Belron UK relied on employees’ and line managers’ feedback to design a new recognition scheme.
The vehicle glass repair and replacement organisation, which owns Autoglass UK, worked with provider OC Tanner to design a new scheme based on employees’ views, which included feedback that there was not enough recognition throughout the organisation.
Belron UK, which has 2,500 employees, had a previous recognition scheme in place, but found that this was underutilised and reached only 2.9% of the employee population in terms of those who received recognition.
In 2016, the organisation carried out an employee survey of all line managers and employees to find out their views on reward. The survey found that 99% of employees agreed that receiving recognition was really important to them.
This appetite for recognition prompted the design of a new scheme. Victoria May, reward manager, says: “We wanted to put a tool in place that made it easier for people to celebrate each other and to send everyday ‘thank yous’.”
It launched its new scheme, Celebrate us, in June 2017, in line with the relaunch of its organisational values, This is us, which centre around the core principles caring, collaborative, driven and genuine.
The scheme allows employees to send peer-to-peer recognition in the form of e-cards through an online platform or mobile app. The scheme also recognises employees who have demonstrated behaviour aligned with the organisation’s values. Staff are awarded points that can be redeemed for gifts through provider OC Tanner.
In the first six months of the scheme, 60% of individuals received recognition, 90% of which were non-monetary ‘thank yous’.
The success of the programme to date has been supported by the way this was communicated to the business, for example, through the use of line manager toolkits, employee welcome packs and launch video. All employees were also sent a welcome e-card on the launch day.
“What we wanted to do was broaden out our thinking around recognition and create a recognition culture, so we are on a journey with this”, says May. “We were very keen that the scheme was around celebrating our people rather than just recognising top performers.
“Recognition and celebrating success through our people is a key focus of our reward strategy.”