an employee recognition solution it needs to be all of the awesome. Fortunately, there are a few ways to check that you are, in fact, investing in a recognition and reward platform that will result in a whole lot of yassss and YAY.
Here are five things to bear in mind when you consider your options when selecting an employee recognition solution:
1. What kinds of recognition does it allow for?
The positive effects of employee recognition on employee performance has been well-documented. The statistics are also telling. For instance, 40% of employees would put more effort into their work if they were recognised more often, while a lack of recognition drives as many as 44% of the workforce to keep their eyes peeled for greener pastures. The gist is, recognition is always worth it.
However, there are a few important kinds of recognition you need to consider, and ideally you want your employee recognition solution to make provision for all of these, namely:
- Peer-to-peer social recognition that enables everyone in the organisation to send and receive messages of thanks, praise, appreciation and support.
- Peer-to-peer performance recognition that empowers everyone to nominate a colleague or team to receive a points reward for the value they add to the organisation, which will then be approved by a manager or budget controller.
- Leader-driven recognition that allows managers or budget controllers to recognise and reward employees, reinforcing the link between strategy, culture and success.
Bonus points if the platform provider can also create custom recognition processes that are role or event specific to tailor recognition around your organisation’s structure and strategy.
2. Are there in-platform communication options?
If you want your employees to connect and resonate with your company’s purpose, values and mission you need communication to reach the right people at the right time. A good employee recognition platform features various communication tools that help to facilitate all this.
Look out for programmes that feature tools like:
- A company newsfeed that allows employees to view recognition in real time and join in the celebration as messages of accomplishment are shared across the organisation.
- A company page builder on which to create rich-media custom content to communicate key messages across your business.
- Interactive profiles and personal dashboards where employees can monitor their own personal performance and engagement levels.
- Direct chat to facilitate information flow and idea sharing between individuals.
- In-app notifications and emails to keep employees informed of any relevant messages they may have missed.
Check out our YouTube channel for awesome videos on everything from the science of employee recognition to creating an internal communications strategy for enhanced engagement.
3. How enticing are the rewards?
In order to reinforce behaviours that drive organisational success, you need reward experiences that are meaningful, memorable and personal. Ideally, you want to opt for a platform that hosts a comprehensive range of employee-centric rewards, such as:
- Digital vouchers for everything from airtime and data to retail brands and experiences across various spending categories. Bonus points if the vouchers can be gifted to others or donated to charities to reinforce prosocial behaviours like kindness and consideration.
- Reloadable awards cards for points-based programmes that are easy to activate and designed with self-managed security features for fuss-free risk management.
- Virtual cards that enable employees to enjoy secure, online shopping at e-commerce stores.
- Experience rewards like shark cage diving, scuba diving, superbiking and skydiving that make memories for a lifetime.
- Travel rewards – these are consistently rated as the ultimate reward and are likely to remain so, even though there are currently COVID-related restrictions in place.
4. Will you be able to measure the success of your recognition efforts?
In order to know if your programme is successful, you need to track performance on a consistent basis. A good employee recognition solution will combine in-depth programme knowledge with a data-driven approach to prove the connection between behaviour and business performance.
Managers, administrators and super users of the platform should be able to analyse, track and report on performance recognition and engagement data. These analytics are a rich source of competitive advantage and can be used to improve both people management and performance.
Look out for a system that draws on a variety of data points to generate easy-to-interpret people analytics and talent data. If it displays these findings in dashboard visualisations that help to enhance programme effectiveness, all the better.
5. How difficult will it be to deploy and use?
To encourage company-wide acceptance and adoption of your shiny new SaaS-based employee recognition platform, you want a system that is built with the intention of a comprehensive engagement solution – one that is self-manageable and ultimately, self-sustaining.
You are likely to see a much faster return on investment if the traditional, lengthy initial implementation process can be supplanted by an accelerated set-up experience, backed by effective online training. As such, it’s best to look for a provider that offers support for successful programme delivery ranging from programme design, through set-up and onboarding, to training, launch and reward fulfilment.
Checking on these five things before you sign on the dotted line to invest in an employee recognition solution will ensure that you get exactly what you need the first time around.
Check back soon for more expert insight into the world of future-proof HR. In the meantime, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for awesome video content on everything from addressing common barriers to employee engagement, to creating a fool-proof communication strategy.