With 60,000 staff across more than 190 countries, Siemens had a disparate range of reward and recognition programmes in place for many years. But the firm recognised the need to create a company-wide programme and, in early 2010, it set up a recognition scheme called You Answered.
The programme, provided by Madison Performance Management, complements Siemens’ global Answers advertising campaign. Susan Brown, director of compensation at Siemens, says: “It shows how Siemens can answer the world’s toughest questions around environmental issues, city expansion and building infrastructure. Our employees provide Siemens’ answers and the You Answered programme recognises their contribution in doing so.”
By dovetailing its internal recognition programme with the external campaign, Siemens was able to reinforce its corporate values and link its employees’ performance directly to the organisation’s success.
Brown adds: “Our employees are thinking about our business and the role they can play in making it better. Whether that takes the form of delivering a higher level of value to a customer or co-worker, that sense of being ‘the answer’ is becoming ingrained in our culture, and our recognition programme is an extension of that, strengthening the connection employees feel."
Read more case studies
