Do you measure your employee recognition programme? At bountiXP we are firm believers in the power of measurement. After all, if you don’t keep track of the effectiveness of an employee recognition initiative, you could end up pretty frustrated when you reach a stalemate in terms of engagement, with no way of figuring out how or why things went south.
Here are a few guidelines that will help you to pave the way for expert measurement of the recognition initiatives within your company:
Why you should measure your employee recognition programme
Measurement is more than just a nice to have – it is an imperative aspect of the successful implementation of any recognition strategy. At the outset, most business owners are biting at the bit to get their programmes up and running, which often leads to an unbalanced initiative that is not tailored for holistic effectiveness, and is basically impossible to measure. This is why it’s so important to choose or create a programme that has metrics built in – it’s the simplest way to keep track of both your successes and your shortcomings.
Here are a few aspects of any recognition programme that should be measured consistently:
- Implementation. This enables you to assess if the initial rollout phase of your programme was successful.
- Participation. This includes employee and management participation – you want to know whether your programme is being used, and by how many of the key roleplayers.
- Satisfaction levels. This allows you to benchmark your recognition efforts, build on successes and address shortcomings.
- Productivity. In the end, recognition efforts are put in place to encourage engagement and boost productivity. As such, you need a baseline of productivity indicators that will inform your measurements down the line.
How to measure your recognition programme
Now that you know which aspects of your recognition programme should be measured, let’s get down to the how of it all.
Measuring implementation:
Implementation starts with your managers. Any recognition initiative worth its salt requires a team effort. You can measure your implementation success at the hand of:
- How many managers have been trained to implement the programme
- How many managers are on track with training and upskilling in this regard
- How many awards are handed out and/or how many nominations and notes are sent (if you’re using a technological platform to track it)
Measuring participation:
Participation should be measured both in terms of employees and managers. In an ideal world, participation from these two groups should be on par – you want your employees to use your recognition platform at least as much as your managers do in order to keep things on an even keel.
- Measuring employees participation. How many people form a part of the group that has been enrolled in the recognition programme? That is the number of employees who should be participating on the platform established to support the initiative. If some aren’t, you need to find out why, and see what you can do to reach all the various roleplayers. You should also keep track of how regularly they interact, and to which extent.
- Measuring management participation. Every manager that acts as a custodian of the programme should be actively involved and engaged in this regard. If they’re not, retraining may be in order, or you should have a sit-down to ensure that they are on board with the programme and its goals.
Measuring satisfaction:
Satisfaction is a hard thing to measure, but fortunately there is a silver bullet that makes it a lot easier: surveys. There are very few business owners who have the time for a daily check-in with each of their employees. Surveys allow you to get an overall measurement of satisfaction within your business, so you may act accordingly. There are a few types of surveys that have proven very effective:
- Pulse surveys. Pulse surveys are nice and short – between one and five questions long. It is very useful for focusing on targeted areas of improvement and other business objectives by providing real-time insights and cultivating a culture of continuous communication.
- Twice-daily happiness index. If a company has specific pain points or areas of satisfaction they want to measure, this method is a create way to go. It normally includes two questions (one scaled, one open-ended) that are asked twice daily during times of transition, etc. Collating and analysing these answers provide insights into any current trends that may be affecting satisfaction in the workplace.
- In-depth satisfaction survey. These take time and should only be employed once or twice a year to encourage participation. It normally includes questions along the line of ‘How satisfied are you with your current workplace and job?’ ‘How well does your workplace meet your expectations?’ As well as more focused questions that pertain to the company’s industry, clients, projects and more.
TOP TIP: Surveys should always be anonymous. If you don’t provide your participants with anonymity, your results will always be skewed, which defeats the purpose entirely.
Measuring productivity:
Ah – the magic word! Productivity. It is what every business owner craves. After all, the more productive your employees are, the better the business will do, and what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Happy, productive workplaces make for happy, productive employees, which in turn results in improved profit margins, budget increases, raises and all sorts of wonderful things like that.
Here are three important baselines that should be established before the implementation of your recognition programme, and then measured at least twice a year thereafter:
- What was your percentage of retention before programme implementation?
- What was your turnover percentage before programme implementation?
- What were your levels of productivity before programme implementation?
Following these guidelines will enable you to keep your finger on the pulse of your internal engagement initiatives. Keep your eye on the blog in coming weeks and months for more expert insight on important aspects of reward programmes, such as the need to measure your recognition programme.
At bountiXP, we take pride in presenting business owners with a powerful synthesis of behaviour science, people analytics and responsive technology that drive workplace culture and deliver results.
Are you serious about improving workplace satisfaction at your company? Why don’t you get the ball rolling with our employee recognition platform for free? Simply click the button below to get started.