Healthcare professionals, postal and delivery workers, grocery store staff and many others have all shown great courage in continuing to work to keep the country and their businesses functioning and provide people with essential basic services. Recognition, especially in difficult times, can have a big impact on their performance.
A May survey of the American O.C. Tanner Institute showed that workers who were rewarded during the first wave of COVID-19 were 47% more likely to be highly engaged and productive and 43% more likely to feel successful in their work.
Recognition efforts emphasise the individual impact of workers. For example, an American hospital in the epicentre of the pandemic transferred words of thanks and support it had received from patients and the community via rotating screensavers on employees' computer screens. This small gesture offered people recognition and at the same time regularly demonstrated the meaningfulness of their work. There are numerous ways of doing this.
The development of a "culture of recognition" can help not only to strengthen the mood of workers in difficult times, but also to create a deeper bond with workers that will last even after the crisis is over.
However, healthcare is not the only sector whose employees have had to work during the pandemic: grocery workers are also important. One food chain has created special commemorative brochures in the style of a yearbook, portraying employees' excellent work and acknowledging their efforts during this unprecedented time.
When offering rewards to front-line employees, motivational professionals encourage managers to provide comprehensive offers that appeal to individual preferences. The last thing an organisation wants is for a well-thought-out reward or incentive to go unnoticed and not be appreciated by employees. Organisations should thus be aware that each employee will have different preferences, so any effective reward system has to offer more options in order to satisfy the recipient.
That doesn't mean it has to be anything complicated. InComm, for example, has developed a rewards programme for a major telecommunications provider whose field technicians had to work during nationwide measures to ensure the functionality of broadband networks. It decided to help its technicians buy lunch while they were in the field. The resulting rewards programme provided the company's 25,000 field technicians with $25 per week distributed through digital gift cards which could be redeemed at nearly 30 fast-service branded restaurants. Technicians could choose which gift card they wanted through the internal portal.
And what about your company? How does it take care of its front-line employees? Remember: if you take care of them, they will take care of you - and not only in these difficult times.
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