Recognition Professionals International, RPI 2007 Best Practice Award Recipients Share Insight

In a communiqué to employees, Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO Dick Kovacevich said, “We all work very hard to create a positive experience for our Wells Fargo customers; we must also take steps to ensure that those we work with enjoy a fulfilling and rewarding experience as team members. The attitude of our team members is the single biggest influence on the attitude of our customers. When we feel good about ourselves, we make our customers feel good too – and they, in turn, are much more likely to entrust us with all of their business.” Every year Recognition Professionals International (formerly The National Association for Employee Recognition) honors organizations that exemplify standards of recognition program excellence. These seven standards are: Recognition strategy, Management responsibility, Recognition program measurement, Communication plan, Recognition training, Recognition events and celebrations, and Program change and flexibility.

The standards were carefully developed to reflect commonalities of the world’s best recognition programs (see sidebar).

The 2007 Best Practice Award recipients are as follows:

• For Best Overall Program – MGM Grand Hotel & Casino.
• For Best Recognition Strategy, Management Responsibility, and Recognition Events and Celebrations – Cargill, Inc
• For Best Communication Plan, and Recognition Training – Wells Fargo Bank.
• For Best Recognition Program Measurement, and Program Change and Flexibility – Scotiabank.

“Among the many award applications, these organizations stood out for many reasons,” said Christi Gibson, RPI’s executive director. “We consider all four of these programs to be dynamic models for the recognition industry – they are flourishing and making a very real contribution to their organizations.”

The recognition programs at these four companies represent a range of models. At MGM Grand, administrators continue to build on a long-standing culture of recognition; at Cargill, the focus is on a prestigious biennial recognition conference; at Wells Fargo, the Technology Information Group’s new program is setting the standard for the entire company; and at Scotiabank administrators are in the middle of transforming their recognition program to world class.

All of these organizations realize that in order for a recognition program to be effective it needs to cover all the bases and hit homeruns in critical areas.

“Recognition is a major part of our culture,” said Bette Gaines-Snyder, MGM Grand’s Director of Slot and Employee Events. “We have created an environment where employees feel appreciated every single day; and I mean every single day.”

Recognition strategy

MGM Grand conducts a variety of successful company-wide recognition programs and employee events that identify and reward employees who provide exemplary service. In their interactions with guests, employees are expected to show commitment to MGM Grand’s mission statement, core service standards, core values, and brand values. Performance is measured against these internal standards. Company officials understand that in order to be effective, recognition must be valued by the employee and the criteria must be fair and consistent.

The MGM Grand recognition program, which excels in day-to-day and informal awards, is designed to achieve the following:

• Encourage behavior that will contribute directly to the achievement of brand goals, which will help drive MGM Grand’s performance.
• Recognize employees for superior individual and team efforts and outstanding contributions to quality improvement in the course of their duties.
• Encourage managers to create and maintain a motivational environment that leads toward optimal customer service.
• Give management the chance to develop, enhance, and maintain MGM Grand’s culture and improve guest service.
• Recruit and retain the caliber of employees that MGM Grand needs to maintain a competitive edge.
• Recognize more employees more often.

The emphasis on daily recognition is one reason that MGM Grand was cited as the 2005 and 2006 winner of The Best Place to Work in Southern Nevada. The average length of service for an active employee at the company is five years and 165 days. The turnover rate is a mere 11.4 percent, while the turnover rate for the hospitality industry is 49 percent.

At Cargill, where the emphasis is on formal recognition, the program is highly visible and reinforces key corporate messages. Administrators are mindful that there is significant cost and production time associated with formal recognition, but they believe the benefits far outweigh the costs.

The program is based on Cargill’s Three Pillars of Success: high performance, customer focus, and innovation

Cargill hosts a formal recognition conference every two years where the most prestigious corporate awards are given out. All nominees are invited. These Chairman’s Awards, which have evolved over the last four years, are for Business Excellence, Innovation, High Performance, Customer Focus, Leadership, Safety Environment & Health, and Best Plant.

Management responsibility

Management plays a critical role in the recognition and reward programs of all organizations and MGM Grand is no exception.

Senior management’s role begins with the president’s approval of the annual budget for employee recognition, which is over $500,000. The president also decides on the Employee of the Year winner.

Directors and above are responsible for providing guidance concerning company-wide recognition programs; promoting the recognition awards; recommending policies and procedures; and recommending training courses.

Managers conduct pre-shift conferences with employees each day. They can also participate in the various recognition committees within their respective divisions.

At Cargill, the focus of each of the three recognition program management teams is Culture and Accountability, Communications and Recognition in Action.

The Culture and Accountability team is charged with ensuring that recognition programs align with other important corporate messages and initiatives. They meet with key stakeholders to design and facilitate discussions and review results from the Employee Engagement Survey.

The Communications team uses a variety of media to share recognition stories and to reinforce key messages with all employees. They make communications-related recommendations; develop and write features for the Cargill company newsletter; and investigate additional means of communication.

The Recognition in Action team makes recognition initiatives readily accessible and easy for leaders, managers, and employees. They provide ideas, best practices, tools, and resources. The team is also responsible for developing components of the recognition conferences.

Each business and function monitors the participation at its own level and some track the type of awards. But Cargill does not give managers a quota, reasoning that a quota would negatively impact the program’s credibility.

Unlike most other companies, Cargill executives don’t document program participation except that they record the number of employees who attend the Recognition Conferences.

Recognition program measurement

Scotiabank spends significantly for measurement and analytics of its recognition program. The range of metrics includes: program participation and registration percentages; website traffic, reward ordering, and redemption analysis; and behavioral analysis with respect to engaged and disengaged participants at a specific period of time.

Every quarter the core recognition team and the recognition provider’s account team hold a performance review meeting to assess the program metrics. The quarterly review meetings are an opportunity to identify performance successes and issues against predetermined benchmarks and develop strategies to evolve the program.

Measuring ROI

Scotiabank also conducts return-on-investment studies to validate the impact of the recognition program on both employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. The 2005 study confirmed that there are direct links between program participation and employee satisfaction and employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. The study concluded that higher participation led to increased employee satisfaction, which led to increased customer satisfaction, which led to a significant increase in revenue.

Real-time performance measurement

To provide key stakeholders with real-time performance measurement of recognition activities, a suite of 26 online reports was developed. The content of these reports is protected to ensure that users only view the information that is relevant to their department or team.

In 2004, MGM Grand began tracking the productivity of personnel in each department. Every quarter when department heads meet with the CFO and finance department to review profit and loss, they also look at the productivity of their workforces. They track productivity numbers to see if the communications, training, and culture of recognition is having a positive impact on performance.

Communication plan

The Wells Fargo Technology Information Group (TIG) recognition team believes they need to communicate constantly. To that end, they created a communications plan and take every opportunity to speak at staff meetings and off-site group meetings, teach recognition classes, send out marketing materials, present at monthly Manager Video Conferences and present to the management team.

TIG has the advantage of access to the latest technology, so they used everything at their disposal. The result is a training program that includes online postcard notification, communications via their TIG home page and HR People Portal, brochures, photos, and online learning and development classes.

“We really worked hard to convey to our managers the importance of valuing and recognizing people for the work that they do,” said Cheryl Miller, TIG team member experience marketing manager. “We used just about every medium that we could think of so that people would get the message and see it on a regular basis.”

Recognition training

The centerpiece of the TIG recognition training program is “The Race for Recognition” – a comprehensive two-hour course that was formulated in September 2005. The course is available both online and in-person.

So far, TIG has trained over 1700 managers. They focus training on informal recognition and the value of recognition, but also touch on formal recognition.

“The Race for Recognition was fun,” Miller said. “The whole goal was to train people in the shortest amount of time. Every manager feels that they are under time constraints. They have to take two hours out of their day to learn about recognition. To get them motivated to do that was a challenge in itself.

“We followed up with materials such as stories about what worked well in other groups. We created an online version – webinar – that is also about two hours so that we can reach all of our virtual managers as well. We know we have to keep energizing the managers.”

The TIG recognition staff trains senior managers through meetings and provides condensed versions of the course to new hire and leadership development personnel. Some of the employee resource groups also request training.

MGM Grand University offers a series of management development modules that strengthen and enhance the critical skills and knowledge needed to motivate and recognize employees.

One of the most important management tools is Keys to Powerful Recognition Management. In this course, which teaches recognition theory and implementation, participants learn what recognition is and why it is important, top reasons why good workers leave, the effects of a motivational environment on employees, three types of recognition and when to apply them, the importance of tangible vs. intangible rewards, how to implement meaningful recognition programs, and the organizational benefits of recognition.
Recognition events and celebrations

MGM Grand hosts several annual employee events designed to reward and motivate employees and give back to the community.

“Variety is important,” Gaines-Snyder said. “There is no other company in this city (Las Vegas) that provides the number and caliber of events that we do. Employees who go to work somewhere else come back and say they miss the events. If we want our employees to wow our guests, we need to keep doing it for them.”

Charitable events

Every March and April the company holds a fundraiser to benefit local charities. Last year, in just eight weeks, employees donated $1.6 million. Employees of the next largest corporate donor, who had 500 more employees, donated only $600,000. MGM Grand employees are the single largest charitable donor in the State of Nevada and the largest single donor in the US hotel and hotel/gaming sector.

“At MGM Grand we consider ourselves to be a ‘community within a community’,” said Gaines-Snyder. “And our employees realize first hand that it feels good to give back to the community in which we all live.”

Cultural Celebrations

Celebrations for holidays such as the Chinese New Year, Black History Month, Asian Pacific Heritage Month, and Cinco de Mayo show employees that MGM Grand values their heritage. During these cultural celebrations, employees display personal memorabilia. For example, during Black History Month employees brought in African-American art, jewelry, and photographs.

Patriotic Celebrations

Employees who are armed services veterans bring in old military uniforms, war artifacts, and news articles for display in MGM Grand’s Stars dining room. Employee guest speakers who have just returned from military leave, share personal experiences with lunchtime crowds and local ROTC units perform color-guard protocol.

Maximum Stardom Talent Show

MGM Grand holds auditions and a full dress rehearsal before its talent show. The top winners get to perform live in a lounge on the Las Vegas strip and see their names in lights on the marquee.

Several other events, such as a pet photo contest, complete MGM Grand’s roster. In 2002, Cargill introduced their biennial Recognition Conference and Awards Ceremony the event serves as both a recognition brainstorming/educational opportunity, and an occasion for awards.

Brainstorming and Education

At the 2006 event, held at the Minneapolis Convention Center, more than 1200 employees gathered for a half-day, large-scale roundtable, with the goal of identifying what Cargill can do to ensure that every employee buys into the company’s plan for building a strong future. Attendees came from four continents and represented nearly every company division.

They articulated the successful practices the company already uses to engage employees and suggested avenues to reinforce key strategic messages. Organizational barriers to engaging with and acting on strategic messages were also discussed.

Awards

The awards ceremony is a prestigious event hosted by corporate executives to honor recipients of the Chairman’s Awards. All finalists for the awards are invited to the conference, with travel expenses paid by the company. Winners receive recognition for their achievements and a custom award personalized with their name and the date of the honor.

In order to be nominated, employees must fill out an extensive application, which can take several hours to complete. Applications are judged on their own merits and against all other applications for the same award. Judges also consider the overall impact and significance of each achievement. About 25 percent of the employees who apply are notified by email that they are finalists.

Program change and flexibility

Since the introduction of Scotiabank’s revitalized recognition program in 2001, administrators have made a consolidated effort toward continuous evolution.

“Previous employee-incentive programs came in numerous quantities and were managed by different region groups and business lines,” explained Yvette Bryan, Scotiabank’s Director of Employee Recognition and Motivation. “Their designs have solely focused on end results that measured sales, closed referrals, and financial results.

“The drawback of this design is that it ignored the activities and behaviors that are effective in creating the desired customer experience. A cultural mind-shift was required to change focus.”

Program improvements

They added a Cash Add Option, allowing employees to combine cash with points and “buy” items that require more points than they have. To maintain the reward value of the catalogue and merchandise, employees can pay for no more than 10 percent of the value of the item in cash. Even with 400 items in the rewards catalogue, employees may not find exactly what they want. The “Special Shopper” service allows employees to request a search for alternate product models from any of the manufacturers represented in the catalogue.

Limited Time Offers were introduced last year, allowing employees to take advantage of limited availability discounted merchandise on the Applause web page. The recently introduced point conversion module employees to exchange Scotia Applause points for credit card loyalty points. In 2006, a comprehensive gift certificate strategy was initiated to further broaden the choice of merchandise.

Changes to the program’s scope and structure

The most sweeping and fruitful change happened when Scotiabank made a strategic decision to evolve from a historical program designed to thank employees for past behavior to a program that also addresses forward-looking incentive-driven behavior.

The initial success of the branch program produced a wave of excitement. Other divisional heads approached senior executives requesting core program participation.

The result was nine new programs added in the three years following the original program launch. As many of the bank’s business lines undergo divisional restructuring, the program continues to accommodate the impact of the changes.

Finally…

Cargill’s Vicki Hargrove, Sr Consultant, Organization Effectiveness and Member, Corporate Recognition Steering Team, has this advice for companies that want to start a recognition program.

“Be clear about why you want to do recognition and why it is not happening today,” she said. “Understanding the underlying assumptions will help to accelerate the acceptance of the need for recognition and the willingness to practice recognition.”

The 2007 RPI Best Practice Award recipients, MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, Cargill, Inc, Wells Fargo Bank, and Scotiabank all have recognition programs that are superior in many ways.

Their continuing commitment to improvement and openness to innovation ensure that all four programs will continue to excel in the future. They truly reflect RPI’s Best Practice Award standards and are paradigms for other organizations to follow.

Christi Gibson is Executive Director for the RPI