SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR |  RSS | | REPRINT
|
Motivation @ Work: How is Your Company Spending its Recognition Dollars?
July 07, 2008
Here are some tips from Scotiabank
By Christi L. Gibson
Arecent research study found recognition programs account for 2.7 percent of payroll. According to a 2006 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, payroll costs were $3 trillion, so we're looking at $81 billion spent on recognition. That's a lot of recognition.
How is your organization spending your 2.7 percent? Are you randomly handing out recognition to your employees for showing up to work, breathing and not dying on the job? If that's your recognition strategy it's time for a change. Decide what is important to your organization and align your recognition program to the positive behaviors your organization wants to promote. These positive behaviors will then advance your company's mission.
The study also found 89 percent of companies use recognition programs as part of their human resources strategy, and 96 percent reported their recognition strategy aligns with their organization strategy. So how does an organization set up a winning strategy? Let's take a look at one organization's successful approach:
Every year, my organization, Recognition Professionals International (RPI), a not-for-profit trade association, selects award recipients who excel in one or more of our defined Best Practice standards of recognition program excellence. The seven standards are:
1. Recognition Strategy
2. Management Responsibility
3. Recognition Program Measurement
4. Communication Plan
5. Recognition Training
6. Recognition Events and Celebrations
7. Program Change and Flexibility
This year, Scotiabank was awarded the 2008 Best Practice–Best in Class Award for three noteworthy facets of its outstanding employee recognition program. One of its winning categories was Recognition Strategy. And, although the very established Scotiabank is huge in both stature and size, its successful programs can be duplicated by other companies big and small. But before we discuss the program, here's a little on the company.
Scotiabank (the Bank of Nova Scotia) is a 175-year-old Toronto-based financial institution that offers a broad range of products and services, including retail, commercial, corporate and investment banking. It employs a team of 60,000 and serves 12.5 million customers in 50 countries. The company operates nearly 1,000 branches and 2,700 banking machines. The most recent internal employee survey showed an 87 percent satisfaction rate. This isn't surprising, considering that 20 years ago, the Scotiabank launched a company-wide effort to focus on personal customer service. It was a maverick move when most other banks were betting their futures on self-service and new technologies. Company officials knew that a state-of-the-art employee recognition and incentive program would be a key element of their customer-centric focus. The result of keen instincts and impeccable planning is a world-class recognition program that contributes to a steadily increasing profit margin.
Scotia Applause is the bank's award- winning recognition program. Four key characteristics have bolstered outstanding levels of employee participation and engagement:
1. The program's alignment to the company's vision: By directly aligning with Scotiabank's customer-centric business activities and behaviors, the Applause program delivers an exceptional customer experience.
2. Senior management engagement: They understand the value of employee recognition so clearly that the annual multi- million-dollar recognition budget does not have to be justified.
3. Effective company-wide application of recognition practice: Since the launch of Scotia Applause in 2001, with 35,000 employees participating, there have been nearly three million peer recognitions.
4. The program's high degree of relevance: For the past seven years, employee engagement has continued to rise.
Rick Waugh, Scotiabank's president and CEO says, "Being recognized as a global employer of choice enables Scotiabank to attract and retain high-performing employees. We know that satisfied and engaged employees increase customer satisfaction, which in turn generates positive long-term results for stakeholders as well as added value for the communities we serve."
Senior management plays a key role in setting and adjusting the organization's recognition strategy and policies and is personally involved in the program. The executive vice president of domestic personal banking and distribution approves all substantive employee feedback and any recommended changes to program design. Other senior management stakeholders are then engaged to collaborate and agree on the recognition strategy. Other executive divisional heads are also engaged during significant ongoing improvements to the core program structure, to ensure that fairness and equitability are addressed across all bank divisions.
The company invests nearly $10 million annually in the Scotia Applause program. To date, the program is only available to Canada employees, but will soon be offered internationally.
Scotiabank's Recognition Strategy Statement reads as follows:
"At Scotiabank, we recognize that there is nothing quite so important as our nearly 60,000 people. They're responsible for all of our accomplishments to date. And it's our people that will help us achieve our full potential—to be the best international financial services company based in Canada. That's why we're so committed to making Scotiabank a great place to work.
"For the past seven years, our recognition platform, Scotia Applause, has nurtured and entrenched a culture of authentic recognition throughout our organization. Scotia Applause has simply become 'the way we recognize' at Scotiabank, and our commitment to equitability ensures that all achievements are recognized, both big and small.
"As the Scotiabank Group continues to strategically evolve, so too do our recognition practices. Scotia Applause is not simply a sales incentive program, but rather an all-employee engagement strategy, which in turn drives customer engagement."
Recognition at Scotiabank is designed, implemented, evaluated and retooled based on nine strategic elements. Applause recognizes both individuals and teams and is completely online, automated and accessible 24 hours a day from internal Web sites and employees' homes. All employees can participate in the same program.
I hope learning about this award-winning recognition strategy enables you to better allocate your payroll's 2.7 percent. Don't just throw money at recognition. Be strategic: Do it right and feel free to walk in the footsteps of a proven success story!
Editor's Note: And be sure to read this month's "Ask Christi,"
Christi L. Gibson's online column where she answers
your incentive questions at
www.incentivemag.com/recognitionsolutions.
Christi L. Gibson, Executive Director of Recognition Professionals International, formerly known as National Association for Employee Recognition (NAER), has been with RPI since 2001, and has been published in newspapers and periodicals, and interviewed on both ABC and FOX News. She can be reached via e-mail at Christi@recognition.org.
|
SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS |
|
|
| Back to Incentive Index |
|
|
