Empowering Employees: Why a Global Reward and Recognition Strategy Is a Must

A couple of decades ago, employee recognition was usually based around a pay rise, a warm handshake, or a quiet ‘well done’ in the boss’ office. Now, as organizations compete to attract and retain the best people, they have to go further.

With employees wanting more support from their employers, especially when it comes to the things that affect their personal lives and wellbeing, a structured reward and recognition program has come to be expected, even from small and medium enterprises.

This means that for human resources departments, with 75% of staff saying they’re more likely to stay in a job that offers quality perks and benefits, building and nurturing a reward and recognition program can seriously bolster retention efforts.

This blog will explore what organizations can do at a global level to ensure their team members feel adequately rewarded for their efforts, and why this has become such an important endeavor.

What is a global reward and recognition program, and why are they important?

These programs can be broken down into main two focus areas:

Recognition: A huge part of working life is remembering to recognize a job well done. Whether that’s cutting costs, improving a product, or simply making life better for fellow colleagues, it doesn’t take a lot to call out great work. Creating a culture of recognition is important at a global level as it not only motivates staff, but can also lead to better co-working and job satisfaction.

Reward: This is a little different from simply recognizing work. Rewards usually take the form of discretionary incentives in the form of items or services given to employees based on results. These could be anything from a free lunch to an all-expenses trip. A rewards program is important as it’s an alternative form of remuneration than just salary, even though the item may have a monetary value attached to it.

Strong reward and recognition programs are exceptionally important for employee satisfaction and engagement; 66% of employees believe being rewarded beyond just a salary would make them more loyal to the organization they work for. In a market where competitors are always looking to offer your top talent something better, your reward and recognition program could mean the difference between a happy team, or a collection of job vacancies!

The most important factors of a global reward and recognition program

Parity at a global level

Any program must be capable of reaching all levels and locations, otherwise, the risk of teams feeling dissatisfaction at being left out outweighs the positive impact of having a program in the first place.

Tailored to your employees’ lives

An easy mistake when putting together a rewards and recognition program is to only offer the ‘big and bold’ rewards like holidays or expensive items. These may seem like wonderful gifts, but what happens if your teams value time with their family, or giving to a good cause over the ‘traditional’ rewards? Allowing employees to pick and choose rewards that will have an impact on their personal lives, rather than what you think they might like, will boost employee empowerment and ensure they’re truly motivated by the program.

Timely recognition

Don’t wait until year-end to hand out the prizes – reward hard work in real-time, or risk the employee thinking their good work has been forgotten about, or worse, ignored.

Aligned with your values

Reward and recognition programs need to match your company values and vision. Think about how the reward will reflect the goal the person or team has achieved, and how it can also incentivize others to live your values.

Make sure everyone knows about it

Remember to make your recognition platform easy to find, access, and use, otherwise it becomes another piece of admin, rather than an unmissable feature. HR teams are essential to driving the usership, advocacy, and accessibility of your reward and recognition program.

Offer the perfect range and rewards with Perkbox and CloudPay

CloudPay and Perkbox have partnered up to allow managers to offer CloudPay NOW as part of their Perkbox employee recognition program. CloudPay NOW is an app that allows employees to access their salary and other earnings on a flexible basis, rather than wait until the end of the month or week. Offering this kind of on-demand pay service is especially helpful for giving the increasing number of employees that are facing rising bills or unexpected expenses greater autonomy over their finances.

From a global perspective, this is a game-changer and a first-of-its-kind offering for Perkbox. As well as being another fantastic reward within Perkbox, it also gives employees more choice and control over their personal lives.

With workers valuing flexibility more than ever before, this is just another offering that organizations can use to create a company culture that incentivizes and ultimately helps to attract and retain employees that are starting to demand these innovative perks and rewards.

Get in touch with CloudPay to understand how on-demand pay can benefit your workforce and company’s success, and don’t forget to check out Perkbox for thousands of amazing rewards that give your teams the choice they deserve.

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