Employee Benefits Live 2016: Home Group uses a digital recognition programme to enable both peers and managers to celebrate individuals’ achievements and hard work by sending e-cards to employees across the business.
The number of e-cards sent and the reasons for these are reviewed by the executive team on a monthly basis, with employees’ achievements compared to the organisation’s four values: accountable, caring, energised and commercial.
Top-performing employees are then recognised in the organisation’s monthly Home Essentials briefing for all staff, with each of these winning employees being awarded a small reward for their contribution.
Becky Robson (pictured), head of reward and resourcing at Home Group, said: “This is where Home Group has invested quite heavily as an organisation. I think where pennies are tight within an organisation, if you can get your recognition strategy to the forefront, it’s where you start playing with the hearts and minds of individuals and really recognising their contributions. When the pennies are tight, homing in on that recognition is pivotal.”
Robson was speaking in the Motivating employees on a budget panel discussion at Employee Benefits Live 2016, alongside Miriam Tapaki, payroll manager, pensions and benefits at The Francis Crick Institute, and Jane Earnshaw, senior director of reward at Asda.
Asda uses a similar digital recognition model, via an internal social media-style app, which allows colleagues to recognise each other by sending thank you e-cards. So far, around 7,000 of the organisation’s 160,000 employees have engaged with this. Earnshaw said: “You can see then that we are building momentum around the simple thank you.”
Asda uses a range of communication methods to promote reward and benefits to staff, after going paperless resulted in a fall in engagement. Earnshaw advised delegates that online communication should be supported with more traditional methods such as posters and table toppers.
Robson added: “Staffing populations give you a diverse range of requirements and it’s about understanding those requirements and blending them in to a variety of different options and approaches. It’s about highlighting where you’ve got really good ambassadors and using them across the organisation to encourage and support others who weren’t necessarily getting it and moving them [towards] that agenda. You will always have a split of needs.”