Managing Change

While Creating An Employee

Recognition Program
Contents
Section 1
Introduction 01

Section 2
Why Managing Change While Rolling Out an ERRP is Vital to your Success 03

Section 3
Initiating an Employee Recognition Program 06

Section 4
Managing Cultural Transition from Implementing an ERRP 08

Section 5
Evaluating and Monitoring Employee Recognition Programs 13

Section 6
What you can expect from your ERRP 15

“
“ He who has a why, can endure any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche
SECTION 1

Introduction
Have you been thinking about
implementing a recognition program
to drive cultural change? While these
projects and programs always have
positive outcomes, they require big
changes in the business and change as
we know - can be hard.

Encouraging employees to consistently appreciate each

other for their accomplishments, if never done before,
is challenging. There is fear and uncertainty associated
with learning how to adapt to new behaviours and values
instilled in a recognition program.

After all, it is human nature to resist change!

That said, introducing a recognition program that will

create the long-lasting culture you want is possible.
Using specific techniques, not only can you encourage
employees to accept but also become excited about the
initiative.

If you can get your employees

truly invested in the change,
there is a 30% higher chance
of the initiative becoming
permanent rather than short-lived.
Introducing Employee Recognition & Reward Programs
(ERRPs) are definitely worth the challenge. They’re known
to drive employee engagement retention, productivity
and customer happiness. While most changes in an
organization can cause mixed reactions from people at
the receiving end of the change, ERRPs not only increase
productivity but also encourage employees to accept new
change initiatives in the future. In fact, ERRPs can be an
extremely positive change in your organization, and one
that can help other change initiatives too.

In this ebook, we will take you through a practical

approach of introducing and implementing ERRPs
ensuring that the new values, expectations and targets
from this initiative will be firmly embedded into the roots
of your culture.

01
You will learn:
• Why managing change while creating and
implementing ERRP’s is important.
So if you’re ready to
• How to address fears and uncertainty
while implementing ERRPs.
make some big changes
• Discover the secrets of new habit
at your workplace,
formation when implementing ERRPs. have your employees
• Know what conversations to have with excited to come to work
which stakeholders in an organization.
everyday and truly
• How to get buy in from senior level
executives to make your ERRP a success.
transform your culture
• How to evaluate the success of ERRPs
and business,
once they are implemented. let’s get into this!
02
 SECTION 2

Why Managing Change

While Rolling Out An ERRP
Is Vital To Your Success.
It’s important to know why managing change while rolling expectations, you’ll become a culture champion at your
out ERRP’s is critical to your success. Any type of change workplace.
in an organization, if not properly communicated, can
While it’s easier said than done, imagine what a massive
fizzle out before you know it. It’s like trying to develop
impact you can make on the whole company’s ‘vibe’.
a new habit, a new way of being, a new ‘standard’ of
behaviour for your company.
Visualize your employees coming
Clearly, this is not an easy job! Developing personal to work excited, supporting one
habits is hard enough, let alone developing a whole
another, high fiving each other on
new workplace culture. Your employees are too used
to conducting themselves the way they always have. their accomplishments and feeling
Creatures of habit, human beings always have a latent truly rewarded for their contribution,
inertia, even towards positive change.
with a positive ROI just being a natural
As a human resources change agent at your company, byproduct of your efforts.
you need to take the initiative of setting the new
‘behavioural bar’. By ‘walking the talk’ and also
demonstrating the benefits of adopting new cultural

And if that isn’t a strong enough reason,

here are some facts to build more belief in your work:

60% 14% 41% 68%

A 2013 survey showed
that 60% of the best class
organisations identified
ERRPs being critical
in driving individual
performance.
Employee average scores GloboForce’s study 68% of companies
were measured as being identified that 41% of with social recognition
14% higher in businesses companies which use programs stated
where employees are peer to peer recognition higher employee
recognised for their have also experienced retention rates.
contribution, compared significant improvements
to businesses where no in customer satisfaction.
recognition take place.

03
 Look at them one by one:
And what’s even
more compelling is
“ Our old employee recognition program was just that,
understanding the old. The overall recognition award was a learning

motivations of some & development grant, which just wasn’t ‘sexy’ enough.
We always had to chase staff for nominations at the
of our clients who have months end and they didn’t even value it. “
Jennifer Bass
already implemented HR Operations Manager at Cuscal Limited

ERRPs at their workplace.

“ We were looking for a recognition program that was

aligned to our values to support and further enhance
This points to the importance of preventing
your recognition programs from becoming
our culture. “
Nicole Redmond
obsolete. You can’t afford to have your
Corporate Services Manager at North Construction
employees lose interest in working for you!

04
“ Only half the staff were engaged and recognition was
seen as subjective before we changed to Redii. “
Jill Teeling
General Manager (People & Culture) at Campbelltown
Catholic Club
Building on this insight,
think about whether
If recognition at your company is subjective, managing your culture is aligned
the transition from a ‘subjective’ recognition culture
to a more ‘objective’ one becomes critically important.
with your values? If not,
By subjectively rewarding employees, you might be it’s probably time for a
developing a culture of favoritism, which can spread
like an epidemic throughout your company, negatively company wide chat about
impacting employee morale. That’s why your job as a realigning yourselves
catalyst for this mindset shift to occur can make or break
your employee recognition program. with your core mission
and purpose.

“ We wanted to ‘entrench our core values into the

company culture. “
Benjamin Harrington So if you’re convinced you need to take a
Managing Director at SCA Connect more proactive approach in managing an
ERRP, let’s talk about how you can initiate
one at your company.

“ I implemented an ERRP “to empower our team to

recognise one another for the ‘one percenters’ going the
extra mile to achieve! “
Adriarna Nunn
Head Of People & Culture at Melbourne Real Estate

05
 SECTION 3

Initiating An Employee
Recognition Program
Transforming workplace culture is a marathon, not a This points to the importance of initiation through
sprint. And the only way to successfully implement one, is collaboration. Involving employees early in the process
to start the journey! of creating an ERRP will make them feel invested in the
change process, and also provide you the insights you
“ Communicate with your employees. Don’t make need to roll it out smoothly.
decisions without knowing what your people want. Ask
them, engage them, give them authority to structure the
program so that it’s meaningful and relevant. “
Jennifer Bass
HR Operations Manager at Cuscal Limited

Here are some steps you can use to involve your employees
from the very beginning:

STEP Organise a committee or group comprised of staff who will be ‘early adopters’ of the ERRP. Get

1 your department managers and HR staff involved as early as possible. By involving staff from
different levels of hierarchy, you’ll make this a more inclusive and fruitful exercise.

STEP Seek their inputs on the new ERRP you’re intending to implement. Ask them if they currently feel
2 recognized for their contribution? What would they truly value in an ERRP?

STEP Launch an online survey to gather their insights on what would make them feel valued.
3 You’ll learn about how your employees want to be recognized and appreciated.

As you gather insights from your employees,

you need to be planning your resources for “ Ensure that you are willing to really give it a red hot
the ERP roll out simultaneously. Getting go! It takes a while to get off the ground internally and

buy in from senior leadership is key, and there is also a lot of thought that needs to go into the

will help you get the budget you need to setup to ensure your people will align. I would suggest

allocate towards competitions, rewards and really knowing what your core values are as a collective

communication initiatives for your ERP. before proceeding with the program. This for us was the
foundation for building on the platform and the team’s
engagement. “
Benjamin Harrington
Managing DIrector at SCA Connect

06
 “ The journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step.
“
Lao Tzu

Clearly, on one hand you’re going to be speaking company wide for gathering insights, and on the other hand, you’ll need to
involve leaders, have some serious conversations around core values, budget and available resources.

Some steps you can follow are:

Decide on a budget and time commitment for executing the program. Globoforce suggests
STEP investing 1% or more of payroll costs into the program. Their research revealed companies
1 that spent 1% or more have higher employee engagement levels of 85% compared to 74%
at companies which invested less than 1%.

From your survey results and inputs from your employees, discuss what types of behaviours,
STEP values and achievements need to be rewarded or recognized, and what the rewards and their
2 frequency will be. Identify exactly what milestones or benchmarks employees need to exhibit in
order to be recognised.

Think about how you’re going to conduct both online and offline recognition programs. Your
offline initiatives must compliment your online ERRP platform. Offline recognition initiatives could
STEP
involve introducing monthly appreciation nights, dinners/lunches to recognize top performers
3 and rewarding them will small tokens of appreciation, giving personalized handwritten thank you
notes and openly complimenting and appreciating teams and team members for their efforts
are all part of it. Your online ERRP should be the catalyst that makes all of this happen for real.

Send emails and organise both informal and formal meetings to let employees know about their
STEP upcoming ERRP. They should never feel ‘left in the dark’ and should know what to expect.
4 Let them know what you’re working on, and when the ERRP is expected to be fully rolled out and
in place.

Build curiosity among your employees. This is the most interesting part about rolling out an
ERRP! At the end of the day, an ERRP is really an ‘optimistic change’ and your employees should
STEP be positively anticipating and waiting for it to be rolled out as soon as possible. As the change
5 agent, share some examples of organisations that already have an effective ERRP in place and
are using the Redii platform. Focus on how it’s made a difference to creating an extraordinary
culture. Start building the excitement from the beginning!

Throughout this process, don’t forget to be sincere and specific about your efforts.

Continuously using your organizational

“ Don’t just do it for the sake of giving money or prizes, values as the ‘north star’ for all decision
making during the initiation and planning
align it to the values you and your staff agree to live and
work by, then it will be open, transparent and valued. “ phase of your t will ensure a smoother
transition to a new culture.
Jill Teeling
General Manager (People & Culture) at Campbelltown
Catholic Club

07
 SECTION 4

Managing Cultural
Transition From
Implementing An ERRP

Introducing any organisational change • Employees may not believe in an ERRP. Sometimes,

invariably brings about resistance and
a natural tendency to ‘fall back’ to
the usual way of being. Rolling-out an
ERRP is no different.
people think that running after the money and
pursuing their independent goals is the right way
to go. They may not consciously think about the
sense of belonging they need to feel to achieve their
highest potential.

Here are some of the potential Being a change agent, the above challenges should
shake you. You need to anticipate them beforehand, and
challenges you may face while
have a plan to address them. Here are some suggestions
implementing your ERRP:
for you to be effective:

• Both managers & employees may be resistent to
implement this change. The day-to-day of managing
their work can sometimes make them override the
importance of an ERRP. They may not perceive it as
a ‘priority’ and may look at it as a ‘nice to have’.
• Employees, managers and leaders may be ‘shy’
about adopting an ERRP. It takes courage to
acknowledge and publicly appreciate employee
achievements too, and unless employees are willing
to come out of their professional ‘shells’ so to speak,
your ERRP may lack the thrust of energy it needs to
get off the ground.
• Communication is vital for change. There is no
such thing as ‘over-communication’ in the context
of implementing an ERRP. In fact, reiterating your
message to leaders and employees is key! In
order to effectively roll out your ERRP end to end,
communication must take place in 3 phases:
PHASE 1 Pre-launch
PHASE 2 During launch
PHASE 3 Post-launch

• Employees may not know how to use an ERRP

platform like Redii. It takes a while to use a new
platform with ease and a sense of fun.

• Forming new habits is always going to take time.

Especially if bureaucracy and corporate politics have
slowed your company down. Habit formation in an
organizational context is an art, and one you’ll need
to master as the one spearheading the change
towards a brighter culture.

• Leaders may not be convinced that the ERRP will

yield an ROI. Why should business leaders with
strong business acumen believe in an ERRP? They
may be too focused on numbers, rather than people
as they have commercial goals to achieve.

08
 “ There’s nothing greater in the world
than when somebody on the team does
something good, and everybody gathers
“
around to pat him on the back.
Billy Martin

PHASE 1

Pre-launch Communication

During this phase, setting the ‘stage’ for change is
most important. Highlight to employees why such
a recognition program needs to be introduced and
what sort of results they can expect from it, both for
themselves and the company.
Use this phase to stir up the excitement about the
upcoming change. A recognition program, unlike a cost-
cutting strategy or a merger, isn’t something employees
should be afraid of. It’s a change for them, not against
them. And this is exactly what needs to come across in all
of your communication activity.
• Making it a requirement for managers to have one-
on-one meetings with their employees to give them
a heads up on the ERRP.
• Having a dedicated leadership meeting where
the leaders communicate the upcoming change.
Leaders communicating this to the entire company
will make a massive impact and your employees will
be sure to take the new ERRP seriously.
• Including some information in your company
newsletter.

Start by:
During this phase, ensure you keep all
• Sending a company wide email about the communication doors open. Don’t ever make
upcoming ERRP. it sound like a one-way street, as you’ll always
need to have an attitude of collaboration
• Discussing the upcoming in your ‘all hands’ meeting
throughout the roll out.
by introducing it with optimism.

09
PHASE 2

During The Program Launch

Training will need cover:
This phase needs to be far more detailed, and accurate
to ensure employees fully understand their new culture. How & when will employees
It’s going to focus on training and reinforcing your ERRP be recognized as part of the
so it becomes a part of your organization. new program.

New cultural expectations

from employees and how it
will impact them, including the
consequences of not meeting
the expectations.

Specific training in relation to

using the new ERRP software
platform.

10
Recognizing employees at your workplace could involve
thanking them personally, sending them gratitude note,
identifying the specific results/behaviours they need to
exhibit in order to be recognized and how the platform
can be used as an effective and gamified tool to achieve
this.
Training needs to involve the CEO and you, the culture
change agent to deliver presentations, have one-on-one
dialogues and holding team meetings with employees.
Use training booklets, videos for online based training,
impactful keynote presentations and emails to deliver
your message. If you’re on Slack, then a great way to
stimulate insightful conversations would be to start a
new ‘culture/ERRP’ channel. This will ensure people talk
about who’s being recognized for what across the entire
organisation.
While the ultimate goal is to create an appreciative
culture within the organisation, the desired practices and
behaviours need to be consistently reinforced.
You can reinforce new cultural standards through:
Raising awareness through the physical
environment:
• Use recognition screens (one screen placed in each
department) to informally list accomplishments
of employees within each department. This is
something the Redii platform will allow you to do
too.
• Create cards with the new values printed on them
and have them up on your walls. This will act
as a constant reminder and create a conducive
environment for your ERRP to be accepted with an
open mind and heart.
Raising awareness through actions:
• Make it a requirement for managers to dedicate
5 minutes of their time in every team meeting to
thank their team members for their contribution.
• Encourage employees and managers to set
reminders on their phones/calendars that say
“Thank you” to remind them to thank their peers.
• Set some penalties for not adopting new cultural
expectations. Even your penalties can be designed
to reinforce your new culture! For example, if a
manager forgets to thank their team members for
their contribution, you could have the penalty as
a fully paid for team lunch by the manager, which
further brings the team together. Be creative
with your penalties and do everything you can to
maintain the positive vibe around your ERRP.
• Ensure you encourage peer-to-peer
interactions. A
study by O.C
Tanner found that 83% of
employees who recognise
their peers frequently are
motivated to improve their
contributions. There was also a
stronger sense of belonging where 94%
of employees involved in peer-peer
recognition feel proud of where they work.
• Involve your CEO in your recognition
efforts. A study by the Gallup institute
revealed that 24%of surveyed
employees stated that
their most memorable and
meaningful recognition came
from a CEO or executive
leader. This suggests involving your
CEOs will have a significant impact on
your program. Employees who are
recognised by their CEOs are more likely to
understand the true benefits of the ERRP
and will be motivated to align themselves
to the new behaviours to keep up the
good work.
Lauren Millar, Executive Assistant at Staging
Connections recommends ‘keeping it
interesting’ with competitions and one-off
rewards. She suggests that it’s important
to be relentlessly communicative
through a variety of channels
like email, staff conference calls
and even your company intranet.
Publishing interesting news via your intranet is a
great way to keep the conversations about your
ERRP happening!
11
PHASE 3

Post Launch Communication

This phase is all about following through on your
work. Ensuring employees are following your policies
willingly, and reminding them to use the Redii platform is
paramount.
Benjamin Harrington, Managing Director at SCA Connect
says, “It was honestly one of the best initiatives we
introduced in 2017. Our employees love it, and it means,
without a shadow of doubt, that everyone knows what
we represent as an organisation. Occasionally, we have
to remind people to use it.”
Post launch communication is more than just repeating
your message to your employees. Remember, it’s all
about your employees at the end of the day! Maintain
your standard of engagement by seeking employee
feedback on your ERRP through surveys. Your people
need to communicate with you openly, so you can even
do these anonymously. Find out what employees really
think about the new ERRP, not just what they think at
face value. This will help you iterate on your ERRP and
make improvements going forward.

Don’t underestimate the importance of reminding

people. Often you need to repeat your communication at
least 7 times before people really remember
your message to them.

12
 SECTION 5

Evaluating And
Monitoring Employee
Recognition Programs

Creating and implementing an ERRP

is the foundation for what’s next:
Evaluating the ROI on it!

An ERRP, by itself, isn’t going to make your efforts

sustainable for the long run. Showing that it leads to
commercial outcomes is also key. It’s tricky with ERRPs
as you don’t want employees to think that you’re in it
for the money. Yet, you want to present the commercial
outcomes as a ‘byproduct’ of having an amazing culture.

Surprisingly, research shows that many organisations do

not measure the results of their ERRP. Globoforce
for example indicated that 42% of
organisations have not measured the
impact of their ERRP. Don’t let this happen
to your organization. You can never know how amazing
your ERRP is until you measure it, period.

So the golden question is, how do you measure the Although the metrics may vary uniquely for
impact of an ERRP? each organisation, here are some standard

The secret is in deciding the metrics you’ll use to metrics you can use to measure the impact of

measure the success of your ERRP. The truth is that your ERRP:

your ERRP is unique to your organization, and only you

can decide what to focus on to evaluate its success. So,
thoughtfully identify the metrics you will use to measure
performance. Use these values as a baseline to compare
the ‘before’ and ‘after’ scenarios for your program.
• Business metrics: You can measure the direct
changes in your business metrics such as
employee retention rates, productivity, turnover
and performance targets. Measure whether
these metrics are above baseline level, before
your ERRP was introduced.

• Program reach: Another key measure of

effectiveness of an ERRP is it’s reach. Aim
to
reach 80% of your employees.
If your high performers are the only ones
getting rewarded, you’re defeating the purpose
of the program. The goal is always to make your
people work as a cohesive, collaborative and
strong team.

13
Some program reach metrics you could use include
percentage of employees rewarded, frequency of
Here’s a laundry list of questions
rewards and number of employees that actually use the
you can ask your employees to
Redii platform regularly. Program reach is really about
the ‘participation rate’ and popularity of your program.
make enhancements to your
program and fine-tune how you
You can also compare the changes in the business measure it’s success:
metrics relative to performance reach. What if it turns
out that your reach is low while your business metrics
are still above the baseline? Or vice versa?
• Are you enjoying coming to work everyday?
Perhaps it’s only your high performers who are
• How is the new ERRP helping you at work?
more encouraged by the program and your average
employees have made a negligible contribution? • How is it not helping you?
You don’t want that to be the case! Or perhaps
the behaviours or accomplishments expected to be • Do you believe the rewards are ‘fair’ for employees?

rewarded are too high and only your high performers • What would you like improved about the program?
can achieve such goals?
• What rewards and incentives would motivate you to
These are important considerations. For this reason, perform your level best at work?
your ERRP must be very inclusive, and not favor
some employees over others purely on the basis of • How do you believe our ERRP should be measured?
performance. Every employee in your workplace is
• Do you have any ideas for the future of this
special, and has unique strengths, worthy of being
recognition program?
recognized.

Another great measure, and Recognition programs have been identified

a simple one, is to just ask to have a life cycle of 3-10 years. It is therefore
necessary to continuously measure the
your employees! Are they impact to see when your program may need

finding it effective? a revamp.

If they’re aren’t having

fun with it, there’s no
point to it!
If countries like Bhutan can use Gross National
Happiness Index as a measure of progress, why couldn’t
you invent a whole new metric like Employee Happiness
Index? How about the number of smiles per employee?
You can get creative with metrics too. Using scores
like ‘Employee Engagement Score’ or ‘Employee Net
Promoter Score’ could reveal how much your employees
are really enjoying coming to work every day, and how
positively they would talk about you to the world.

14
 SECTION 6

What You Can Expect

From Your ERRP
ERRPs are one of the best investments you can make. By openly appreciating
your employees in a timely, specific and sincere manner, you can truly harness the
awesome potential of your talent pool. A potential that you didn’t think existed
before the program was created.

From driving engagement, boosting productivity to increasing retention, a recognition program can be an ‘enabler’ like
none other. It can make your organisation the next star on the ‘great places to work’ list.

Here’s what some of our Clearly, happy

clients are saying about
their ERRP:
employees, lead to
happy customers,
which leads to
“ I believe the recognition program is one of the many
facets that enhances our positive culture. “ healthy profits.
Nicole Redmond
Corporate Services Manager at North Construction affirms The onus is on you, to be at the forefront
of the change that can revolutionize your
organisational culture. By living, breathing,
“ Our staff participation rate in all our engagement embodying and championing the change
strategies has increased because we combine the you want to create, you can make the
rewards program with staff BBQ’s, movie nights and difference you want to make, allowing
community fundraisers.” “ your ERRP to be the medium that leads to
a fulfilling journey and a bright future for
Jill Teeling - General Manager (People & Culture)
Campbelltown Catholic Club you, your company and your peers.

“ People still love using it so it’s definitely a tool

that motivates people to be involved. “
Lauren Millar
Executive Assistant at Staging Connections mentions

“ It is one piece of the big puzzle that has certainly

impacted our environment!
Redii is always positively spoken about amongst
the team and used often in interviews as a talking
point. Our recent eNPS scores reflect that we are
on track and moving towards being an employer
of choice! “
Adriarna Nunn
Head Of People & Culture at Melbourne Real Estate

15
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