Story 65 – Personalize Rewards

During the pandemic organizations realized that cash awards were no longer feasible as part of rewards & recognition. However, without rewards & recognition, employee morale could be affected.

A few innovative organizations decide to use this opportunity to ask employees what they wanted (as long as it had no monetary impact) & attempted to give that as a reward. One employee asked to be included in the team working on a strategic project. Another employee asked if they could get a mentoring/ coaching session with a top leader. Others had interesting requests, with one asking if the responsibilities of taking the minutes of meeting be given to someone else for the next one month!

Says Ramesh Shankar, “Appreciation is not just financial, in the form of compensation or benefits. Rather, non-financial appreciation is more effective in today’s scenario.” Adds Srikanth Karra, “The endeavors to hyper personalize rewards to suit individual needs is still lagging behind.” Guides Aruna Preetam, “Customization is the order of the day & the manner of customization is less about individualized options & more about individual choices.”

Stories on Leadership, HR & Life is a weekly series on various aspects as a corporate professional.