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Bob Nelson, Ph.D., is president of Nelson Motivation Inc. in San Diego, CA (800-575-5521) and author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees and 1001 Ways to Energize Employees. Visit Nelson Motivation's web site, or you can send questions or comments to him at bnelson@bizjournals.com.

Monday, October 27, 2003

By Starting Small, Firm Gave Recognition New Life

Bob Nelson

I feel the best recognition efforts start small and build. Take, for example, the "Reward of Excellence" program currently used at Herbalife, the health and nutrition company based in Los Angeles. The Distributor Services department wanted to increase the amount of recognition being used in the department and to find a way for employees to be able to better recognize one another as well. They looked at various incentive suppliers, called references and finally selected The Bill Sims Company to help launch a departmental recognition program.

The program used two-part "WOW!" cards to provide employees the ability to jot a thank you note or praise to any other employee for service, teamwork, etc. One part went to the employee and the second part went into a recognition box that was reviewed monthly by six volunteer members of a recognition committee (two from each department).

The committee selected the most stellar example from the "WOW!" cards each month, which was then posted on a "WOW!" bulletin board. The person selected is given extra points toward merchandise purchases as well as extra tickets for a cruise drawing held at the end of six months. All honorees are also automatically submitted to the company's "All Star" program for additional recognition and visibility.

To give the program the best chances for success, they started it with a trial period of three months over which time they collected feedback and suggestions from employees to make the program best fit their needs and preferences. For example, when they found out that employees balked at having to pay freight and handling for merchandise they had selected, those amounts were built into the awards, which employees preferred better even though slightly more points were then required to earn the same merchandise.

Besides obtaining the original goal of increased recognition, the company found other benefits emerged as well. Ana Franklin, senior manager of the Order Support Department, identified three such benefits: 1) The program has helped employees set more specific goals -- and has provided systematic tracking and acknowledgment of results against those goals; 2) the program costs less money than they had previously been spending, although it has had a longer term, more motivational impact on employees, replacing what had previously been a "hit-and-miss" approach to recognition (occasional distribution of gas cards and gift certificates by managers); and 3) employees can now include their families in selecting merchandise they are working to earn, providing an added motivational incentive for everyone involved!

Once the program was successful, it was easy to leverage it to other departments in the organization, several of which asked to be included. The word-of-mouth excitement of participants is much more persuasive than any number of corporate policies, announcements or Human Resources initiatives that might at times seem forced on employees.


Whether you're considering a recognition for the first time or you need to revamp an exisiting program--we can help take your process to the next level. Since each solution is custom built for you, the easiest way to start is a free 10 minute needs assessment..

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For over 40 years, The Bill Sims Company, Inc. has offered employee motivation and recognition programs that have helped large and small firms like yours not waste valuable clock time or money. We provide your business with more than 50 years of employee recognition, motivation and appreciation experience that will help you develop an employee appreciation, employee recognition reward and employee suggestion programs you need to inspire better employee performance, meaningful morale, sales incentive results and bottom-line profits. With employee motivation and morale improvement, you will have sales and performance improvement as well. Through our employee appreciation, recognition reward and employee suggestion programs, your company will continue to improve in employee performance, meaningful morale, sales incentive results and bottom-line profits.

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