Employee Benefits Connect 2018: Employee engagement organisation Reward Gateway has implemented aspects of social interaction into its reward and recognition strategy.
Addressing delegates at Employee Benefits Connect 2018, in a session titled ‘How to be a rebel with recognition in a social world’, Debra Corey (pictured), group reward director at Reward Gateway, explained that the organisation was embracing social mediums as part of its overarching reward and recognition strategy.
”It’s the future, we’re all social animals, we all like to share things,” Corey explained. “[Employees] are social already and we might as well start using it and embracing it. [Employees] are using different tools and are expecting different tools, and if we aren’t giving them the tools they’re looking for, no matter what we do [employees] are not going to engage with us.”
Reward Gateway has a social wall and every time an employee recognises a colleague for an achievement, it is displayed for all colleagues to view, in order that they feel inspired and motivated to be recognised themselves.
“Someone might read it and think it’s an amazing idea, it gets people talking about it, and sometimes it might even make employees feel guilty if they haven’t gotten around to giving an [employee an] award,” said Corey. “It engages people and gets them thinking about recognition. It makes it easier to get into the recognition moment.”
Reward Gateway also publishes news stories on its communications portal. Employees can click on a colleague’s name and immediately find out why they have received an accolade. “In one click, social can give you that immediate connection before you forget about it so you don’t lose that [recognition] moment with employees,” said Corey.
“It gets people involved; [they] like things, [they] put an emoji or a comment on it, and become a part of that recognition. How much more do you think [the employee] feels when people are interacting?
“In the beginning, it’s a moment between you and one other person but when you do it socially it’s a much bigger moment. You walk through the hall your head held high, everyone is ‘well done I saw that, it’s so amazing that you’ve done something like that’. It makes it more interactive. You want that spotlight on that person so [the employee] feels the love and recognition, and social does that so well.”