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"Above and Beyond" at ITAGroup
December 05, 2008
By Andrea Doyle
With sales exceeding $250 million, ITAGroup has more than 500 employee owners at its headquarters in West Des Moines, Iowa, as well as sales offices across the United States. To motivate, it operates a variety of formal and informal employee recognition and incentive programs throughout the year.
"Our people are the most valuable asset we have in ensuring we deliver on our promises to customers. Empowering them, motivating them and recognizing them—it is worth the investment. It improves morale, impacts satisfaction and retention, and keeps us focused on our keys to success, and most importantly, the keys to success for our clients," says Kory Schramm, resource manager, corporate marketing for ITAGroup.
Formal initiatives include its annual all-employee, points-based recognition and reward program featuring peer-to-peer recognition, manager-to-peer recognition and corporate excellence recognition. An all-employee wellness program gives employees the chance to earn points toward bonus vacation days and other rewards, based on attendance at a variety of voluntary educational seminars and events. An annual sales recognition trip is for those in ITAGroup's national sales force who achieve established goals in a variety of sales areas.
Quarterly all-employee S.O.S. (Share Our Success) events are held to recognize corporate and individual achievements. Attendees enjoy food, music and various giveaways.
ITAGroup's informal initiatives include over a dozen all-employee events, ranging from an annual Flap Jack Festival to impromptu ice cream or cookie treats and departmental travel trophies.
Given the current state of the economy, ITAGroup's internal incentive program has more importance than ever, says Schramm. "We approach our internal programs similar to those discussions we have with our clients. During economic challenges, our advice has always been to keep moving forward by focusing on employees and business partners. It is the people that enable companies to keep momentum, through balance, strength and assurance."
This year's annual all-employee program is themed Above & Beyond! Celebrating Our Peak Performances. It ended on September 30. The program's goals were to recognize individual achievements directly impacting the company's Seven Summits of Success: people, quality, customer satisfaction, customer retention, productivity/efficiency, earnings growth, and revenue growth.
Employees had the opportunity to recognize fellow "climbers." Each employee received 10 Ascent Awards for issuance during the program. Employees used them to thank other employees who went above and beyond for a customer, for a program participant, or for a fellow employee. Upon receipt of an Ascent Award, employees received a certificate, a colorful climbing rope to display in their cubical or office and two award points for use in ITAGroup’s online book of awards.
Each employee also received two Seven Summits Awards to recognize those climbers whose exceptional achievements directly impact any of the company's Seven Summits of Success. Recipients were given a certificate, a leadership display rope, and 15 award points. This award was reviewed and approved by the recipient's manager so additional recognition could be delivered.
During the company-wide S.O.S. events, every climber who received at least one award during the quarter was entered into a special sweepstakes. At each event, 10 winners were randomly chosen, each receiving 100 award points. At the conclusion of the program, every climber who had earned a Seven Summits Award in a minimum of four of the seven categories was entered into a Seven Summits Sweepstakes. Two winners each received 250 award points. Any employee who is a volunteer member of the Spirit of ITAGroup (community volunteerism), HealthTrek (internal wellness program) or on the United Way Campaign was recognized on two special days and received an additional entry into each quarterly sweepstakes.
The program was launched at last year’s October annual meeting held in Des Moines, an event that employee owners look forward to, as the company uses it to celebrate the achievements of one year and outline objectives for another. To coincide with the theme of celebrating peak performances, climbing-related staging was used that included snow, sherpas, llamas and visuals of the top summit on each continent. A guest speaker, Charlie Wittmack, shared with the group what it was like to climb to the highest point on Earth, the summit of Mount Everest.
Additional communications include an announcement brochure, e-mails and a customized Web site, referred to as the Above & Beyond Base Camp, that provides point balances, profile data, online award issuance, and a link to the online award book.
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