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As the battle for talent gets fiercer, employers are using new ways of engaging with and retaining the best talent. And non-monetary rewards can often be just as effective as monetary rewards, a new study has found.
The study by Edenred, a loyalty solution organisation, in association with the Great Place to Work Institute (which primarily does work place studies), found that India's top corporate organisations for best practises in rewards and recognition use a healthy mix of money rewards and non-monetary rewards and social recognition.
The study points to the under-utilised potential of non-monetary recognition practices in the Indian workplace. “Recognition can be provided not only by senior leaders, but also by peers and juniors,” the study noted.
The report is based on survey data taken from more than 13,000 employees, and human resource managers from more than 70 companies across 11 industries.
To create excitement around their rewards and recognition programmes, these organisations come up with creative names to brand these rewards. A case in point is American Express, which ranked third all-India in the survey.
‘RewardBlue' was created as an internal American Express brand, where messages were delivered through its corporate Intranet. Brand signages were also used throughout major offices, during celebratory events, and in leadership training and communication. Typically using imagery from the system, such as an eCard, eButton or an image of Blue Awards to create a sense of familiarity, RewardBlue used fun and engaging aesthetics to impact employees.
At TPG Software, which topped the survey rankings for its rewards programme, managers personally congratulate people for a good job by writing personal notes about good performance on the company Intranet, as well as social and professional networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
Making rewards and recognition more individualised or personalised, takes them higher on the motivation quotient. TPG Software, for instance, lays a lot of emphasis on connecting with the families of the employees being recognised. All the prizes won by the employees in routine events are chosen to suit the personalised needs of the families of the employees. Also, the compensation has a component of Leave Travel Assistance (LTA) and Mediclaim, which is family focused towards entertainment and medical exigencies respectively.
Sandeep Banerjee, Managing Director & CEO, Edenred India said, “Companies have realised that increased compensation or monetary incentives are no longer the critical differentiator. Organisations are engaging and retaining their key talent with innovative and structured rewards and recognition programmes. They are going beyond the HR process as a business strategy to motivate, retain and engage their talent.”
Best workplaces are using methods such as salary increases, bonus awards and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), holiday packages and extra leave, among others to recognise efforts.
TPG Software for instance differentiates outstanding performers from the rest in terms of compensation, promotions, rewards and recognition. Increments sanctioned to outstanding performers are about 50 per cent more than an average performer in fixed compensation. Another committed component is added as Performance Bonus — 50 per cent of the fixed increase of the average performer is sanctioned additionally to the outstanding performer at the end of the year.
Moreover, TPG Software has aligned its Performance Review & Appraisal Cycle in a manner that they are able to revisit compensation and designation of its high performing employees every six months and take corrective-preventive measures if required.
Qualcomm also conducts full reviews for all employees twice a year. Components of each review cycle include the opportunity to earn performance-based bonus rewards, stock awards, as well as a promotion.
Reliance Commercial has identified what it calls DNA for success. Thus, it rewards every year The DNA Employee. He/she is the one who exhibits the behaviour which reflects the organisation DNA (value system). It also gives out an award for the Best Collaborator, to a person who brings all people together to arrive at a solution ensuring business continuity and decision.
The payback for companies can often outstrip the outlay on the rewards. As Nikhil Arora, Intuit Technologies India's Vice-President and Managing Director, said, “the goal of these awards is to inspire all employees into getting involved in innovation.”
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