Why Transitioning to Digital Rewards and Recognitions is the Order of the Day (3 minutes read)

What’s a reward? Reward is much more than a monthly pay. It may include bonus, pension, health insurance, benefits, long-term incentives, short-term incentives, share purchase schemes, holiday time, flexible working and much more. Recognition payments and promotions may also be a part of the reward. The companies use rewards and recognition to motivate the employees and demonstrate that their work and contribution is appreciated. Employees respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is valued by others. When employees and their work is valued, their satisfaction and productivity rises and they are motivated to maintain and improve upon their good work.

Moreover, when employees see that their company values them and their contributions, then it helps in building a great sense of security amongst them which in turn helps in motivating them to continue their great work. One of the main factors to the success of rewards & recognition is that the employees are appreciated for their hard work and efforts which they have put in.

Various R & R practices are followed by the companies, but with growing digital advances, it has been noticed that digital recognition has been most appreciated by the employees. The manual data consolidation that organizations go through to produce an annual report of an employee’s total rewards package is not very effective and arduous. By digitizing rewards, companies can empower the employees to personalize their packages and make better business decisions.

Before opting for a digital rewards and recognition solution, however, there are a number of things that need to be considered. Most importantly, the digitization process needs to reflect the organization’s culture and policies. Another factor which needs to be looked at for digital R&R is it’s usability. While digital solutions are effective in smoothly facilitating manager-to-reportee recognition, but those may not be successful in getting peers to recognize each other, unless the digital product is user-friendly. One can’t expect employees to navigate complicated apps to appreciate a colleague during hectic work environment.

Further, another aspect of product customization is the rewards system. Apart from being data-driven and unbiased, it should be designed keeping in mind the company culture and what employees want. There is a lot of scope for creativity in the digital reward space. The Rewards catalogue can be youth oriented. Young employees enjoy shopping for clothes, electronics or beauty products on a budget and the online reward point system should allow them to purchase the same.

Following are some of the important aspects of digitized rewards and recognition (R&R):

• Personalized rewards
  
  Everybody feels appreciated and acknowledged when a particular prize or gift has their name embossed on it. Simultaneously, the employees feel valued and recognized, while receiving any award which leads to a positive work environment. Employers can send emails from a company based intranet with personalized messages, like the huge sales or any big project that the person has accomplished with their names mentioned on it. Digital gift cards are one of the rewards that are appreciated by the employees as these can be used at different online portals for several reasons. Personalizing any award creates a different aspect of employees’ view and makes them feel part of something big and creates the great sense of responsibility to achieve much higher and better goals. 

• Spot Recognition

Earlier, most of the employees used to serve the same company for years and waited for the huge retirement benefits. But, people now look for rewards that will benefit them at the current moment and provide them monetary benefits. Waiting for an annual evaluation to recognize the employees is not useful, as it loses the charm of success. Hence, employers should  try and reward the employee as and when they do a great job by sending across a quick email.This will help reinforce the connection between positive behavior and performances that you want to see consistently in your organization. 

• Digital Programs
  
  With widespread digitalization, the work environment and it’s culture has changed immensely. It is essential to incorporate the new techniques of R & R to acquire the most desired results. Many online employee benefits portals can transform a dull, formal scheme into an interesting concept. New initiatives like employee-nominated training and development and experiential and lifestyle based rewards can be claimed and monitored through a portal. These portals are cost and retention effective, which many HR representatives are incorporating in their organizations.

• Social recognition
  
  Sharing posts with personal connections will not only garner praises for an employee, but will also promote the employer brand online which will help in easing the recruitment process. Employers can create a Facebook page where all the R & R can be posted with their achievements.  LinkedIn and Yammer can also be used to display performances of an employee or a group of people who have excelled or achieved beyond expectations. These platforms are user-friendly and accessible to all the employees and managers for recognition and applauds their time and the hard work put in for attaining the company’s goals.
• Educational programs
  
  There are a lot of companies which arrange for good Rewards and Recognition, yet they fail to retain good people. Reason being, many of the employees, no matter what the age group is have a “what's in it for me” attitude and do not prefer monetary gains. Incorporating educational courses or sponsoring further education for employees and direct family members can work wonders for educational enthusiasts.

We can clearly say that there are certain great benefits of Employee Recognition as listed below

• Employee gets motivation to work harder
• Increases employee Productivity.
• Increases profitability for the company.
• Helps in retaining Top Talents
• Builds a Positive Workplace Culture.
• Creates a Collaborative Work Environment.

Summary :

While rewards and recognition as a practice is not new to employers but the way you reward your employees needs to ensure that the objective is met. The objective is to ensure that the employee actually feels recognized and rewarded. It should be in sync with the psyche of the employees. With the advent of technology and digital solutions and everyone consuming digital solutions in our everyday walks of life, a digital R&R solution is best suited to make it most effective for the new age workforce.

It is in the employer’s best interest to leverage “digital” when it comes to rewarding it’s employees.