Build festive foundations for increased engagement in 2010!
As 2009 begins to draw to a close many organisations will undoubtedly take the opportunity to extract every last drop of effort and hard work to maximise productivity and performance from what has been one of the toughest trading years for some time. To help you do this Andy Philpott, marketing director at Accor Services, outlines some of the key tips and tactics to make sure you’re ready to leverage rewards to increase levels of engagement in 2010.
A pretty good year?
In this chaotic business climate the days of lasting, loyal customer relationships have come under threat from the need to drive down costs and, as a result, many companies have experienced a significant drop in orders. Competition to maintain engagement and preferences from sales channels and partners has never been more intense and the need to stay one step ahead of industry rivals has never been more important.
For employees this year is likely to be one where they’ve seen colleagues or peers lose their jobs and have lived in fear of losing their own. They may have experienced pay cuts or freezes and the harsh reality of cost cutting throughout their organisation.
For both employers and employees, it seems fair to say that this year is one we will all gladly put behind us! Yet before embarking on our festive preparations it’s important to recognise the opportunity that 2009 still presents – not only to squeeze every bit of effort and revenue from the remaining days but also to begin laying the foundations for a successful new year.
Starting the groundwork for engaging reward
Now really is the time to start thinking about what you can do to grow and support your employees’ engagement and motivation so that they are primed, prepared and ready to deliver a strong performance that will drive the business forward. It’s also a chance to think about your existing and potential customers, as well as your sales channels, and consider how you can develop productive and profitable relationships with them in 2010.
The Christmas period is an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to these key stakeholders, demonstrate your appreciation and reward them in a way that enhances levels of engagement. It’s also a chance to establish your objectives and plans for the New Year, giving you a route to follow up on and reinforce these in the coming months. As businesses are readily demanding more from less, you need to be sure these rewards work hard and smart for you delivering increased engagement and positive business impact.
Engage employee expectations
For many employees Christmas is a time when they expect financial thanks, either because it’s the time when performance related bonuses are paid or traditionally the business has always offered a financial thank you at this time of year.
When it comes to employee reward this year the focus in many organisations will be on what rewards they will receive or even whether the business can afford to do this at all. And although some rewards are predefined by agreed performance standards and objectives, it’s important to plan, deliver and review the rewards you’re going to offer this Christmas. This will help you improve employee perception and awareness of the actual reward you decide to offer and the investment you’re making in them.
Some of the questions to keep in mind when you’re developing and making your Christmas rewards are outlined here…
- What should you give? For many companies this is inextricably linked to what you can afford, but cost doesn’t have to be prohibitive, because there are solutions for every budget in the market.
- What message will your reward give – generally to the business and to specific individuals? Take the opportunity to remind people about the highlights of the previous year, the challenges you have overcome and put the year ahead into context. This is your chance to engage and excite them about the future, as well as to link the reward into the values and culture of your business.
- How will the reward be presented? Who will give it out? And how will it be presented? Often good intentions and important messages can be lost and diluted because of poor planning at this stage. If rewards are to be made by senior management, how can line managers reinforce them?
- How can you build on the reward in the New Year? What opportunities are there to repeat and develop the messages you have already communicated? And if you want to keep people engaged into the New Year, how about splitting their reward between December and January? This is certainly one way to keep attendance higher than you might otherwise anticipate in the first few weeks of the new working year.
The best rewards are those that are linked to your corporate, departmental or individual objectives. You’re not rewarding for rewards sake – even at Christmas – so make the gifts, incentives or rewards you offer your people this year part of an ongoing process that contributes to the ongoing success of the business.
