Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Employers Shifting Focus of Recognition, Increasingly Acknowledging Performance

Employers Shifting Focus of Recognition, Increasingly Acknowledging Performance

WorldAtWork.com

Newsline

Employers Shifting Focus of Recognition, Increasingly Acknowledging Performance
May 10, 2011 — While length-of-service awards remain the most common type of recognition program among employers, results from a survey released by WorldatWork indicate that companies are increasingly recognizing top performers who ultimately add to the bottom line.
Organizations are leveraging newer programs that can have a more direct effect on business results, such as above-and-beyond performance, peer-to-peer as well as programs to motivate specific behaviors, according to the "Trends in Employee Recognition" survey report.

Figure: Recognition Program Trends


Program

2003
(n=413)

2005
(n=614)

2008
(n=552)

2011
(n=549)

Length of service

87%

89%

86%

90%

Above-and-beyond performance

85%

87%

79%

79%

Peer-to-peer

n/a

n/a

42%

43%

Retirement

n/a

51%

41%

42%

Sales performance

43%

51%

38%

40%

Employee of the year/month

29%

36%

32%

29%

Programs to motivate specific behaviors

n/a

n/a

25%

34%

Safety performance

28%

33%

25%

22%

Suggestions/ideas

36%

41%

24%

27%

Major family event (e.g., birth, wedding)

n/a

n/a

19%

25%

Attendance

20%

22%

16%

12%

Other

n/a

n/a

n/a

27%

"Since budgets have been more constrained in the past three years, employers likely have had fewer recognition dollars to spend," said Kerry Chou, CCP, CBP, GRP, senior practice leader with WorldatWork. "It's best to target people who've completed value-add projects or exhibited specific behavior that the organization wants to recognize in cash or other awards."

In fact, the majority of these programs in use today were first implemented in the past five years, according to the survey results. Programs to motivate specific behaviors, in particular, climbed in usage by 9 percentage points to 34% since 2008.

"A lot of companies went into survival mode during the recession, causing them to consider employee rewards that would deliver the greatest return on investment," said Alison Avalos, CCP, CBP, GRP, research manager for WorldatWork. "More and more organizations are using recognition programs to link performance to organizational results rather than just to celebrate personal milestones such as tenure or family events."
 
Contents © 2011 WorldatWork. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted or redistributed in any form without express written permission from WorldatWork.


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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.

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