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The Data Revolution – It’s Finally Happening in HR!

Recognize This! –HR should make as many decisions based upon evidence and data as finance or engineering do.

I was at HCI Human Capital Summit this week in Atlanta co-presenting with Globoforce client Quintiles. Two great themes really flowed through the entire summit. VUCA was the first, a military term that seems to sum up the environmental reality that so many of us HR professionals face today. VUCA it describes an environment characterized by constant Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

V = Volatility U = Uncertainty C = Complexity A= Ambiguity

Is this your HR world? It certainly seemed to be for a majority of attendees. Markets are changing faster than ever, we’ve acute talent shortages in certain skills and abundance in others, innovation cycles are quicker than ever, and all around us the economic climate behaves like the weather in Ireland! All four seasons in one day!

So what does the military do to cope with VUCA? Data is a major component of coping within this world. The time for soft, “gut feel” decision making is over; the time for doing certain HR projects because it’s the “right thing to do” is also over. Know your terrain and build your evidence to prove your strategy is the right one.

Speaker after speaker I heard spoke about HR data analytics, what they proved recently, and how they plan to do much more. This was true also of Beth Susman, my co-presenter from Quintiles. She told the audience how important recognition had become for Quintiles, how it is now a part of their culture, and importantly how it was positively influencing a critical corporate goal around employee retention. And she had the data to prove it!

Before and after data to show the difference
Employee data pointing specifically to the impact of recognition
Data showing the linkage of recognition to retention
Benchmark data showing trends 11% above norm

I often say, “Never underestimate the power of a metric to signal to the organization that something is important.” It is how management is hard coded – manage the figures. So for recognition to become truly a part of the culture in your organization, you need the data to prove recognition matters – recognition works to achieve your goals.

How are the data analytics of your recognition program?

Premier Farnell Tells Their Story of Successful, Strategic Recognition

Recognize This! – Incorporating the 10 Tenets of strategic recognition is critical for success.

Just before the holidays, our client Premier Farnell joined us for a webinar: “Making the Most of Recognition: Premier Farnell’s Recognition Journey.” Located in 35 countries with headquarters in London, critical to Premier Farnell’s recognition journey was multi-lingual, global expertise in recognition and rewards that are appropriate and meaningful for a global audience of employees.

Amy Montefinese, VP of global total rewards and HR operations for Premier Farnell, shared an excellent story of what the firm was able to accomplish through their iCAN recognition program. By happenstance, Amy directly spoke to several of the 10 tenets for a successful strategic employee recognition program (as explained in detail in Winning with a Culture of Recognition). Below are just a few with quotations from Amy and my comments on importance.. The entire webinar is also available here or via the video below:

The Tempo Starts at the Top

“Our CEO is a big champion of the program, which has really helped our recognition program be successful. He really gets it. He knows how important recognition can be, and in fact has been one of the top 5 nominators in the program since it launched… He set the tone and really made recognition a priority for the organization.”

By his or her actions, your CEO signals to all employees very clearly what matters most. Securing CEO sponsorship – visibly and consistently – is the top tenet for successful strategic recognition.

Base Recognition on Your Values and Objectives

“Currently, we are in a brand transition, which includes ‘Our Elements’ showing who we are and what we value as an organization. This is a very critical ingredient we use in our recognition program as we link these values to every recognition moment to help us embed them in the organization as we go through change. So, for example, our award reasons of Passion, Simple Structures & Systems, Flawless Execution, Totally Reliable and Resourceful, come straight from Our Elements.”

Whether your organization is in transition or not, linking employee recognition to what matters most to your organization (your values and objectives) is the most powerful way to bring these ideas to life for all employees.

Involve Program Participants and Invite Their Input

“We had a cross functional global team on this. I brought together stakeholders from across the globe, from line managers as well. We had definite buy-in at launch. This was a very important contributor to our success. This helped with line sponsorship and the program not being viewed as an ‘HR thing’ because we had input from across the organization.”

A culture of recognition is owned by all employees, not just HR or the recognition program champion. To get to a true culture of recognition, it’s critical to involve people from across the organization in program design and implementation.

Call All Managers to Training/Promote It or Perish

“As a partner, Globoforce brought in their expertise and their knowledge of implementing programs. Communication and training was big and I didn’t have a huge team to help me. So we leveraged the Globoforce team to help us develop a presentation that we used for a series of global webexes. We also recorded an on-demand training session available through the intranet. This really was key to a successful roll-out and implementation.”

To reach program adoption goals quickly, you must not only communicate the program through various vehicles, but train employees on why this new approach to recognition is critical to company and individual success. Use the resources available to you, and don’t shirk this critical tenet.

Touch as Many People as Possible, as Often as Possible

“In the environment today where organizations are hamstrung by sluggish sales and the need for efficiency gains, employees really are motivated by recognition. Feedback from a manager for doing a great job really does go a long way… Every quarter our team produces an HR dashboard and recognition metrics are highlighted. Employee reach is a big one – what percentage of employees in which groups were recognized. Our target this year is 80%. At the end of Q3 several divisions have already reached their goal and the rest are on track.”

Not only do you need a goal of 80-90% program participation, you need an easy yet detailed mechanism for measurement and metrics accumulation and reporting.

I encourage you to watch the full webinar, then come back and tell me what lessons you can apply in your own organization.

Intuit Case Study: Top-Down & Bottom-Up Recognition Works Best

Recognize This! –Don’t limit options for recognition, but combine multiple into one program for easy governance and best results.

Last week, I had the honor and privilege of participating in a webinar (Spotlighting Recognition: How Intuit Has Reinforced a Culture of Innovation and Elevated Employee Engagement, now available for download) with Jennifer Lepird, Senior compensation business partner for Intuit.

We’ve worked with Intuit for many years now and have benefited from their culture of innovation as well. That culture is deeply ingrained across the company and supported from the top-down by Founder Scott Cook as well as from the bottom-up in a grass-roots movement of innovation that is an experience in itself.

Top-Down Culture Management through Recognition

For example, Jennifer shared how Scott Cook regularly brings in special guests so the entire company can watch and learn innovative programs and techniques to challenge current beliefs about what can and can’t be done. A culture of innovation is the core of how Inuit operates and how employees are evaluated.

There are also several formal innovation recognition and awards programs spearheaded by Scott Cook and senior leadership, including:

Scott Cook Innovation Awards: Only a few people each year receive this honor of placement on an innovation wall of fame, a coveted trophy, an all expenses paid trip for two, increased access to senior leaders and innovators, and more time to work on projects. Notice how this award caters to all aspects of our fundamental need for esteem – professionally, personally and directly.
Patent Awards: These are given throughout the year and are awarded for ideas submitted, patent submission, and patent completion. Note especially how these reward progress (the number one employee motivator) as much as final result.
Founders Innovation Award: I’ve written about this one before and I encourage you to read that post for the video showing Hugh Molotsi receiving this first new award from Scott Cook of a $1 million dollar prize. This is a powerful illustration of my point that cash awards only serve a useful purpose if their big enough to be easily differentiated from compensation. I think $1M meets that criteria.

Bottom-Up Culture Management through Recognition

As powerful as recognition from Founder Scott Cook is, equally as powerful is regular, timely and specific feedback and recognition from colleagues and peers across Intuit. That’s the beauty and power of Intuit’s Spotlight Recognition Program, the focus of the webinar. The goals of the program are to elevate employee engagement, build a globally unified culture of innovation and recognition, inspire employees, and help Intuit be an employer of choice everywhere.

Everything about Spotlight was a bottom-up effort, including the creation of the program name. Spotlight also made recognition easy by consolidating multiple programs onto one platform for easy access for leaders and employees alike who get a single, consistent recognition experience. Administrators also have a much easier time for program management, reporting and governance.

Included in this bottom-up recognition platform are programs for:

Performance, Milestones, & “Thanks” (on-the-spot recognition)
Sales contests
Wellness Incentives
Service Awards
CEO Sales Achiever Awards
Patent Awards
Employee Referrals

I’ve gone on long enough in this post and can only encourage you to watch the webinar for the full story. But I leave you with this image – the long-term double-digit improvement in engagement attributable to Spotlight recognition. (2010 reflects two things: the economy, and a shift in business strategy that took time for employees to adjust to.)

Values * The Glue Keeping Us Together during Change (Insights from HR Directors Business Summit)

I enjoyed dinner last night with several leaders of HR in various businesses. A common concern to all them seems to be the whirlwind of change currently blowing through these organizations. The forces of change I described in my post/report yesterday are real and seem only to be getting faster. The resulting question on everyone’s mind was: How do we keep everyone with us during all this change?

I started today hearing more of the same – from both the President and the Chief People Officer for McDonalds UK & Northern Europe. They painted a candid and thorough picture of the challenges McDonalds has faced over the years and how they have evolved their people management model to react.

Particularly striking to me was how Chief People Officer David Fairhurst shared the many changes occurring in the workplace and society in general, making the case that “we need a glue that will hold everything together with all these changes happening.” That glue he identified as company values. “Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave ‘em all over everything you do” – a quotation from that other HR luminary – Elvis Presley!

I couldn’t agree more – values can be the glue holding employee needs and company success requirements together. As employees face so much change – at a pace that is historically the most rapid we’ve ever taken a workforce through – we need our employees to be resilient and have a clear line of sight for how we want to succeed together. Values can give this line of sight, and of course a values driven, strategic recognition program, is a proven robust approach to make these values come alive and be lived everyday in the corporation.

Values too was on CEO & President Jill McDonald’s agenda when she highlighted as one of her top three priorities the need to break down silos and embed corporate values to create what she called a “connected organization”. Her other two priorities included employee engagement for trust, and developing future talent.

Let me ask you, how do you plan on keeping everyone during all this change? What’s your “glue” to hold everyone together? What are your top three priorities for 2011?

Learnings from HR Directors Business Summit

I’m greatly enjoying my participation this week at the HR Directors Business Summit in Birmingham, UK. I’ve already learned a tremendous amount and am looking forward to some interesting sessions on Gen Y tomorrow.

Today, Professor Lynda Gratton from London Business School led us in a great start, sharing shared research on the “Future of Work.” She described the five forces at work, which are creating the future: Globalization, Technology, Demography, Low Carbon and Society Changes. Key insights she offered for coping in this new world are:

1) Encourage collaboration, especially online between teams and the generations
2) Encourage open innovation
3) Build strong cultures & values
4) Invest in your own ability to have specialist skills
5) Realize the days of the generalist are ending fast

Professor Paddy Miller from IESE Business School really captured my attention with his definition of employee engagement. Contrary to the many finely crafted definitions we’ve all seen, his was that engagement is a Puzzle! Each puzzle has similar parts, but each company needs to figure their own puzzle solution. I couldn’t agree more. There is no cookie-cutter solution to employee engagement. Each company must (to borrow from Professor Gratton) build on their own values to create strong cultures in which engagement can thrive.

I presented myself today on strategic recognition and how it varies from other more traditional employee recognition. I was delighted to share the platform with our client Ingrid Waterfield, UK Head of Rewards at KPMG. She took the audience through the case study of their journey at KPMG as she shared the dramatic increases in levels of participation in their recognition program, even as budget costs were reduced! If you’d like to hear more about this, watch the webinar KPMG recently presented.

More tomorrow from the HR Directors Business Summit. In the meantime, do you see any additional forces at work that are creating the future of how (and why) we work? What’s your definition of engagement? Do you think it’s a puzzle, unique to each company, or more universal to most?

Free Webinar: Recognition the KPMG Way: Driving Employee Engagement and Success

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Do you need to unify your culture? If you want to hear tips and strategies for doing just that from a peer, join me and Sara Turner, the head of employee benefits and wellbeing for KPMG UK, Tuesday next week, November 30, 8:00am PT/11:00am ET/4:00pm GMT.

During this live, interactive webinar, Sara will be sharing how she led the implementation of a strategic recognition program that helped KPMG reduce costs while providing employees with a proven tool to recognize the positive work around the company.

Key topics we’ll be sure to cover include:
• How KPMG increased recognition without increasing their recognition budget
• Why KPMG selected strategic recognition to help foster stronger employee engagement and performance
• How KPMG generated internal excitement and increased employee participation

Stop Creating Second-Class Corporate Citizens

On Monday this week, I wrote about Symantec’s incredible success with peer-to-peer recognition programs that span departments and teams. But the only reason Symantec is able to allow employees from any department to recognize each other is because they launched their employee recognition program globally – to all employees – on the same day. They didn’t do a “staged roll-out” to the employees in the US first, as so many solutions usually are – which leaves employees outside the US feeling like second-class citizens.

But the benefits of going global don’t stop at peer-to-peer recognition capabilities. The cost savings and program governance abilities are greatly enhanced, too, as Bill McCullough, senior compensation analyst at Symantec explained in this recent Workforce Management article:

Companies with operations scattered around the world believe centralized reward plans reach more people and their value can be assessed more easily. Multinationals also reap financial benefits from a global approach.

“Our employees love it,” says Bill McCullough, senior compensation analyst. “Now, approximately 65 percent of employees are touched by the program, and it has impacted our employee satisfaction scores.”

Now, with its centralized program, Symantec says it can track the return on investment in employee recognition, as well as use job performance metrics to ensure that outstanding workers receive the appropriate kudos.

As discussed in more depth in our upcoming book, Winning with a Culture of Recognition, these results strongly reflect Symantec’s ambition for their recognition program, including: “One global strategic recognition solution” and “Local impact and relevance for all employees globally.”

What’s your employee recognition strategy say about your company and what you really think of your employees?

Part 5: Catalog Providers Hate Gift Cards because Your Employees Love Them!

In my final look at why employees love gift cards in a reward program, we saw how, with the introduction of gift cards into an old catalog selection – within weeks 90-99% of employees will select the gift cards! That’s exactly why catalog providers hate them, because your employees love them!

Let’s look at one more of the reasons employees play back to us as to why they love gift cards. Employees tell us…

“I love that gift cards are GREEN and SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE, too.”

Yes, you read that right – employees do play back to us they like that gift cards have an environmental and socially responsible dimension, too. How is that?

Consider this. A merchandise catalog company – Incentive Boulevard, Inc – is based in the heart of the US with another office in the UK. As a rewarded employee in, say, China, I select my reward – let’s say it’s a portable BBQ Grill. What’s the classic journey of that grill?

1. Item Manufactured in China
2. Shipped to the Incentive Boulevard Warehouse in the USA or UK
3. Item Shipped from the USA or UK back to employee in China!

Compare that to gift cards:

1. Item manufactured in China
2. Shipped to local department store close to employee in China. Employee collects locally.

I know there are thousands of permutations of how this could play out, but the basic premise is that a second shipping trip is always required to get the item from Incentive Boulevard warehouses – even sometimes back to the very country where the item was manufactured to begin with. This creates a lot of carbon footprint! Or think of it this way. When the price of oil went through the roof in Summer 2008, the surge in shipping costs was the equivalent of a 9% tariff on trade. If you cut the costs of shipping merchandise around the world, you not only cut your costs, you spend more of your recognition and reward budget where you intended – on your people – and you eliminate the eco-expense as well.

Now let’s consider the social impact too. I am that employee in China – yes by picking an item of merchandise made in China – I support local manufacturers, but I am also supporting employees in Incentive Boulevard warehouse thousands of miles away in the US or UK. What would I prefer? How about spending my reward, yes, on a locally manufactured item, but also purchased from a local merchant, with local employees who understand my specific needs.

Or how about spending my reward at a local spa, or in a local restaurant or cinema chain, or giving my reward to a local charity. All of these are possible when local gift cards are used – I get to enjoy and use my reward while also making an economically progressive decision to support my local economy and the local employees who are my neighbors. Don’t get me wrong – I am 100% for international trade; however, the gift card route allows many thousands of local economies to benefit from your program, not just the one of two where Incentive Boulevard has their warehouse.

More food for thought – do you think your employees care that your reward options are Green and Socially Responsible?

For those just joining the GloboBlog community today, these are the links for the past related posts in this series:

Part 1: Catalog Providers Hate Gift Cards because Your Employees Love Them

Part 2: “I love REAL CHOICE, not pretend choice.”

Part 3: “I love that they are LOCAL to where I live, not one size fits all.”

Part 4: “I love BEST VALUE for my money, not being price cheated.”

Part 3: Catalog Providers Hate Gift Cards Because Your Employees Love Them!

Continuing my look at why employees love gift cards in a reward program where we saw how if you introduce gift cards into an old catalog selection – within weeks 90-99% of employees will select the gift cards! That’s exactly why catalog providers hate them, because your employees love them!

Let’s look at one more of the reasons employees play back to us as to why they love gift cards. Customer employees tell us…

“I love that they are LOCAL to where I live, not one size fits all”.

I know it’s hard for program managers to evaluate which are the best rewards to offer employees, so I shall try and keep the comparison on this employee reason as straightforward as I can.

Basically, I recommend you think about recognition program providers as behavior consultants, technology solution providers and reward vendors. That’s as true of us as it is of our competitors. A good way to look at classic merchandise catalog reward vendors is to think of them as a store, with a storefront called, say, “Incentive Boulevard.” Behind this storefront they are offering their merchandise items that they have purchased, sourced, and stocked in their warehouse facility, fork lift drivers and all! They are in effect merchants, and some have even got manufacturing facilities where they make some of the items they sell (e.g., jewelry). This model has certain built-in characteristics:

• Stock of items available is limited to their warehouse capacity.
• Stock rotates about 3-4 times a year.
• Their buyer team of 2-3 people is selecting what items to stock.
• Cultural sensitivity is covered by merchandise groupings for like-minded regions.
• Merchandise items are shipped by courier around the globe.

The most common descriptor I hear from employees for this approach is the “One Size Fits All Catalog”. Much like that T-shirt we’ve all picked up at trade shows that is just not meant to fit you!

Now, compare this traditional catalog approach to our gift card experience delivery model. Yes we are reward vendors too, but the key difference is that we are not selling our merchandise – rather we are opening the way for your employees to go select their reward from an enormous portfolio of famous-name merchants that are respected brands in every country — famous department stores, restaurant and cinema chains, sports stores, travel providers, local online retailers, and local charities among other all-local choices, too. So employees choose LOCALLY an aspirational reward – at what I call street level – from the millions of items suited to their local culture. Let’s compare this model to the points bulleted earlier:

• Stock of items available also limited to the items in stock. But how limited in stock is Macy’s or Kohl’s, Marriott or Travelocity, Pottery Barn or Amazon.com – just to name a few. Globally, stock exceeds 20 million possible reward experience choices.
• Stock rotates every week.
• The buyers are professionals catering to the needs of real consumer populations locally. These local buyers know what an employee in Beijing wants, because they are LOCAL citizens in China, and not based in Cincinnati!
• Cultural sensitivity is built-in and ensured in ALL countries, as merchants are LOCAL.
• Bulky items are NOT shipped, but locally selected, locally collected, and locally consumed.

My advice – THINK GLOBAL, BUT THANK LOCAL. By adopting a local-level reward approach you show respect for the local employee, respect for their local culture and respect for their ability to choose a reward that is truly motivating to them – locally.

Now what is more motivating than respect?

For those just joining the GloboBlog community today, these are the links for the past related posts in this series:

Part 1: Catalog Providers Hate Gift Cards because Your Employees Love Them

Part 2: “I love REAL CHOICE, not pretend choice.”

Part 2: Catalog Providers Hate Gift Cards Because Your Employees Love them!

Continuing my look at why employees love gift cards in a reward where we saw how if you introduce gift cards into an old catalog selection – within weeks 90-99% of employees will select the gift cards! That’s exactly why catalog providers hate them, because your employees love them!

We’ve 1.7 million employees worldwide using our solution today, a sizeable population, and one that we survey frequently and hear many comments from. When it comes to gift cards what do we hear from employees? Well, employees tell us they love gift cards because:

• I love REAL CHOICE, not pretend choice.
• I love they are LOCAL to where I live, not one size fits all.
• I love BEST VALUE for my money, not being price cheated.
• I love that gift cards are GREEN and SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE too.

Using the verbatim survey comments from employees, let’s look further at each of these, as employees explain their reasoning, often better than I will.

I love REAL CHOICE, not pretend choice:

“In our previous catalog program, we’d a pretend choice of probably a thousand items. I always felt like I had to pick something that I didn’t really want, just to get something, anything really!”

“Now, I actually enjoy my reward! I can shop at my local department store in Paris, or take the family to a local restaurant. Much more choice – everyone is catered to.”

“Now I get rewards I love!”

“I really want the latest versions of electronics items, I was nearly always disappointed not to find them in the old catalog, now I can shop online at Amazon, or go to my local electronics store.”

In a global population of employees representing all generations from Y, X, baby boomers, close retirees, across many different geographies and different cultures too – what catalog of a thousand items, or even twenty thousand items could possibly cater to this wide, diverse group of consumers and their varied needs? For that matter what global retailer has ever done this? Is there a global retailer that succeeds in catering to all consumers worldwide? Not even close! There is no single global retailer like this. Oh, except one – your local merchandise catalog company – that claims to be able to cater to a worldwide employee base, when no single world retailer has yet done this. Really think about that one, can their claim be true?

Some employees are conservatives, some are hedonists, for some a great reward is a watch, but for others it’s a Def Leppard music collection, or a fishing rod; for some of our Chinese factory employee users it’s a chance to visit high end bakery store Ganzo for special cake treats.

REAL CHOICE is about providing your employees the opportunity to get a reward that is personal, meaningful to them, and meets their view of what is inspiring to get, and not – with all due respects – your view! That’s exactly why we have built over the past decade the world’s largest portfolio of gift cards from thousands of local famous-name merchants, respected brands in every country, famous department stores, restaurant and cinema chains, sports stores, travel providers, local online retailers, and local charities among other choices too, so that your employees have REAL CHOICE from the millions of items suited to their local needs.

I’ll be returning to this topic next week…more soon.

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