Five ways to get your rewards strategy right
So after sharing these gems, well at least rocks, of information with her, I thought I’d jot them down and share them with you as well. Here are my top five:
1. Start with the why. For anyone who reads my blogs, it will be no surprise to see that I’ve listed “start with the why” as my first piece of advice. This is important at all times, but even more critical when it comes to your reward strategy.
I’ve been in situations in the past when I’ve been asked to put in place reward programmes with the absence of a reward strategy, and trust me, it hasn’t ended well. Without answering the question “why”, how do you know what target you are shooting for? How do you know if you are staying with the “guard rails”? How do you know if you have been successful or have failed?
So start out by asking yourself, why do I have a reward programme to begin with, and then you can move on. If you get resistance, which I have in the past, dig in your heels and insist that this takes place first.
2. Align with your mission, purpose and values. Another starting point for setting your rewards strategy is to look at your company’s mission, purpose and values. Since these provide direction and clarity of behaviours to your employees, it’s important that your reward strategy aligns with them, showing your employees that they are more than just words. If you don’t do this, your employees will lose trust in you and in the company.
3. Determine your total rewards mix strategy. The next step in the process is to determine your total rewards mix strategy, so using the analogy of a box of chocolates, how many pieces of chocolate are pay programmes, how many are benefit programmes, how many are recognition programmes – you get the idea.
Consider your wider HR programmes as well, asking yourself the question – what does the company want to be known for? This will help you decide how to fill your box of chocolates with those that will support your organisation best. If you skip this step you’ll end up with either not enough, too many or the wrong chocolates (rewards).
4. Set your reward principles. A critical part of your reward strategy are your reward principles. In the past I’ve used what I call the 4 “C’s” - competitive, compliant, cost effective and culturally aligned. However, most recently at Reward Gateway I took it that one step further to align them with my company’s purpose, mission and values by creating these five principles: fairness, balance, choice, wow and easy. I found these to be much more effective in driving key reward decisions, so highly recommend that you create ones that further refine exactly what you’re trying to achieve through your rewards strategy.
5. Conduct a health check. An approach I’ve developed over the years is a health check, using it as a way to assess my reward programmes against my new rewards strategy. Think of it like taking your reward programmes to the doctor’s office and checking their health against your newly developed reward strategy and reward principles. Score each of them, determining if they are healthy, a bit under the weather, or in critical condition, and then come up with a plan to bring them all back to health.
This approach is helpful in determining problems that need addressing, and is also useful as a way to present proposals to your leadership or board.
So that’s it from me, I wish you all the best as you design your rewards strategy. And remember, the more time and energy you put into creating it, the better chance you have in developing reward programmes that drive engagement and ultimately support your business.
The author is Debra Corey, Group Reward Director at Reward Gateway.
This article was provided by Reward Gateway.
In partnership with Reward Gateway
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