In the light of the Era of Great Resignation, terms like employee engagement, employee retention, and employee motivation have gained a lot of traction in the past few years. Many organizations have started to focus on creating a positive and healthy work environment for employees to learn and grow.
This focus has mostly been directed towards employee engagement and retention strategies, which is proved statistically too (employee engagement increases productivity and is 21% more profitable). The strategies are devised by keeping in mind the objectives of the organization and the targets that are set for achieving them. With the increased attention towards establishing a healthy work environment, there have been many aspects that have been used for implementing these measures.
A key aspect in these strategies is employee recognition and rewards. Many organizations are starting to implement employee R&R programs to boost employee satisfaction and reduce absenteeism and turnover. Over 91% of HR professionals believe that recognition and reward make employees more likely to stay. Here is where platforms like Vega HR come into the foray because of the range of their rewards, dashboards and interface, amongst many other features. The dynamic nature of HRM means that an ideal employee R&R structure is always evolving to inculcate new aspects in its program. Here’s our pick of the top 8 recent trends in Employee Rewards programs that can impact your organization:
8 Ways to Increase Employee Motivation using Rewards
- Create a Roadmap With Employee Rewards
Employee growth is a very important focus point for organizations. Employees are looking for opportunities where they can learn, grow and contribute towards the organization. So setting up a roadmap with employee incentives at various checkpoints is an impactful morale booster as it gives clarity about the scope of their role in the organization, along with tracking their progress to see where they stand and where they can improve. Setting an ecosystem that rewards employees not only for their performances and mindset but also identifies their progress sets a positive, encouraging vibe in the workplace.
- Create a combination of Monetary and Non Monetary Rewards
Employee incentives have evolved in the past few years. Non monetary rewards had become important aspects of employee engagement and retention strategies and increased the range of rewards for employees. This range also means that we get to mix and match employees’ rewards, and are able to create an element of surprise for every reward, which in turn means a mix of healthy competition and goal oriented quality performances.
- Create a Sense of Excitement Among Employees About The Rewards
The main objective of an employee rewards and recognition platform is to engage and motivate employees, and ensure that they are putting in their 100% efforts. Setting up a rewards platform is a great way to incentivize performance, but it must be planned in such a way that employees are excited about the rewards. Statistics show that business productivity increases by 31% when employees are happy. If the excitement recedes, it may or may not affect productivity as the objective to incentivize performance is not fulfilled. Mixing and matching the rewards, celebrating with big announcements and recognizing aspects other than performance are key factors in generating excitement consistently.
- Set Optimal Performance Benchmarks to Uplift Employee Productivity
Since the objective of an employee rewards and recognition platform is to uplift employee morale and boost productivity, along with maintaining a healthy work environment, it is important to set the optimal performance standards where employees need to work hard for but are realistically achievable. These standards must align with the goals and objectives of the organization with regards to their growth, so that it is a win-win for everyone involved. Performance standards also serve as criteria for performance evaluation and to track the progress of employees. This can also be incentivized by setting rewards for different steps of progress, along with a substantial reward for achieving the targets.
- Eliminate Any Kind of Dissent against The R&R Program
Transparency is a key factor in incentivizing employees. Any sort of dissent about the structure can have a negative impact on the entire program which would make any effort in this direction redundant. According to Salesforce, 86% of employees and executives cite the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main causes for workplace failures. So it is important to take regular feedback from employees with the help of surveys and interviews to gauge the impact of such a program and tighten the loose ends wherever required. If this is not done regularly, the dissent might grow into unrest and the entire initiative might backfire.
- Reward Aspects Other Than Performance
Employee incentives are not limited to just performance. There are many aspects of an ideal employee which can positively impact the organization – teamwork, integrity, honesty, cooperation and many other aspects. These are equally important in defining the work culture of the organization and apt recognition for the same would be a great motivation for everyone. With this view, peer to peer recognition can play a vital role here as inter – employee communication can grow stronger within the organization
- Create A Rewards Cycle to Avoid Monotony
Employee excitement and anticipation plays a key role in making an employee R&R program a success. By consistently mixing and matching the rewards for different kinds of performances, it develops a sense of suspense and excitement amongst the employees. It is important to note that the value of the rewards must remain the same to avoid any sort of dissent later on. A rewards cycle allows us to play with the probability of the range of rewards at our disposal.
- Encourage Peer to Peer Recognition
Peer to peer recognition has been an integral part of every employee engagement strategy. It fosters better employee retention, inculcates the positive values which the organization stands for and most importantly, ensures that the rewards system is not just a top down approach. This also ensures that no milestone, however small it is, is missed out by the organization.
Concluding Thoughts
An employee recognition platform has many aspects that make it work, but it must be regularly monitored and improved. Regular feedback gives insights about the employees’ opinions and can help repair the negative aspects. Vega HR is a platform that appeals to all the concerns pertaining to employee recognition while also being an amazing and intuitive employee rewards and recognition platform that caters to your needs for the betterment of your organization. Incentivizing employees has contributed to reducing attrition rates and absenteeism. It has helped increase the productivity and the scope of the overall growth of an organization by focusing on employee morale and motivation.