Designing Rewards and Recognition - A Case Study

 #DesigningRewardsAndRecognition

One of our clients was trying to implement a rewards and recognition framework for almost two years.

When we were called in, the mood in the room was not optimistic.

We took the project and did design to rollout in 40 calendar days.

Step One: Brainstorm and Design

Sharing with you the interview guide we used to help the client clarify their thoughts.

1. What do you want to reward.

2. Why do you want to reward it.

3. At what frequency.

4. What is the budget.

5. What are the keywords associated with this award. A person who wins this will be ____.

6. This will be valued by employees because __.

7. Who will decide the winner and on what criteria.

The thing with RnR is, that for every winner in a universe of N people, there are N-1 losers. So, every reward's criteria have to be 100% transparent to establish the credibility of the process.

Keeping this in mind, we worked with the client at every stage, asking supporting questions until the process was absolutely clear.

Step Two: Rationalise and Prepare for Rollout

The next step was to rationalise the list and arrive at a schedule of implementation. 

Obviously, through brainstorming, we would have arrived at a list that is at least 2x the intended number of awards being planned. 

So, the awards were rationalised and the list pruned. 

The most challenging aspect at this stage was reminding the client that the budget of the award is not just the trophy/cash component but also the cost of administration, selection, communication. 

We also needed to connect the process to other HR portfolio items like career planning, Upskilling, Performance Management, Payroll, etc. at the design stage itself, so that the rollout is seamless. 

#WordOfCaution

Even if the leadership is very enthusiastic, creating awards that exceed a sustainable budget means that someone will find a valid spanner and succeed in reducing or removing at least a few awards - but taking away the trust on the entire mechanism. So, we had to tell the client to stick within the budget, even when they were ok to "go above and beyond a little bit." 

Step Three: Communication and Rollout 

The next step was to plan the communication preceding and during the rollout for each recognition. 

Once this was done, the rollout of the selected RnR elements was done on a single day. 

During the rollout, the entire focus was on the recipients - what would they be like, how might this help them in their learning/career journey. The entire speech was about the employees and their growth. 

The rollout was a success. 

*Some elements of the process have been disguised/modified to ensure client confidentiality.