In my observation over the past six months and conversing with other members of management, there has been an overall consensus that employee morale has been less than subpar. That could have potentially negative implications if this is not addressed here in the immediate future. My concern is that uncertainty can lead good employees to seek employment with competitors, or other employees to take on an unmotivated attitude. Given these two potential scenarios, this can have huge implications leading to disruption within our organization on how we conduct business. I would like to explore an employee reward and recognition program that can curb employee moral.
The complexity at hand is low employee morale with issues stemming from ineffective communication from management staff to employee team members. With the lack thereof communication that can create a culture of miss trust potently creating a negative impact on how we conduct our operations daily.
With increased workloads without any strategic planning, expectations without feedback from management may potentially cross-new onset of potential issues for example of increased rates of absenteeism. Uncertain behaviors can arise that can negatively impact job performance. Our company takes pride in meeting operational goals deadlines this is a reflection on how we interact with peer to peer or taking it a step further with management team members. If there’s a potential disconnect this could adversely affect how we handle business with other corporations in established relationships or contracts.
Creating and implementing an employee reward & recognition and incentive program that places value towards our staff team members building a positive culture in knowing employees are considered valuable resources. There are several ways to implement an informal and formal recognition program. One aspect can include a direct supervisor personally recognizing going above and beyond the employees’ job description.
Acknowledging employees in a magnify recognition program where there is an email blast that is sent throughout the company, better yet recognition program that delivers accomplishments through social media networks. Beyond the call of service company incentives, these are set in place for specific employees that constantly perform tasks at a high pace, the high impact that produces great values. These incentives may include paid time off or a membership to a health & fitness gym. Financial incentives are based on job performance such as a yearly bonus.
Hershey Company recently conducted a global employee survey; it discovered people were looking for new, technology-friendly ways to recognize colleagues for their excellent work performance. So Hershey’s human resources team created a social recognition program called SMILEs to celebrate the company’s values and identify those who go “above and beyond” to accomplish objectives. Hershey Company has now has implemented several different recognition apps specifically for mobile devices to captures employees in the moment of creditable service. Within the first three months of implementing this program, there were nearly fourteen thousand recognition moments captured, with forty percent of all employees participating in the first ninety days.
Hershey’s experience is detailed in the book, The Power of Thanks: How Social Recognition Empowers Employees and Creates a Best Place to Work (McGraw-Hill, 2015), from co-authors Eric Mosley and Derek Irvine, senior executives at Globoforce, a recognition solutions provider in Southborough, Mass. Co-author Irvine, Globoforce’s vice president of client strategy and consulting, stated the best social recognition programs “are inclusive of both peer-to-peer and manager-to-employee recognition and driven by good work rather than constrained by reward practices like monthly point allocations.” This is one example of a successful company and how they utilize informal recognition in creating an atmosphere where team members are motivated to show up to work with outstanding attitudes while having fun and being productive.
Constructing a formal social recognition platform that can produce a positive community within the workplace environment is paramount for promoting a sense of satisfaction, and ownership amongst the team members. When it comes to pride within the employee, the outcome will produce quality customer service that incorporates a high level of professionalism and respect. Thus building a culture of accountability that motivates people, inspires them to be resourceful, and pushes the paradigm of creativity to new limits. Another aspect that needs to be considered regarding formal recognition has to have a well-developed integrated program that defines all elements of criteria linked to organizational beliefs, values, and goals.
Case in point creating an individual member or employee team’s nomination through a selection process with the purpose of acknowledgment and recognition. Conducting an appreciation award ceremony event, where team members in a formal setting that are presented with awards at a public venue. Research by Deloitte has shown that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe a distinct corporate culture is important to a business’s success.
Deloitte’s survey also found that 76% of these employees believed that a ” clearly defined business strategy” helped create a positive culture.
For instance, in the late 1990s, the bank of Nova Scotia known as Scotiabank in Canada noticed that the banking industry was leaning towards self-service banking technology. Scotiabank opted not to head in that direction instead their main focus and interest were in creating high-quality customer service departments to meet the needs of their patrons. Yvette Bryan, Scotiabank’s Director of Employee Recognition and Motivation introduced “The Scotia Applause program that is designed to support the activities and behaviors that reinforce the successful delivery of a customer-centric experience,” Bryan explained.
“The program required a motivational thrust to shift behavior from a singular product volume results focus on rewarding sales and service activities that are relationship-driven.” Scotiabank requires that all employees participate in custom-tailored programs that are associated with the Applause brand business strategy. The reward program consists of individual and team recognition that meets four-tiered criteria that include daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual performance recognitions, goals, and evaluations. Since 2018 Scotiabank saw tangible and outstanding results that showcase the true value recognition has towards driving employee engagement.
The key performance indicators results comprise the following information. Employee recognition reporting has increased to 65%, resulting in a 10% increase month-to-month. 70% of employees globally logged into the platform, resulting in a 20% increase month-to-month.
Another platform of recognition through company monetary incentives have their positives plus their negatives. Research has found that motivation through monetary incentives has a plethora of positives outcomes that include paid bonuses based upon performance productivity annual or semi-annual bonuses, such as mid-year and end-of-year rewards. Employee stock options, profit-sharing plans, paid time off. Another motivational benefit is the employee assistance program that offers discounts to join fitness centers to encourage an active and healthy lifestyle.
The employee assistance program has many other resource options as well for example legal consultation, financial planning, and family and marriage counseling. Providing additional daycare incentives with a daycare on-site making it more conducive for the employees having that ability to check up on their children during lunch break. The purpose of these programs is to support workers with their home responsibilities so they can remain focused on their jobs while they are at work.
The negative component of monetary incentives has its downside as well. Implementation comes with a cost that’s a massive financial impact in regards to an operational budget. For example, the employee assistance program takes a lot of personnel hours from human resources to do the research developing contracts that coincide with all the benefits and programs that the employee assistance program provides. Another component is insurance for employees how does the insurance coincide on what percentage does the employer pay into verses what percentage of the employee pay’s into to accommodate these special incentives like an employee assistance program.
The cost of an on-site daycare hiring qualified preschool teachers the licensing the insurance that coincide with state regulations. It takes time and effort to set up and track incentive programs and ensure they’re paid out accurately. With that being said there is a percentage of employees whose behaviors may become uncouth, self-entitled when bonuses are expected.
When monetary incentives are linked to team performance, it can potentially transform into frustration if there are perceptions of suspicion regarding unequal contributions amongst team members. Big monetary incentive values tend to be a small percentage in time to a quick solution to maintain team member motivation within the working environment.
Michelle Tillis Lederman, Executive Essentials states Incentives are great! They put employees in a happy mood and give them something to feel good about. The only problem is that feeling is fleeting. Incentives that are not related to the work, advancement, and having an impact in the organization are typically a temporary fix. To sustain employee engagement, understand the individual motivations and infuse them into the job regularly. That’s a real incentive.
- Provide leadership to a high profiled JPA for a 9-1-1 fire and medical dispatch center. Responsible for the supervision, coordination, and prioritization of all communication center activities. Managing a direct team of 26 staff members (22 Dispatcher & 4 Supervisors).
- Design, implement and maintain processes to maximize the quality of operations.
- Create policies and procedures for the overall center and to meet the standards of accreditations. Identify, investigate, and resolve service-related issues.
- Manage and maintain relationships with public and private agency members.
- Manage labor relations, corrective actions, and hearing of grievances through the collective bargaining agreement process.
Human Resource functions from attracting talent, selection process, on-boarding, training, retention, employee recognition, payroll, workers compensation, workplace health/safety, employment data, and records. Plan, lead and partake in projects. Maintain all certifications of a dispatcher to work a dispatching position.