A New Era of Employee Recognition

Organizations with high employee engagement are experiencing a 22% improvement in customer loyalty and a 21% reduction in turnover, per Aberdeen Group research.

Organizations are finding that investing in a formal employee recognition program can lead to an increase in profitability, retention and customer loyalty as compared to having disjointed programs lacking metrics and reporting, as mentioned in a recent Incentive Magazine article.

A new era of recognition in which organizations see the quantifiable value of an engaged workforce has emerged.

In fact, the 2013 edition of Workplace Trends report lists “Recognition” as a top human resource trend.

Within the report, it cites several top goals of company employee motivation programs. They include:

• Creating a positive work environment
• Motivating high performance
• Creating a culture of recognition

Even organizations that realize a comprehensive recognition strategy creates significant value, from increased engagement to better tracking and reporting of spending and taxes, still face hurdles. For many organizations the informal process used to execute motivation is hurting their organization more than helping.

Research shows that a formal delivery mechanism for employee recognition program administration is critical to a program’s success. Employee recognition software is increasing being utilized to connect employees by global corporations, small business, health care facilities and manufacturing locations. This type of human resource software is flexible enough to be deployed for office staff, remote workers or front line employees who do not work at a desk.

By weaving technology and motivation together, the door has been opened to new era of engagement that is top down, bottom up and peer to peer and is tied to company values, not short term financial incentives. This is how top organizations are building a culture of motivation and loyalty that is dynamic and lasting. With scalable software, top organizations are able to measure engagement, tweak to perfection, and effectively maximize motivation at every turn.

Companies with strong human resource relations are seeing significant benefit in offering monetary and non-monetary rewards that pique individual employee interests – from digital e-cards, handwritten note cards, reward cards, reward merchandise and even employee volunteerism. With each recognition event, the company values are being demonstrated, setting a standard for a company culture that will improve performance.

Companies with strong human resource relations are also enlisting external experts in employee motivation to evaluate and develop a winning culture of employee engagement. Here, human resource professionals can leverage the experience of leading solution partners to obtain the most return from their investment.

By addressing recognition and reward in a continuous cycle of discover, design, communicate, manage and deliver, organizations with the best human resource relations are achieving improved performance, transparency with reduced costs and complexity.

As a global leader in Quality of Life services since 1966, Sodexo believes a formal, comprehensive recognition and reward strategy creates a higher quality workforce that improves the performance of organizations. We currently provide employee motivation programs to 27 million users in 34 countries.

To learn more: read our case studies or contact Sodexo for an evaluation of your needs. For more motivation tips, follow us on Twitter @WorkMotivation.

Jennifer Tekin is a senior marketing manager for Sodexo Motivation Solutions.