18 Jan
R&R has emerged as an important tool for enabling organizations globally, to proliferate desired behaviours, enhance engagement levels and in turn drive the culture. Statistics show that less than 30% of organizations have a structured framework and only 14% have provided their HR managers with technology driven tools to manage the frameworks. When a chosen sample set of organizations that already had a structured R&R framework was asked how effective they perceive their programs to be, less than 50% of programs qualified.
Rejuvenation of existing R&R programs thus becomes a critical task for these organizations. Re-energising programs that have lost the impetus is a specialized and more complex initiative as compared to creating another new program. Modern practices (coupled with technology) offer transformational adjustments that can bring back the excitement, considerably increase the adoption levels and start showing desired impact on the organizational metrics.
Here are some effective steps to re-energise your existing R&R programs
1.Start with analyzing your current Demography – You may not have realized but the change in demography over the last couple of years may have been the single largest reason why your old programs stopped delivering the desired results. The advent of more Millennials, a term used to define the youngest generation of working professionals, would have considerably increased. The Millennials in most cases would also have become your change agents, having moved into roles where they can influence the culture of their teams. Remember, this class of professionals are people who are highly influenced by communities, have a deeper intrinsic need for appreciation, like greater levels of empowerment and are more tech & mobile savvy.
2.Introduce Gamification Elements – Simply put, gamification is the use of game mechanics and relational nomenclature to transform processes to align with real life simulations. Use terminology that is analogous with popular sports, life events or even video games. Create clearly defined levels of progression and dashboards that articulate important milestones. Introduce competition and use crowd sourcing techniques to improve participation and adoption. Reward managers and program designers must ensure that the new face of the programs covers the majority of the incumbents with a high cultural fitment.
3.Embed social features – Social orientation is by far the highest common factor that influences individuals across all generations and it works brilliantly to drive your R&R programs. Choose the level of social influence based on the maturity of your workforce and appropriately increase the amount of empowerment in the recognition process. Increased empowerment and will not only increase participation of all employees but the injection of transparency on account of social influence will also encourage greater responsibility.
4.Use technology as an engine to power your framework – Technology will bring in speed, accuracy and measurability to counter biases & stereotyping, human error, reduction of processing time and administrative cost to enable higher payouts and an improved value proposition. The advancement of mobile technology and its increased usage across all levels of employment will nullify the boredom and time lag that have been the nemesis of traditional R&R processes.
5.Deploy change agents & marketing campaigns to re-launch– Organizational change management skills will be the difference between a spectacular impact and a moderate one when you re-launch the program. Use a structured campaign through a variety of channels, create change agents who will carry the baton for you through the first trimester and use social influence effectively to orchestrate the change in behaviour and perception towards your rejuvenated programs.
Lastly, have a holistic perspective for your R&R objectives. Instead of it being just transactional for rewards, create it as an overarching culture drive initiative that impacts both non-line and line performance metrics.
