Table Legs Online, as the name suggests, is a website solely for legs for tables and other furniture as well as metal table bases. It’s not seemingly a stop for a good chuckle. However, Google “worst DIY home improvement fails,” and the top result will take you to this niche retailer’s online store. There, you’ll find wince-inducing photos of projects gone wrong.
A tree chopped down without directional forethought crushes a house. An electrical socket has been installed directly below a faucet spigot. A ceiling fan is installed so the blades clunk right into a support beam.
Poorly conceived home projects can be corrected, usually with little or no embarrassment to the DIYer (other than a smirk from a professional who may be called in to complete the task properly).
Because Incentive Professionals Are, Well, Pros
Mistakes in business settings are not as easily dismissed, including well-intentioned incentive programs that are anything but well-designed. It stands to reason that if strong incentive programs serve as effective recruitment and retention tools — and there is evidence to support they do — then feeble attempts to recognize and reward top performers can have the opposite effect.
There are still companies — large ones in fact — where managers race off to retailers at the last minute to purchase gift cards for haphazard recognition ceremonies. In other cases, the recognition program hasn’t changed in decades.
“Our founder loved recognizing work anniversaries with a satchel of Sacagawea silver dollars — one for every year of service — and that still means so much to the employees.” Right. More likely, they head to their computers to see how much Sacagawea silver dollars are going for on eBay. (Looks like anywhere from $5 to more than $40 if you package one creatively.)
There’s a certain irony when leaders of businesses that charge top dollar for services from consulting to HVAC installation try to cut corners by taking a DIY approach to motivating and recognizing the workers who are earning those large fees. More business leaders are realizing that putting an effective incentive plan in place can’t be accomplished by someone in HR or a group that volunteers for the spirit team.
How Top-Performing Firms View Recognition
A survey of top-performing technology firms by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) found that leaders at these companies are nearly twice as likely than average-performing companies (86% to 44%) to regard their reward and recognition programs as a competitive advantage. (The 2018 survey identified “top-performing firms” by several criteria, including having more than 5% growth the previous year in revenue or stock price, and 90% or higher in employee satisfaction.)
The IRF reports that top-performing companies are also 25% more likely than average-performing firms to work with outside partners who bring expertise on the best ways to recognize and incentivize their program participants. And for good reason. There is a lot to think about when implementing an incentive or recognition program.
Top-performing firms are also more likely than average- performing firms to:
- Structure their programs with the goal of reaching each participant versus only recognizing the top performers (22% more likely).
- Use both reward points (25% more likely) and to use a group incentive trip (twice as likely).
- Evaluate their program as having excellent executive support, excellent alignment to corporate goals, and excellent
In addition, research by the Incentive & Engagement Solution Providers, a coalition of incentive service companies, found that the top factors that increase engagement in incentive and recognition programs are those that offer high perceived value (not surprisingly) and those that offer multiple types of rewards. Offering multiple reward options allows companies to satisfy the variety of interests that program participants have.
Tiered reward programs with an array of rewards to choose from are typically not DIY projects. Factor in the most cost- efficient sourcing, participant tracking and program fulfillment — the all-important user experience — and it’s clear why companies are choosing to partner with incentive and reward program providers.
Choosing a Recognition Program Partner
There is a wide range of incentive and recognition partners to choose from. At the full-service level, a partner will provide a high-tech software platform to serve as the engine of your campaign. They will assess your company’s needs and tailor a program to reach goals that you help set. This may include sophisticated training, elaborate communication with all participants, full-service tracking of performance, and front-to- back fulfillment of non-cash rewards.
Less comprehensive program providers may help design your recognition program and handle reward fulfillment, but not get as involved with launching a campaign and keeping participants engaged throughout its duration.
In its guide to choosing an incentive program provider, the company Brightspot recommends asking three questions to help define your incentive program needs:
- What results are we currently experiencing, and what results do we desire?
- What is preventing us from achieving our desired result? How do we identify those factors?
- What solutions will improve the result?
“A potential customer can start by asking a supplier about other clients for which it has run performance improvement or incentive marketing programs; the issues faced by those clients; the types of solutions provided; and the results of the recommended solutions,” the Brightspot report states. “Customers should also visit the supplier company to verify the substance behind its claims, and speak to some of the supplier’s current clients. A key indicator during the process: To what lengths has the supplier gone to understand the client’s business?”
A provider checklist from Extu, which helps companies boost channel partner performance, advises companies looking for an incentive program provider to carefully assess industry experience, level of support in program design and management, and the user experience with the technology provided.
“Most incentive companies either license their tech or outsource development. This means that you will be limited if you require tech support or want to make changes to your program. Teaming up with an incentive system provider that builds all of their tech in-house can become a major advantage to your company,” the Extu report states.
Study after study shows that companies that make employee appreciation (and channel partner positivity) a key component of their corporate culture generally outperform competitors. Today’s top-tier recognition programs are too complex to tackle alone. Aligning with an experienced performance improvement professional is proven to produce a hefty ROI.
As they have always liked to say in sales, sometimes you have to spend money to make money.
Questions for an Incentive Program Provider
Once you have identified your key performance issues and have an idea of the results you seek from an incentive program, you can pose questions to potential incentive and recognition program suppliers to better understand their capabilities. These include:
- What approach would you take to my company’s problem/situation, and why do you suggest that approach?
- What is the range of solutions you will consider as you assess my company’s business situation?
- Can you share examples of the types of solutions you have provided for other clients? Why did you choose those particular solutions, and what were the general results achieved?
- Who will make up the program team and will my company have any control over who gets placed on the team?
- What percentage of your services are performed in-house versus outsourced? What services are outsourced and why? How long have the outsourced partnerships been in place, and how many and what kind of programs have you worked on together?
SOURCE: BRIGHTSPOT’S “CHOOSING AN INCENTIVE PROGRAM COMPANY”
Questions for an Incentive Program Reference
The most foolproof method for validating the capabilities of an incentive program provider is through interviewing several of the firm’s present or former clients. Ask these questions:
- What was the nature of your firm’s marketing or performance improvement challenge?
- What was the quality of the expertise that this supplier brought to bear on the problem?
- Did the supplier demonstrate or develop an in-depth knowledge of your industry?
- How well did the supplier listen to your concerns and understand your needs?
- Did the supplier provide an innovative approach to your business challenge?
- Was the supplier fair and upfront in its business practices and pricing?
- Did the supplier become a true added value to your organization’s mission and process?
- Did the supplier meet the mutually agreed-upon deadlines?
- Did the supplier help you meet your goals?
- Do you intend to continue using this supplier?
SOURCE: BRIGHTSPOT’S “CHOOSING AN INCENTIVE PROGRAM COMPANY”
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