Recognition for Support Staff

I had a customer call me today asking me to help him design a reward program for the support staff in his organization. They currently had a very robust R&R program for the line staff, primarily based on business metrics – sales & profitability. He wanted to find out if we could use similar metrics for the support staff that would make the R&R program very transparent and easily understandable.
I heard him out and wanted to find out if there is data they currently measure for their support staff – maybe something like internal customer satisfaction scores, budget management etc. The response was “No” – nothing that is available to an extent that we could readily use the data. I then gave him the following inputs:

1) In the absence of a strong MIS for the support staff, do not try and create new reports for R&R purposes. In my experience, getting employees to generate new reports and data specifically for R&R does not work well. Making use of existing data and reports is a more viable option.

2) Given no specific metrics are available, the R&R program would have to be subjective one. But the subjective process can be made very transparent and clear. For example – the program criteria can be well defined, post which, nominations could be invited from all people managers. At the department level the nominations could be reviewed and shortlisted. Then at an organization level, the shortlisted nominations could be reviewed and further pruned down. The final set of nominees could then be interviewed by a committee and the winners chosen.

3) A weightage could be assigned to each stage in the process – e.g. 25% for the manager evaluation, 25% for the department level evaluation, 25% for the organizational level evaluation and 25% for the interview. The final award would be based on the scores in each of the 4 rounds.

4) An additional criterion they could add was around “Cost Management”. Whether the support staff likes it or not, they are invariably a cost center in the organization. So if employees do things that help the department control/save costs (e.g. implement a software tool to reduce manpower and improve productivity or negotiate with a supplier and reduce costs of a raw material etc.), these could have some weightage in the R&R program.

5) In addition to the big program, Spot Rewards seem to work well for support functions since they are normally based on subjective assessments. Plus a lot of the work the support staff do get forgotten easily – e.g. an admin could go the extra mile to get a hotel booking for an employee during a really busy period. Instances like this would be great for a spot reward, since it is unlikely that such behaviours, get captured in the larger evaluations.

In summary, designing an R&R program for the support staff is not easy, but a robust Spot Reward program coupled with one or two big department/organization level programs should work well.

The Role of In-house Magazines/Newsletters in Recognition

I noticed something common across a number of companies which have been around for a long time - since the pre-tech era (no computers and internet). They all had and still publish a quarterly/periodic in-house magazine/newsletter. The in-house magazines sit proudly along with newspapers/magazines in the reception area – some even have them available on their corporate websites available for anyone to download. The next common factor in these newsletters is a few pages dedicated to recognizing employees – those who have won internal awards, those who have completed significant milestones (10 years etc.), those who have had significant life events (marriage, kids), those who have won external awards (e.g. chamber of commerce award, a non-work related award such as an award in a significant music competition), those involved in active community work and even those who have joined the company in that quarter.

I asked an executive who was responsible for publishing the in-house magazine for an organization about his thoughts on the importance of the magazine and the recognitions showcased in them. He told me that other than their big annual employee event, the newsletter was the most significant recognition opportunity used in the company. In their employee surveys, they consistently received feedback that over 90% of the employees took the effort of reading the magazine, 85% indicated that they wanted the magazine to be published in print (they specifically did not want an online only version), 90% felt that showcasing employees and their achievements in the magazine was the most critical purpose of the magazine – even more than the corporate updates. Based on this kind of consistent feedback supporting the magazine, the responsibility for the magazine is now rotated among the executive leadership team on an annual basis, the budget available is virtually uncapped and the quality of the paper and printing is of the highest standards.

Based on what he told me and what I have seen in a few other of these old-world companies, I am convinced that a good & highly credible in-house magazine/newsletter, supported by the leadership team, can be a very potent tool in showcasing & recognizing employees. Infact, this needs to be an integral component of a company’s recognition strategy.

Recognition for Remote Employees

For most people, the company we work for, is more than just a job – it provides us a community/a social group that we are a part of. Imagine employees who work out of remote offices (in a number of cases, out of their homes). These remote employees do not have a network during most of their active work hours. For most people who have always worked in an environment with colleagues/other employees, it will probably be impossible to imagine how being a remote employee feels like. To provide some context, one of the worst forms of punishment in prisons is “Solitary Confinement”.

This means that the management, HR and co-workers need to make the extra effort to make these remote employees feel connected to the mother-ship. Recognition can play a big role in helping build this connect. For remote employees, a simple call from someone in the corporate office wishing them on their birthday or even wishing them “Happy New Year” is a huge deal and is a basic form of recognition. Non monetary recognition such as e-cards can also be used very effectively with remote employees. I would urge you to pick up the phone or send a message to a remote worker you know - a "Happy New Year" wish is a great opportunity for you to make that call. Trust me - having been a remote worker for a significant part of my career, it will be a big deal for the recipient.

Get a copy of the Rideau 2011 Desk Calendar

Get your copy of the special Rideau 2011 Desk calendar featuring 12 great "Recognition Cartoons", similar to the one featured above, created by our in-house graphic designer "Richard Lytwynuk". Please email your mailing address to me at jayanthnarayanan@rideau.com and we will be happy to mail you a calendar.