Page 74 - OHS, October 2020

EMPLOYEES GIFTS & INCENTIVES
What You Need to Know about Employee Incentives and Rewards
Here’s how you can create reward programs that encourage safety, resonate with your employees and create engagement and loyalty.
EBY BILL WARSHAUER
mployees have come to expect to be rewarded for a variety of professional achievements, including safety. I have seen firsthand how the right incentives can make safety programs more effective and rewarding. But how can you
implement an effective program? Use technology and a better reward strategy to drive engagement.
The Right Mix of Incentives
Here’s how you can create reward programs that encourage safety, resonate with your employees and create engagement and loyalty:
Offer the right rewards. Company t-shirts and tchotchkes are overrated. Employees want rewards they find meaningful, offer choice, and make them feel appreciated. But they also want the flexibility to select and enjoy rewards on their terms. There’s an option that satisfies all of those parameters. Research has found that employees overwhelmingly prefer gift cards as rewards—and that offering gift cards as rewards has a significant impact.1 In fact, 69 percent of employees surveyed report feeling valued when receiving a gift card from their employer. Plus, they’re easy to give and redeem. Why bother giving them another company keychain?
Provide contactless reward options. With mobile device and mobile wallet usage trending upward, it makes sense that digital, contactless rewards will resonate with mobile-minded audiences. Blackhawk Network research found 86 percent of surveyed consumers want the option to add rewards to a digital wallet. And this works to your benefit! Contactless rewards like eGifts can be delivered almost instantly. People appreciate the flexibility and rapid delivery of contactless rewards like eGifts because they can be used soon after they have been earned. As an added bonus, the cost of providing contactless rewards is typically lower than providing physical rewards that require printing, shipping, etc. Interest in digital incentives is particularly prevalent among younger generations, more digitally-minded Americans and those who work remotely.
Tailor rewards to different generations and lifestyles. Your employees are a diverse group. It’s unlikely that your digitally savvy Gen Z social media manager is going to want the same reward as a boomer accountant who doesn’t live on her smartphone (or maybe doesn’t even own a smartphone!). Knowing what motivates and resonates with different generations and lifestyle preferences helps maximize reward impact for each subgroup. Offering a mix of reward options is a sure-fire way to create meaningful engagements with everyone. For instance, don’t just offer gift card rewards that can only be redeemed with one brand or retailer. Research confirmed that 63 percent of employees want gift cards that feature their choice of brands. Some reward providers offer cards that can be redeemed at hundreds of brands—greatly increasing the odds that at least a few will be among your employees’ favorites. Try to also dole out rewards in different denominations and forms (e.g., physical and contactless) to provide even more choice your employees will appreciate.
Deliver rewards quickly. “Out of sight, out of mind” is an accurate term for rewards that take forever to be delivered. Instead of saving rewards for a once-a-year company luncheon, try to offer more frequent rewards to immediately reinforce the behaviors that led to an award in the first place. Delivering rewards in a timely manner quickly recognizes employees for positive behaviors and makes the (more frequent) engagements more meaningful. You can keep the lines of communication open more easily by frequently reaching out to employees that are doing well—helping build loyalty every step of the way and keeping them engaged and productive.
Don’t forget holiday gifts and rewards. If your holiday shopping list looks anything like mine, you have a long, diverse group of people to buy for, and finding something that feels personal to everyone feels like searching for a needle in a haystack. Businesses aren’t exempt from this daunting task, and now’s the time to be looking ahead at what you’re going to give employees for holiday gifts and rewards. Giving people something they really want that stands out among the sea of fruit baskets, popcorn tins, and mundane swag is a tall order. Ordering one-size-fits all gifts won’t provide the personal touch that will help drive year-long loyalty and engagement, but taking the time to tailor gifts to every single person might feel like it could take the whole year.
Engagement matters when it comes to the people who impact your company’s success. You want to foster happy, connected employee relationships because they can have a huge impact on your bottom line. The recipe for nurturing these relationships is simple; give well thought out gift card rewards that acknowledge their individuality and demonstrate your willingness to acknowledge their unique tastes and preferences. I appreciate when employer does this for me and I bet yours will, too.
Bill Warshauer is the VP of Sales at Hawk Incentives, a Blackhawk Network Business.
FOOTNOTE
The “Blackhawk Network Incentives Study” consisted of an online survey conducted by Murphy Research on behalf of Blackhawk Network between February 4 and February 12, 2019. The sample size of 1,002 was comprised of U.S. reward program managers who have full or partial responsibility for purchasing rewards or managing incentive programs at companies that offer employee, customer or channel incentives. Industries included in the survey include health and wellness, travel, financial, retail and telecom. The “Gift Card State of the Union” study included a sample size of 3,389 respondents between the ages of 18 and 75.
RESOURCES
1. https://blackhawknetwork.com/research-americans-prefer-digital- incentives-especially-for-speedy-delivery-and-online-use
70 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2020
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