Really? A Paper-based Employee Recognition Program?

Five ways to use technology to make your program super impactful.

Last week we received a call from a company looking for help building out a new employee recognition program. Our first question was, “What are you trying to accomplish?” Threaded into the answer was the statement, “It all has to be paper-based.”“Paper-based?” We asked.

“Oh yeah, with the ability to fax the information to our remote employees.”

“Paper-based with fax capabilities??” Now we were really confused.

After the call ended, we wondered who would design a paper-based employee recognition program in today’s tech-driven world? Then we realized that the majority of employee recognition programs that exist in companies around the globe are exactly that – paper-based! Nominations are submitted (maybe by email, but that’s closer to paper than it is to automation). The nominations are printed and distributed to the committee who will pick the team member of the quarter, the monthly MVP, the top performer of the month, or some similar variation. The winner is selected. His or her name goes up on a plaque in the break room where all passersby can ignore it… uh, I mean see it. This process gets repeated next quarter, and the quarter after that, each time having a bit less of an impact on the employees.

There is a better way! Here are five ways that technology can make your employee recognition program have the impact you always dreamed about.

1. Technology increases visibility. Instead of hoping people stop to read a plaque with someone’s name now added to the history of winners, a solid employee recognition software application can provide a social feed where all employees, regardless of location, can see who is being recognized and what the recognition is for – on an ongoing basis.
2. Technology cuts down on program administration overhead. No collecting forms. No having to send someone out to buy gift cards or movie tickets. Instead, technology allows you to operationalize your employee recognition program, where the process part of the program is done by the software application, not by an overworked admin .
3. Technology gives you insight into the impact of your recognition program. How would you like to be able to see the exact cost of your program? How about the ability to easily track who has been recognized recently (and maybe more importantly, who hasn’t)? How about the ability to see the recognition taking place between departments? These insights, easily obtained through a tech-based program, can help you make adjustments to improve the impact your program is having on the business.
4. Technology is what the modern workforce expects. Millennials now make up the majority of the employee base. These are team members who are used to using an app for everything. Every day that goes by where you use a recognition program that was designed when JFK was president is another day that your employees feel disconnected from the business . Give today’s modern workforce an interface that is intuitive and has a great design and you’ll find that their engagement will soar.
5. Technology makes location irrelevant. The reason many remote employees struggle is that they don’t feel connected to the organization. A tech-based employee recognition program delivers equal benefits to the work-from-home employee in another state, as it does to the HQ employee. Both have access to see the social feed of who is being recognized. Both are equally involved in the peer recognition process. Both have access to program insights. Both have seamless ways to redeem gifts that they really want.

Employee recognition software from Motivosity can deliver the connections your employees are looking for and the culture you’re working to create. Some things about your current recognition program might be things you’ll want to keep. No worries. There are ways to integrate those into your new employee recognition program – all while you get the benefits that technology can provide (less the fax machine option)!

This by-lined article was originally published in HRtechnologist on June 5, 2018 https://rebrand.ly/5waysTech