How to create a Rewards and Recognition Program in 40 days

 I was a part of an interesting project this year. 

An organisation had been wanting to implement a Rewards and Recognition program for over 2 years. 

We went live in 40 days. 

Here is how we achieved it: 

Prework: Industry Benchmark

As consultants, obviously, we get paid to know the industry benchmarks on Rewards and Recognition. If you are starting out on that journey, suggest you spend some time reading up on what other organisations in the same industry, location, and size are doing. 

Step One: What do you want to reward? 

I always say that 80% of consulting is asking the right questions. 20% is using your experience to create the right solutions based on those questions. 

So, the first question we ask is: What do you want to reward? 

This session was held with the CEO and next level. They all listed what they wanted to reward and how they would unequivocally and transparently identify that. 

The second question, obviously, was not easy to answer for most of them, and that is what helped us eliminate the kind of awards that would lead to heartburn later. 

Once the listing was done, we identified the modal values and selected the top X number. These awards were purely behaviour based. You demonstrated some behaviour, you got nominated. As an advisor, I insisted on 100% transparency and clearly recordable data points. Because each award leads to one winner and 99 losers. So you have to be very clear who you put on that stage and ensure that everyone in the audience is clapping because they understand why that person is on the stage. 

Step Two: Ask the People 

The next step was to ask the employees what they would like to be awarded for. 

We ran an employee contest in which everyone was encouraged to share as many ideas as they would like for awards. 

There were, of course, spot awards and awards for the best ideas submitted. 

We picked some ideas from this list too. 

If you use this route, make sure you close the loop by doing the spot and best idea awards within a week of the contest closing. Otherwise, people will not participate next time. 

Step Three: Bringing in all Together

This is easily the toughest part of the project. 

As the functioning HR leader, I had to collate the three lists and choose what we would start with and what would come later in the year. 

We chose 15 items. This list was then presented to the CEO +1 level, and we were able to prune 5 more entries out. 

With that, we were ready to start with a good 10 awards, 5 more to be added within the year. 

A big risk was that 6 out of these 10 were peer to peer awards. Which means that if people did not like the Awards program, we would bomb. Big time. Also, were our people mature enough to understand and give the right P2P awards? 

I decided that it was time to empower the team, and take that risk. We'll see if any coaching is required. 

Step Four: Communication Plan and Creatives 

Do not underestimate the power of this step. Work on an excellent communication plan that does enough communication and repetition. 

Pay attention to the creatives. All your month-long hard work will go down the drain (no exaggeration) if the creatives do not talk to the audience. Please pay attention to the creatives. 

And pay attention to the right communication plan. Send those teasers, prepare those spot awards, ensure that everyone knows what the P2P awards are for, and how to give them. (Especially if, like me, you are running 6 out of 10 awards as P2P). 

Step Five: Launch! 

Have a launch event! Even if its virtual. For multi-location companies, have a virtual event ONLY so that everyone gets to know about the awards at the same time. 

Step Six: Monitor 

After that, we monitored how people adopted. P2P awards had a spot element too, so people could start using the awards immediately. 

Thankfully, we did well. Very well. 

Step Seven: Keep the Fun Pumping! 

The worst thing that can hit any program is boredom. So, ensure that you have scheduled adequate award functions to keep the RnR program fun and relevant. Both physical and virtual events, and the right mix of communication. Too much, and they switch off, too little, and it becomes irrelevant.