How to Pick the Right Employee Rewards Program for your Organization?

Workplaces are going through a dynamic transformation. And with the changing scenario, HR functions are evolving massively. It is pivotal to create a more employee-centric work environment where employee engagement takes center stage.

We cannot talk about building employee engagement without having an effective Rewards and Recognition program in place.

• Organizations that implemented recognition programs had 31% lower voluntary turnover than those that did not.
  Source: Deloitte

• 74% of employees want their immediate management to recognize them more.
  Source: Sesco

• Companies with advanced recognition systems are 12 times more likely to achieve positive business outcomes.
  Source: Deloitte

Creating a sound employee rewards program from scratch is quite a tough and time-consuming process.

Thanks to technology and the massive inundation of cloud-based HR tools, you will find many employee rewards programs to serve the purpose. These cloud tools can make the entire employee recognition process more straightforward, structured, and effective. In addition, they can hugely reduce admin time resulting in frequent, timely, and meaningful employee recognition.

The real test is evaluating and picking the right employee rewards program from the lot.

This blog will outline ten criteria to help you pick the right employee rewards program for your organization.

Why is it Important to have a Good Employee Rewards Program?

We cannot emphasize enough how having a good employee rewards program can benefit an organization. Not only does it make a workplace culture strong, but it also improves the quality of work performance. But if you are still in doubt about facilitating an employee rewards program, below is a list of benefits that will change your doubt into belief.

1. Improves Employee Morale

Employee morale is an important factor in developing a productive workforce. Employees with high morale indicate that the organization is doing something right. One of the factors could be implementing an employee reward system that prioritizes rewarding employees for their efforts and dedication.

It ensures and fosters the belief that employees will be appreciated and recognized for their contributions. This encourages them to perform well and boosts their morale.

2. Creates a Culture of Appreciation

Building a culture of appreciation is a challenging task. It takes a lot of planning and implementation while simultaneously aligning it with the organizational goals. However, once you have a working employee rewards system, it ensures that employees are acknowledged promptly.

This ensures that everyone is indulged in the process of recognition, which in turn creates a culture focused on appreciation. And you can further enhance this process with Vantage Circle's AI-based employee engagement solution.

This platform enables employees to recognize their peers with the help of monetary and non-monetary awards. In addition, the platform also provides a plethora of features like service anniversary celebrations, wishing each other on special occasions, and much more.

Read more: 8 Unique Ways You Can Build A Culture of Appreciation In 2023

3. Builds Positive Workplace Relationships

When you invest in a strong employee rewards program, the emphasis is more on empowering employees. This system allows the employees to show their appreciation toward their co-workers.

When employees acknowledge each other for their efforts and support, it develops mutual understanding and respect. Doing so enables them to build positive workplace relationships in the long run.

4. Boosts Employee Retention

It's an open secret; employees love getting acknowledged. And with an efficient employee rewards program, you can make the employees fall in love with the workplace. You need to be consistent and frequent with your reward process.

Doing so will ensure that the employees stay loyal, improving employee retention in the organization.

5. Drives Employee Satisfaction

Acknowledging employees makes them feel valued and creates a sense of self-belief. On top of that, this also makes employees feel they are carrying out their responsibilities well. Doing so will ensure that the employees are satisfied with their workplace and job roles. In the long run, it positively impacts their overall satisfaction levels.

You need to choose the right tool and have a good strategy to support the employee rewards program.

Read more: 9 Best Practices to Keep Employee Satisfaction High

How to Pick the Right Employee Rewards Program?

Selecting the right reward program for your organization that aligns with the organizational goals is crucial. It will determine the long-term success of your efforts while empowering the employees. Let's look at what you need to look for to choose the appropriate program.

1. Ease of Integration

Digitization and technology have become a quintessential part of managing people. The chances are that your organization is already using an HRMS for various HR functions.

You don’t want to invest in a program that will not become part of the existing workflows. It will add hassles for both you and your employees. It also minimizes admin time when you can integrate your rewards program with other SSO software that you’re using.

Hence, it is essential to ensure that the employee recognition program can be seamlessly integrated into the existing system.

2. Customization

Every organization is different from the other.

Since you’re choosing a Rewards platform and not building one on your own, it is important to fit your company effortlessly. Customizable features will give you the freedom to tailor-make the program for your employees. It can be in the form of the number of employees, award titles, allocation of points, etc. Your employees shouldn’t feel like they are joining a completely new and unknown program.

Solution providers like VantageRewards offer complete white-labeling of the program to give it company identity. This means you get full autonomy over the look and feel of the program, starting from the name to interface.

Look for a solution provider who can provide complete customization.

3. Smooth Point-based Rewarding Process

Gone are the days when you could apply a one-size-fits-all policy in rewarding your employees.

Point-based rewards for employee recognition are gaining popularity for all the right reasons.

Here employers can buy reward points and distribute these points to employees as rewards. Employees can then redeem the points earned by them and purchase items or experiences, or subscriptions of their choice. This gives employees flexibility and a sense of freedom. And for managers, it reduces their headache in deciding what gifts to give on what occasion.

So, you must ensure that your chosen program follows a point-based rewarding system. Also, have a look at the points to currency conversion beforehand.

And if you are in search of such platforms, then you can opt for Vantage Circle. The platform provides a point-based system and currency conversion according to geographical location. This enables organizations to reward and recognize their employees based out of different locations.

4. The Program Should Suit Your Organization

A company’s recognition program must suit the company culturally.

Recognition programs are a great way to spread and articulate your company’s core values. So before choosing a program, you must ensure that you can tie the Rewards program with the company values and ideologies. Research on the message that the program wants to emphasize and the unique ways they are trying to achieve the same.

For example, if the program claims to promote social recognition, look at their portal or the social feed and similar features.

So take a free demo or a tour of the inside of the portal and make an informed decision.

5. Cost Factor

One of the preliminary criteria while choosing an R&R program is the cost.

Before you go about investing in a program, you should plan a proper budget. The budget will differ according to the size and needs of the enterprise. Make a reasonable estimation of how much you are willing to pay the external vendor for the program. Investigate what all will be taken care of by them and what will not.

SHRM recommends that HR departments spend at least 1% of payroll on rewards and recognition.

Note that some solution providers show a lower cost on paper, but there are many hidden costs once you get on board. These can be transaction fees, processing fees, or extra taxes. To avoid that, I would recommend you to go for a tool that shows a transparent and flat fee.

Once the program is launched, the budget allocation and distribution should be on your hands. The platform should enable you to purchase rewards points when you want them, based on the budget that works for you.

6. Alignment with Desired Outcomes

It is important to establish the outcomes that you expect from the R&R program. One of the biggest challenges of building a culture of employee recognition is a lack of means to determine the ROI.

To tackle this, you must set quantifiable outcomes and expectations. And more importantly, you should be able to capture the results of the program with sound analytics. Have a close look at the analytics dashboard that will come with the program. All the data you need should be displayed in a systematic and hassle-free manner and in real-time.

To ensure transparency of your rewards program, take a detailed review of the product before making a choice.

7. The Program should be Fun and Engaging

The success of the Recognition program comes down to the degree of engagement of your people. While considering the factors for choosing a program, there is one thing that is often overlooked, and that is making it fun.

The program interface should be simple, smooth, and user-friendly. Since everyone in the company will be using the program, the features should be easy to understand.

Secondly, make sure the program is fun (and not boring) to use. Having gaming elements makes a program instantly more interesting. Gamification in the R&R module can be having a leaderboard, points allocation, badges, tags, etc.

Note: Go for a tool that has mobile access to ensure regular participation and engagement.

8. Industry knowledge and experience of Vendor

Choosing the right external vendor for the organization’s recognition needs comes down to various factors. You should ensure that the vendor is experienced and capable of delivering the results and meeting the goals. You might want to look at their industry presence and previous experiences with companies on the same scale as yours.

You should stick with the brand name that offers top quality and has shown commendable results in the past.

9. Scalability

Scalability in cloud computing or cloud tools is the ability to quickly and easily increase or decrease the size or power of an IT solution.

A scalable cloud makes it possible to sign in and start using a cloud solution in a matter of seconds. When your rewards program is scalable, even sizeable changes in the organization can be handled in a few minutes. It doesn’t require the program to change the entire structure according to your company size.

Make sure that the cloud-based program of your choice is scalable to meet the diverse needs of your organization.

10. Global Deployment

One of the prime challenges for a Rewards Program is maintaining the consistency of the program across regions. If you company is a multinational company or your workforce is spread out in various location, this is an essential criterion that you must take note of.

Make sure that the employee rewards solution provider can deliver a consistent solution across the continents and in remote locations.

Summing it Up!

How you choose the right employee rewards program will depend on what you want to achieve with the program. The general idea is to make the workforce more productive by recognizing and rewarding them for their efforts.

But the approach should be done with an open and positive mindset that will allow you to heed on feedbacks. You can also take suggestions from your employees on how they want the program to be designed. At the end of the day, you would want to empower your employees without having to compromise on their morale and satisfaction.

This article is written by Darshana Dutta. She works as a Content Creator and Digital Marketer at Vantage Circle. She writes extensively on trends around employee engagement and transforming company culture. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com