If you’re looking for a new rewards and recognition solution for your employees, you’re probably wondering where to start, what you should know, and how to set it up. Most successful companies base their rewards and recognition programs around their company core values. But why?
Employees want to know what’s expected of them — which key behaviors the company wants to reinforce. Those definitions, crafted by leadership and management, should be documented and they should identify examples of the desired behaviors, such as punctuality or friendliness towards customers. Managers should then clearly communicate the behavioral expectations to their team.
Core values go to the center of your organization. If you clearly define the values you want your employees to embody day-to-day, your company culture is more cohesive, balanced, and easy to maintain.
Now, think about rewarding your employees for exhibiting behaviors that align with your core values. Can you picture how things like morale, culture, and behavior would improve?
Here are three key reasons you should base your rewards and recognition program around your company’s core values:
1. It Helps You Scale
As your organization scales, it can be hard to ensure your company culture scales with it. Your small weekly happy hours evolve into large company gatherings, but you still don’t want to lose the atmosphere and closeness of a small staff.
One thing you can do to help scale your company culture is build your rewards and recognition program around your company core values, making sure you’re highlighting employees who embody these values, even as your company continues to grow.
By regularly recognizing this behavior, you can ensure the core components of what make your company a great place to work — your core values — scale along with it. After all, these core values are what drove you to hire such great employees at the start, and your intimate happy hour settings can easily scale into large company picnics if your employees are all aligned with the same goals.
2. It Builds Your Brand
Prospective employees use many factors to decide to which companies they will offer their talents. Today’s workforce is so enamored with benefits and company culture that 95% of job candidates value culture over compensation.
It’s common for them to use information from their networks, social media and career sites to learn more about a firm’s culture and help them make the important decision regarding which company to join.
A recognition program based around your core values leads to happier employees, who will become your greatest advocates. They’ll be the ones inclined to post positive comments about your company and its culture on social media or on career websites like Glassdoor. This will help your recruiting efforts and build your employer brand, so your company is a top choice for candidates. And even better: candidates will have a clear understanding of your company core values before joining, which means you can better evaluate whether or not they’re a culture fit during the interview process.
3. It Makes Your Rewards and Recognition Program More Successful
When you first launch your rewards and recognition program, it’s critical that managers are fully engaged in the program.
Your managers should already be educated in your company’s core values and embodying them daily. If your managers know your rewards and recognition program reinforces your core values, they’ll be more likely to use it. After all, they are already highlighting employees for good behavior. This program simply makes it easier for them to do it.
One example of this is getting your CEO active in your rewards and recognition program. Let’s say one of your company core values is to “lead with integrity.” Your CEO should embody this core value (and all of your core values) every day. Imagine how powerful of an impact your CEO will have on your workforce and company culture if they recognized an employee publicly for leading with integrity! Your entire company will know exactly what kind of behavior your company values, creating an even stronger company culture.
Schedule Recognition so It Doesn’t Slip Through the Cracks
Another way to involve managers in the early stages of launching your rewards and recognition program is to have them work with your recognition program HR administrator to create a regular schedule or cadence for core values recognition, such as weekly or monthly.
Not only does this get management involved at an early stage, but it provides guidance on how to use the program, the ways it can be applied, and what exactly to recognize for.
Acknowledging someone’s performance can help to encourage the same behavior in the future. The recognition program manager — or even CEO, depending on your organizational structure — should help keep the importance of recognition top-of-mind with managers by sending weekly or biweekly emails reminding them to recognize their team and peers. Lastly, share the success story as broadly within the organization as makes sense.
The best part? Managers involved with rewards and recognition programs are more likely to be rated highly by their employees.
Build a Successful Program from the Start
Basing your rewards and recognition program around your company’s core values provides the foundation you need to successfully reward your employees. After you’ve built a strong rewards and recognition program, we recommend that you identify who was the most recognized for your core values quarterly or annually. That person deserves a special award, as they exemplify your company core values!
Fond’s mission is to build places where employees love to work, and these tips are key to doing exactly that. Want to learn more about what Fond can do for you? Request a demo with us!
