Rewards Programmes

Developing and keeping a talented, driven and highly-skilled team is absolutely vital to the success of any business. In today’s economic climate the causes of staff departure are many and varied—concerns around job security and the future of the business, limited opportunities for upward movement, concerns about lack of compensation... or other, more avoidable reasons.

The statistics are stark—a Saba Software report claims that 1 in 3 workers will change jobs in the next six months, while Bain & Company stats show that, in a given year, the average company will lose 20-50% of its employees.

Replacing staff when they leave is disruptive and expensive—the Wall Street Journal estimates it can cost twice an employee’s salary to find and train their replacement, while a 2014 report by Oxford Economics estimates that cost at £30,000. The same report revealed that ‘down time’ while new hires find their feet costs the UK economy an estimated £4.13bn a year.

For many companies, though, cost isn’t the primary problem with staff turnover. When an established, capable member of staff leaves they take their knowledge, skillset and marketplace understanding with them. Interpersonal relationships across teams are massively disrupted, and the idea of leaving is introduced into your workforce. That can lead to problems with motivation and morale—and that can be a serious problem.

Morale can be difficult to define, but low morale in a workforce can translate into measurable problems. Gallup, the global performance-management consulting company, has estimated that the US economy loses up to $350bn a year to issues caused by low morale. People leave jobs because of low morale and lack of engagement, with 89% of employers assuming their people leave for better pay, and only 12% of outgoing employees citing pay as their reason for jumping ship.

So, the challenge to companies is staff retention—to find, keep and develop the people that they need to succeed. That means creating a corporate culture that supports and celebrates talent, encourages excellence and values employees.

We can help.

Staff who feel valued and appropriately compensated for their work stick around. Rewards programmes can boost morale, communicate your appreciation of your people, and incentivise results. The right rewards programme will also help to underline key business objectives, improve engagement with leadership, and encourage loyalty.

So how do you create a rewards programme that fulfils its potential and delivers real value across your organisation?

You work with a partner who has a proven track record of designing and managing detailed, integrated programmes that deliver measurable ROI. Rewards programmes should be built around achievement and progress, so a platform where progress can be tracked is ideal. Online rewards platforms, cumulative ‘points mean prizes’ systems, offer the opportunity for clear progress tracking within a defined incentive framework.

Ensuring that the rewards structure is clearly tied to key achievements and results is fundamental. Those results will be determined by your business objectives, but the key is to have a clear, coherent system: this result warrants this reward, for this reason. That way staff feel more engaged with primary business aims, and know that they are being appropriately recognised.

Once the lines between achievement and reward have been drawn, they must be adhered to. When someone fulfils a given requirement, they are rewarded; when they don’t, they aren’t. It’s the structure of the rewards programme that gives the employee a sense of the value of their work. If that structure is compromised that sense of value is lost, morale suffers, and your good work is undone. Effort can be appreciated, but only results are rewarded.

The whole system relies on a usable platform, and a clearly defined set of achievements aligned to a clearly defined set of rewards.... that’s where we come in.

We design, deliver and manage bespoke online rewards platforms that help motivate teams and reduce staff turnover. The platforms are easy to use, adaptable and can be used to manage and justify rewards budgets. We build them in line with your business objectives, integrate them with your intranet where needed, and work with you to pick the perfect rewards for your people.

We’d love to work through your requirements with you, and help you to create a platform and programme that help you to keep hold of the skilled, talented and motivated workforce that you’ve worked so hard to create. Drop us a line via our contact page.