Giving the 'right' recognition at Christmas (and the rest of the year too!)

As reward professionals we know how important recognition is, we’ve all read the studies and most likely seen first-hand the difference that recognition can make in an organisation. We also know that getting recognition ‘right’ is the key – creating something which will engage and delight employees, as well as support the vision, culture and business strategy. So how do you decide what is ‘right’ at your organisation?

More than a Christmas gift
I had to answer that question recently, having to present to my leadership team on how we should recognise our employees for Christmas. Now you may be thinking, “this isn’t recognition, it’s just a Christmas gift”.

I beg to differ, for I strongly believe that what we do at Christmas is integral to our recognition strategy and practices throughout the year. Think of your Christmas gift as a part of your Christmas dinner, it needs to complement all your other courses. If we get one course wrong, it will bring the entire meal down in the eyes of our guests.

I started the selection process by thinking through what I had done at other organisations, trying to determine if any of these would work. I must have spent hours reviewing these as well as researching on the intranet what others were doing.

Focus on the primary data
And then it hit me like a ton of bricks: why am I trying to come up with something new when what we do already is working so amazingly well? I was making the mistake of looking at secondary data instead of looking at primary data (primary data is the information or data we get from what we are currently doing or have done in the past).

If I had looked at the primary data first I would have seen that one part of our recognition programme in particular – our monthly staff lottery – would work really well at Christmas. Why? Because it is one of our employee’s favourite reward and recognition programmes, so we know it works, and because it has the fun element that you want and need for Christmas.

Hitting the jackpot
Each employee’s number is on a lottery ball, and 13 balls are randomly picked for the prizes (3 top prizes and 10 runner ups). For Christmas we decided to have a very special double lottery, making it a fun surprise for everyone, and having 13 extra winners.

This just proves that often the answer is right under your nose, so look at your primary data first, and then select what will work best for your company. Happy holidays!