India has strong celebrity culture

Employees should be told how their specific actions helped the business and organisation to achieve bottom-line results 

By Shishir Parasher Nov 22 2015: Being the largest employee recognition company, OC Tanner brings more than 88 years of experience of working with­ 8,000 clients across the globe. Company operations are about people inspiring people to greatness and that goes deeper than the software they offer, Zubin Zack, chief recognition strategist of the company told Shishir Parasher in an interview. Excerpts: 

What is employee recognition and how does it help organisations and members of their staff?
Employee recognition is wh­en an employee or a team achieves beyond expected results or goes beyond job duties or reaches a milestone, big or small. Celebrating great wo­rk or encouraging effort inspires people. When people are inspired, companies gro­w. We help companies appreciate great work by focusing on three areas: encouraging effort, rewarding results and celebrating careers.
What are the latest trends in employee recognition? How have you witnessed the trends changing?
Yes, there are trends and the ones highlighted below are being given more importance now than before:  Centralisation: Multiple fragmented practices of trophies, town hall awards are now being centralised to deliver a consistent me­ssage, improve internal br­anding, improve transpa­rency and credibility in the recognition and rewards b­eing given out.
Technology: Technology is used to leverage peer-to-peer recognition, real-time data and analytics across the organisation for managers to understand and measure behavioural pattern, utilisation of the programme, ease of broadcasting recognition moments and inbuilt e-learning systems, among others. Personalisation: Organisations want to make a difference at an individual level. Every programme is customised and personalised to suit individual needs like training, merchandise, experiences and consultancy.
Total Solutions: Companies know that to impact culture or business, they need solutions beyond technology and merchandise. They are now open to educating employees and creating recognition champions in the company.
Moving from ‘HR strategy’ to integral ‘leadership strategy’: Recognition is gra­dually becoming the top priority, not only for CHROs but also CEO’s and CXO’s.
How do R&R policies differ in different continents where you have your presence?: Universally, all employees want and need appreciati­on. It is highly valued by ev­ery individual and so­ught for in organisations. How it gets practiced is different in different cultures. In India there is already an existing and natural recognition in some form, which have be­en used for a number of years now. India has a str­ong celebrity culture. The more we ca­n make e­mployees feel like celebrities during a presentation, the better.
What are the key elements of creating a highly motivated workforce across industries and organisations? To motivate a workforce, it is essential to have effective and consistent communication indicating the importance of initiatives and ali­gning it with company objectives. Employees should be provided with day-to-day tools to foster a culture of positivity, appreciation, tran­sparency and collaboration. Employees should be told how their specific actions helped the business and organisation to achieve bottom-line results.
What should organisations focus upon while chalking out their reward and recognition policy and structure? Today most of the recognition programmes constitute of annual award progr­ammes or informal and inconsistent on-the-spot presentations to appreciate an achievement or service co­mpletion awards. Most are fragmented, not timely, not measured for RoI and since it is manual, it is difficult to track the data and its performance. A total recognition solution can consist of the below components:

• # Identifying business objectives
• # Studying the organisation culture, employee behavior and identifying loopholes
• # Prioritising and defining strategy to achieve those objectives by involving the employees and address challenges
• # Designing strategy and implementation plan
• # Employee communication (online and offline), training, keynotes and workshops to communicate.
• # Provide necessary tools – social, peer-to-peer, performance, career recognition
• # Analytics, reports and measurements to track behaviour, utilisation and performance and map it against company objectives and track RoI
• # Research, proven meth­odologies, best practices to constantly improve and innovate
• # Robust technology 

How do you differentiate between R&R needs of a blue-collar and a white-collar employee? The needs of a blue-collar and white-collar employee differ in the way the messaging, medium of messaging and experience, which will get delivered. Also, the tactical outcomes expected of the two are different. Blue-collar employees: Given the set up they work in, it may be easier to use offline tools that are easily available to appreciate their colleague. Hence, having a robust technology-based re­cognition platform may not be helpful as they are underutilised. Public presentation recognising their efforts, create opportunities to praise individual worker ac­hievements, which would h­ave a positive impact.
White-collar employees: Typically white-collar employees perfo­rm professional, managerial, or administrative work and function out of an office or cubicle. Given the different culture and working atmosphere, individuals desi­re on-the-spot and instant recognition for their achie­vements. Digital-enabled re­cognition works well for this group so they can instantly broadcast their ach­ieveme­nts to friends and fa­mily. shishirparasher@mydigitalfc.com, Source: mydigitalfc.com

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