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Employee Engagement Rewards and Recognition

Enhance Employee Wellness with R&R Technology

employee-bonding-in-office

Employee wellness and employee engagement share a symbiotic relationship deep-rooted in the ideology “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace”. The workplace wellness conundrum can be mitigated by the adoption of an apt rewards & recognition platform to incur a feeling of value and appreciation among employees. This blog navigates the salient connection between employee wellbeing and the need for appropriate employee appreciation & recognition in the workplace.

Let’s look at the statistics

  • Globally, depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year in lost productivity.
  • Depression and anxiety reduces cognitive performance about 35% of the time.
  • A 2020 HBR study found that 68% of Millennials and 81% of Gen Z’s have left roles for mental health reasons. 91% of respondents in the survey believed that a company’s culture should support mental health.

In lieu of the above, there has been a subsequent surge in relevant steps taken by organizations worldwide to enhance workplace wellness in order to curb direct and indirect health care costs as well as the consequent ripple effect on organizational growth. The need of the hour is to develop innovative and effective strategies to engage employees while preserving a pleasant employee experience. The adoption of a holistic rewards & recognition platform can help cater to this need.

Leveraging R&R technology to uplift employee wellness

Financial wellness: Financial wellness refers to an employee’s overall financial health and the absence of money-related stress. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), financial stress results in a 34% increase in absenteeism & tardiness and employees who worry about money also miss almost twice as many days per year compared to their unstressed colleagues. In other words: if you can take your employees’ financial distress out of the equation, that’s one step closer to a productive and healthier workforce!

R&R solution: An apt platform can indirectly contribute towards a genuine and fair appraisal outcome. For instance, a unified R&R software captures value-based and performance-based achievements objectively which can be tangible inputs for automated incentive computation or appraisal modules. Thus, a fair and righteous financial boost to employees can be achieved by adopting simple practices related to employee engagement and R&R.

Physical & emotional wellness: Physical health is interconnected to mental & emotional wellbeing. Extending personal support and solace to those suffering from personal crises should be the prime priority of employers who want their employees to go the extra mile when the business needs it. Employers that lend an empathetic ear to their employees, be it through employee pulse surveys, or one-on-ones, create higher levels of employee engagement. It is also imperative to note that when it comes to workplace wellness, the benefits far outweigh the effort required. Inculcation of appreciation and implementation of a few simple practices can bring recognition and wellbeing to the forefront of workplace culture.

R&R solution: An organization that uses a digital unified R&R platform can leverage physical health based benefits such as pharmacy vouchers, home-based wellness services, access to mental health support groups, counselling helplines as well as virtual talks by wellness professionals. The employee recognition tool can also include wellness e-cards (‘Get Well Soon’, ‘We’re there for you’ or ‘You got this!’) to personalize and humanize employee experience.

Studies indicate that employee recognition is one of the five key components to a healthy workforce (the others being work-life balance, health and safety, employee growth and development, and employee involvement). Suffice to say, a holistic R&R platform could be a one-stop game-changer that intertwines employee wellness with engagement as a stepping stone to harboring a people-oriented organization.

If you wish to schedule a demo of our digital R&R platform, kindly reach out to us here.

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Employee Engagement

Overcoming Employee Engagement Challenges in 2022

The HR function has been evolving in the recent years, with an increased pressure on organizations to have a people-centric approach. However, if terms like ‘empathy’, ‘work-life balance’, ‘wellness’, ‘flexibility’ and ‘diversity’ were buzzwords till 2021, they’re likely to become determinants of workforce retention and engagement in 2022. With changing market opportunities and emerging global trends like the viral hashtag #quitmyjob on the internet, the HR community has a pivotal role to play in managing employee expectations and leading them through ambiguity and change. This blog covers the expected employee engagement challenges and their possible solutions that can be adopted by HR leaders in the coming year:

Challenge#1- Weaving wellness into work

As the pandemic hit, organizations were scurrying to manage the toll on their employees’ mental health, owing to forced isolation, job insecurity and fear of the virus. However, even as many regions of the world are settling into an endemic, a new wellness consciousness has seeped into corporate culture. Organizations need to retain the focus on worker wellness if they hope to remain employers of choice

Solution– Investing in mental health support and other wellness benefits above pure financial compensation. Measuring employee sentiment and setting up redressal measures using sentiment analytics, AI-driven chatbots and timely interventions

Challenge#2– Managing organizational change

There has been a rise in gig or contractual workers, even in the knowledge economy, over the last 5 years. Thought leaders predict that this trend will continue in 2022, making it imperative to realign engagement efforts and make benefits more accessible. Additionally, the high rates of turnover among full-time employees also means that the internal talent pool needs to be developed to take on key roles, including leadership roles

Solution– A digital engagement platform can help streamline R&R efforts, track employee data like attendance, performance and sentiment as well as enable better collaboration among on and off-roll workers. Additionally, a virtual L&D program can help equip employees to adapt to emerging organizational requirements

Challenge#3–  Redefining Rewards

It is known that the younger generations in the workforce, particularly Gen Zs, demand regular feedback, fair assessment and timely rewards for their efforts. Additionally, hybrid work has changed the parameters of expected employee behavior. Communication skills, initiative-taking and responsiveness are as important, if not more, as technical skills. Accordingly, organizations need to re-look at their rewards and recognition structure, ensuring that it promotes organizational values and work culture while rewarding performance in the current context

Solution –  Integrating performance data with the organization’s R&R platform; encouraging 360 degree feedback and continuous performance assessment. Expanding the definition of good performance to include behavioral traits and value-driven actions.

The recent years have seen an increasing partnership between the HR and business functions in the form of HR business partners (HRBPs) and roles like Head of Talent Engagement or Chief Wellness Officer. As the movement towards employee centricity matures, HR will need to rely heavily on data and technology to manage employee experience. The coming year will likely see them as stewards of business growth, providing tangible value to the business function through people insights and visible engagement metrics.

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Employee Engagement Organizational Culture

Return to Office- How to Create the 2.0 of your work culture

employees return to office

Return to office is the predominant topic of conversation among employers today. Spurred by the receding pandemic scare, businesses are encouraging employees to resume operations from work premises. However, the process looks far from straightforward and nothing like business as usual. For starters, employees are used to flexibility in work which means that hybrid working will need to be introduced in job functions which do not necessitate on-premise work. Two, organizations need to acknowledge differentiated contexts within which their employees have been working to provide extended support. For example, those involved with infant/elderly/disabled care may continue to require telecommuting to keep giving their best at work. Given that new expectations for the workplace are laid down, how can organizations re-create the charm of the physical office for the employees who are returning? Many argue that it is impossible to go back to the old office culture, but that does not mean its essential elements cannot be retained. Here is how you can plan for an office culture revival:

  • Create Nostalgia

Pick up on the best moments or company highlights like annual day events, outings etc. and start creating a return to office buzz. Maybe you can post pictures with captions like ‘2 years ago today’ on the organization’s employee recognition platform or social wall, inviting them to come back and create new memories. Alternatively, a small ‘welcome back!’ note along with a flower or chocolates can be kept on all employee desks- it is the gesture that counts!

  • Keep Listening

Pulse surveys can be taken at least 2 months prior to an imminent return to decide on how exactly the process will pan out. Employee sentiment can provide guidelines for structuring the hybrid work model. For example, they can be allotted a certain number of days they work remotely for, or the events on which they must be present in office like client meetings or all-hands meetings. Surveys through an employee listening tool need to be continued even as the workforce joins back to keep an ear to the ground and measure employee engagement levels.

  • Emphasize the Benefits

It is natural to feel skeptical to return to a working style we have abandoned for so long now but it will help to give a reminder of its’ benefits, especially through the first batch of employees returning. This can be done through employee testimonials on the company social wall or publishing updates on employee engagement activities like hackathons, team sports, mentoring programs etcetera which involve connecting with one another. The idea is to make employees feel cared for and remind them of the unique benefits of in-person collaboration, which can be replaced by nothing else.

  • Balance Safety with Fun

It is important to communicate in advance exactly what a day in office will look like in terms of safety protocols- including the seating plan, meeting rules, canteen rules, sanitization measures etc. The focus must be on responsible socialization. Dedicated recreational spaces can be created like ‘snooker for 2’ or ‘coffee for 4’ or even video gaming corners can be setup within the office. Scheduling transparent Q&As through your employee engagement platform and sharing constant updates on safety measures will lend comfort to employees’ minds.

While it is important to address the realities of today, the idea of coming back to office is to work collaboratively towards a better future. Organizations must inspire employees to reunite- not just for the sake of the business but for their own friends, their mentors and the rush of working together physically as a team. Having said so, the pandemic has changed everyone in many ways- there is a renewed focus on themes like work-life balance and wellness. Employees need to be reassured that only the good parts of the change will be imbibed in office 2.0 while retaining the strong bonds and relationships of the old era.

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Rewards and Recognition

How to create a digital nominations module in your R&R platform

nominations process

Lights, camera, accolades! Company awards are a highlight of any corporate R&R program. The impressive glamour of an award ceremony, however, involves weeks of sweat and tears of the HR team! Manual distribution of forms, approval reminders, awards procurement and distribution are a tedious affair. Moreover, offline award nominations also have limited visibility to employees. Translating these processes into a robust digitized framework can help a firm mitigate these challenges. This blog is the final in the series of- ‘How to build an R&R program’ and will help you digitize your offline nominations processes for a smoother execution.

Before we get into the how, let’s talk a little more about the benefits of a digital nominations tool and why it must be a part of an employee engagement platform. Firstly, including the nominations workflow will help align awards to a single set of values and performance metrics, that are also used for non-monetary recognition/kudos. This not only increases platform adoption but also encourages systemic behavioral change, as the expectations from a model employee are clear. Secondly, making award nominations accessible through a digital platform will make the process fairer and more equitable. Thirdly, it will provide visibility into the approval process and jury decision-making, thus holding decision makers accountable. Finally, it will reduce administrative hassles as well as procurement costs if the firm partners with an R&R vendor to fulfill award deliveries, whether in office premises or employees’ homes. You can read more about these advantages on our other blog on this topic.

Once you have defined your recognition categories and a budget framework for your awards program, you can use the following steps to create your digitized nominations workflow:

  • Create a nomination form

You can digitize your offline forms for this. However, the form needs to be comprehensive enough to indicate not just the award name but the associated attributes like the company value or KPI. Additionally, it can have pre-filled templates for citations and a list of supporting documents with a provision to attach them in the form itself.

  • Define the approval workflow

This involves deciding who will approve award nominations and the layers of approvals each nomination will go through, along with the deadlines for approval. As a general practice, high-stakes awards like ‘Employee of the Year’ or ‘Best-in region/country’ awards have a complex approval process, which needs to be mapped on the R&R platform. The names of jury members and their discussion notes/results should also reflect on the platform for enhanced transparency.

  • Create an awards disbursal structure

This will depend on the awards calendar and the type of award being given. If it’s a cash-based or e-gift card based award, it can be disbursed instantly through an integrated e-commerce catalog. Else the HR admin should be able to upload a winners’ list which will ensure that award trophies/gifts are procured through an RnR vendor. Alternatively, a digital platform can facilitate automated disbursal of performance awards, based on certain pre-defined algorithms which use performance data, recognition data and so on.

Award ceremonies are a sanctum of achievement and growth for a firm’s best performers. A digital R&R platform helps in automating related backend processes while retaining the values and essence of awards in a virtual environment. A highly usable digital platform has the added advantage of boosting employee experience while motivating more employees to step up to qualify for nominations!

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Popular Rewards and Recognition

Creating and Managing an R&R budget on a digital platform

managing-rnr-budget

When building a case for digitizing your firm’s R&R initiatives, an important question that always arises is- how do you ensure that your R&R budget is not exceeded? Or maybe, how can you optimize your R&R spend for maximum efficacy? Or- is my rewards budget framework in line with the industry best practices? This blog helps you answer these questions and ensure effective budgeting using your R&R or engagement digital platform.

Step 1- Creating a Budget Framework

When creating a budget for a digital rewards platform, keep in mind that unlike traditional methods, digital mediums offer the advantage of instant gratification and redemption of rewards. Using this to your firm’s advantage, it will be prudent to split the annual R&R budget to offer rewards or kudos throughout the calendar year. We have already seen that consistent rewards create a higher impact than a single annual rewards ceremony. The budgets for these spot awards can vary for various employee grades or be determined by the level of impact created within the relevant recognition category. We have seen industry best practices dictate specific points pay out for certain categories, business units etc. If you haven’t yet read our blog on creating recognition categories- you can read it here. It is also important to determine the weightage that your firm gives to each of its corporate values or performance indicators, in case the employee recognition is performance-based.

Step 2- Administering the R&R Budget

The best part about an R&R software is that it helps in a timely and accurate disbursal of monetary rewards across its various stakeholders like managers, channel partners and customer service departments. A points-based rewards system can be configured and points can be split across various leaders in the form of kitty pools. Thereafter, supervisors can trigger the disbursal of these points on suitable occasions to their reports, with or without an approval workflow. A highly recommended practice is to cap reward points for a given milestone celebration to combat any bias that may occur across employees for achieving the same success. For a more centralized approach, automated disbursal of cash/points from the HR admin alone can be configured using the R&R tool.

Step 3- Optimizing your budget

To ensure the maximum RoI on your rewards program, R&R administrators need to iterate, reiterate, iterate again! Remember, the focus is on creating a superior employee experience, so ensuring that reward redemption is quick and simple is key. Data analytics on redemption can give an accurate picture of which reward options are more popular, helping you fine-tune your product catalog. Taking the help of an R&R vendor for rewards fulfillment can greatly assist in reducing procurement and warehousing costs. As well, linking appraisal data to your rewards platform can help with an outcome-based approach to justifying spends on company rewards.

Managing an R&R budget digitally has been helping firms create more accountability and gain visibility into where expenses can be channeled or reduced. Having a dynamic, DIY rewards and engagement software is critical to ensure your software grows with your company, thus continually optimizing spends. Moreover, having an intuitive admin control access that helps you closely monitor and alter budgets with changing business priorities will help you manage a more comprehensive R&R program seamlessly.

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Rewards and Recognition

What categories do you need in your RnR framework?

Creating an R&R framework

Digitizing R&R processes has almost become a default in the Indian corporate landscape over the past year. Each organization, however, has unique R&R requirements based on its’ industry, size, geographical spread, workforce demographics, organizational culture and so on. This makes it imperative to customize any R&R software to not only fit but enhance the firm’s unique work culture. This blog is a general guide on one of the first steps in creating a digital R&R platform, that is, building a framework of reward and recognition categories.

Types of Recognition Categories

When deciding on recognition categories, multiple lenses must be used to create a holistic rewards program:

  • Performance based categories

These categories should be able to map the KPIs associated at the individual, team, department and org levels to the employee recognition framework. For example, these can be for the highest achievement in sales or for solving a difficult customer problem or for impeccable execution. To bring added transparency and impact, digital performance scorecards can be configured in the R&R platform that managers can populate, allowing teams or individuals to view their scores on various parameters throughout the year.

Sample Category Names: That was impressive!, Good job!, Shining beginner, Customer Delight, Deal Closer

  • Value based categories

These categories are for employees who exemplify or work in high alignment with company values. Examples can be integrity, quality, customer obsession etc. and these can be purely manager-to-employee recognitions. In fact, attempting to brainstorm value-driven recognition categories can also be a way to determine what values do you want your employees to embody in the first place, thus putting them into a firm wide cultural mandate.

Sample Category Names: Delivery Excellence, Integrity in Business, Safety First

  • Behavioral Categories

These categories are used to promote favorable behaviors in the organization, both related to individual performance like hard work, being helpful etc. and as a member of a team such as displaying teamwork. For example- if you wish to model inclusion as a behavior among managers, there should be a recognition category for inclusion, which subordinates, or superiors can give them as reverse recognition.

Sample Category Names: People’s Leader, Team Player, Above and Beyond, Positive Attitude, Thank You!

Monetary or Non-Monetary Recognitions

The popular question- should recognitions be monetary in nature? It can depend on the nature of the recognition. For instance- revenue generating activities can be rewarded with a cash payout or reward points along with the recognition. The amount of cash/points for each category can depend on the level of impact of the activity on organizational growth. However, research has shown that a mix of both monetary and non-monetary recognition work best to boost employee engagement levels.

Automated or Manual Recognitions

For larger organizations, setting up an automated rewards system can be helpful in streamlining the R&R program. For this purpose, the R&R software can be integrated with the HCM or performance management tool to trigger automated recognitions upon the achievement of a milestone by an employee. Alternatively, certain rules or algorithms can be setup within the R&R tool to enable automated recognitions/nominations.

With the advent of remote work and hybrid work, rewards and recognition need to be delivered digitally. Any employee engagement platform should include an exhaustive list of recognition categories that can honor various skill sets, behavioral traits and types of contribution.

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Employee Engagement Software Popular

Combatting Cognitive Human Biases with a Digital Engagement Platform

cognitive bias in employees

Behavioral science has revealed that the human mind is wired to take shortcuts to make quick analyses, conclusions, or decisions about people. This often results in what is called ‘cognitive bias’. While these mental shortcuts or ‘heuristics’ save us a lot of effort in everyday decision-making, they can often trip us up, especially in a work environment. This can result in a compromised workplace culture and inefficient people management. This blog will discuss the various types of biases and how an effective employee engagement platform can be leveraged to keep them at bay.

Recency Bias:

Challenge- Simply put, this bias makes us favor recent events over past ones, especially when thinking about another employee at work. This is especially relevant at the time of performance appraisals, when managers base their judgement on recent performance, overlooking even exceptional achievements in the past. This can demotivate employees or make them choose to perform well only close to the appraisal cycle.

Solution- An R&R tool which allows managers to record performance feedback 365 days and share it with the employee intermittently can result in timely course correction, better performance, and higher engagement. Moreover, managers get access to a log of achievements and areas of improvement for an employee resulting in a fairer evaluation.

Confirmation Bias:

Challenge- a popular cause of misperception, the confirmation bias is a tendency to actively look for evidence to support one’s existing beliefs. For example- if a manager believes that an employee is not hard working, they will tend to notice the days on which the employee may have to leave work early versus the days on which they stay late.

Solution- An automated system of recognitions with a robust framework in place allows the people management process within a firm remain unbiased and seamless. Taking the above example, if hard work is an important organizational value, employees who spend more than 8 hours in office on a given day can receive an automatic note of appreciation and a ‘Hard Worker’ badge in the RnR portal.

The Bandwagon Effect:

Challenge- The bandwagon effect takes place when people tend to make choices based on the preferences of society at large versus objectively evaluating the competence of an individual. In total rewards, this can mean that the most outgoing, friendly and confident person receives the maximum praise and promotion, irrespective of her or his performance.

Solution- Setting up a nominations module through a digital R&R platform will ensure transparency and accountability in nominations, as the approval workflow and jury results will be open for all to access. The nominations process can also include stringent criteria for nominees to meet that can be a mix of subjective and objective parameters.

Frequency Bias:

Problem- This bias leads us to better remember frequent occurrences, rather than events that take place occasionally. This means that employees will remember specific words/moments of appreciation more clearly when they are reiterated time and again.

Solution- Notifications/automated emails can be sent to managers through an R&R platform, reminding them to recognize their teams on a frequent basis. This boosts the adoption of the platform in general while maintaining a more consistent feeling of appreciation that employees feel, resulting in higher satisfaction levels.

Negativity bias:

Problem- A well-known bias, this explains why negative occurrences have a much more profound impact on the human mind compared to positive ones. It is no wonder that the ideal praise to criticism ratio for employees is 5:1.

Solution- An easy, on-the-go employee recognition solution can be the answer to promoting appreciation in today’s busy workplaces. A mobile app or an Outlook/ Slack/Teams plug-in can make recognition quick and accessible, thus incentivizing managers to deliver positive feedback on-the-spot.

Technology has changed the way our minds and emotions react to our surroundings. It is in the best interest of firms to leverage the power of digitization to combat negative emotions in the workplace and boost engagement. A total rewards platform that looks at the employee life cycle holistically while preemptively telling you about employee needs can help you meet this objective.

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Rewards and Recognition

Using Nudges to Boost RnR Platform Adoption

nudges for R&R platform adoption

Nudges are ways to rearrange one’s environment to encourage a particular response. According to the revolutionary founders of the Nudge theory, a ‘choice architecture’ can influence us to pick a better choice for ourselves, thereby forming healthy habits. We already know through behavioral science that humans are primarily emotional beings and often make irrational decisions based on their subconscious mind. Decision-making is a tedious process, right from what to eat to which email to respond to. Therefore, to ensure our survival, our brains have developed ‘instinctive shortcuts’ to help us take micro-decisions faster. In other words, if there’s an easier way to do something, our first instinct will be to take that easier path. An effective way of creating these shortcuts to boost favorable choices using external circumstances is through nudges.

Nudges leverage innate human biases and drives to inspire action without curtailing one’s free will. Hence, they can be extremely useful in promoting the adoption of a new rewards and recognition platform, resulting in a win-win situation for the employee and employer. Here are a few types of nudges that can be implemented to boost the adoption of an R&R software:

  • Goal-based Nudges

These can be designed in the form of a points-based reward system on an R&R platform, wherein those with the maximum points are featured on a virtual leaderboard. Such gamification elements help employees visualize their victory. Additionally, employees can be encouraged to collect reward points to redeem desirable gifts on the platform. Examples of goal-based nudge notifications-

You are just 50 points away from getting a Bluetooth speaker!

3 more recognitions and you will be 2nd on the leaderboard!

  • Behavioral Nudges

These can be in the form of earning digital badges, certificates or even points for either completing a pulse survey, giving recognition to a peer or participating in a company event. Notifications through multiple mediums such as email, SMS or even in-app notifications can go a long way in reminding employees to leverage the platform. Examples of behavioral nudge notifications-

We miss you! It’s been 3 days since you logged in.

Make your choices be heard by taking this quick survey!

  • Social Nudges

Social nudges are powerful in that they play on our need for social acceptance to drive behavior. Sharing employee recognition or platform usage statistics with employees through the company newsletter, for example, can be a good way to increase adoption. Public recognition and even contests through the company social wall can create a feeling of social prestige, thereby encouraging desirable behavior. Examples of social nudge notifications-

Earn a certificate to share with your proud family and friends today!

Show off your musical talent by entering the #SaReGaMa contest being held on Gratifi!

An intuitive, user-friendly platform goes a long way in creating favorable nudges, thereby boosting workplace culture, engagement, individual well-being, and growth. HR technology vendors who provide an open API architecture can help your R&R tool get integrated seamlessly with the organization’s HRMS, ERP, CRM or collaboration platforms to ensure the presence of appreciation across all forums. A seamless technology ecosystem helps employees use on-the-go recognition with little or no learning curve and develop positive behaviors, ultimately leading to organizational growth.