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Inspiration/Values

Leadership and values is one of the most important factors in the Total Reward Framework, as it regularly features in the 'top three' priorities in the Diagnostic Questionnaire. Public service organisations often have values that attract employees with a strong public service ethos, particularly in health and education. There is also a positive feeling attached to many public service occupations - when faced with the 'So, what do you do?' question at parties, doctors, nurses and teachers seem to be more appreciated than the 'used-car salesperson' or equivalent.

See the elements of Inspiration/Values, and their definitions.

Actions

Assess:

• What are the stated values of the organisation? Do employees know and understand them? Do managers and employees 'live' up to them?
• What are the implied or actual values of the organisation? What do people actually do?
• How is the organisation seen in the community? Does this image need to be changed or improved, and how? This involves working with PR or marketing to match the internal experience with the external image. You can positively affect the image of your organisation in the local community - the public has a tendency to judge their local schools or hospital well, even while complaining about education or the NHS in general. The public also appreciate improved local services, at the same time as begruding the increases in Council Tax that pay for these improvements.
• Does your organisation honestly value and promote diversity and the fair treatments of all employees (and clients), regardless of gender, ethnicity, working pattern, caring responsibilities or age? You may need to conduct one or more focus groups comprised of potentially disadvantaged employees, as even a Diagnostic survey of all employees may not sufficiently address this issue.
• Leadership?/ Improving line management?

Again, you will need to work with colleagues both within HR and in other departments in these areas.

Benchmark

External benchmarking (pdf, 25Kb) of non-financial awards may help you gather the evidence you need to support recommendations for change.

Change

Examples

• Certain industries (such as defence, oil and tobacco) pay a premium to attract employees, because a proportion of the population wouldn't ever consider working in some or all of these areas;
• Other organisations have people lining up to join (such as BBC, Virgin, Body Shop).

Case Study

Read the Case Study (pdf, 30Kb) in a charity.

Ideas: Recognition Awards

There is a huge range of ideas for simple, inexpensive non-cash awards that can be used to recognise high levels of performance, either on a single project or over a period of time. But how do you choose between them?

Think of the intended audience - is it appropriate? Will they consider this a reward worth working for? Many organisations get an excellent response from awards such as a food hamper or dinner at a favourite restaurant, but the response from associates at one professional services firm was 'if you feel you have to give us food, you must be paying us badly' (the associates were comparatively well-paid).

Think of the recipient - will they appreciate the item? Buying everyone a ham at Christmas might sound like a good idea, but what about the vegetarians, those who don't eat ham for religious reasons, or those with food allergies or intolerances?

Does the award reflect the culture of the organisation? Awards such as cufflinks and tiepins would not work in an organisation that places a great deal of emphasis on being a fun and caring workforce, but might work in a male-dominated middle management environment.

Is the award compatible with other organisational policies? For example, offering a prime car parking spot might not fit with an environmental campaign to car-pool and increase use of public transport.

In the case of individual awards, it may be appropriate to include a hand-signed letter from the appropriate Director, stating what the award is, what it is for, and thanking the employee for their hard work/commitment/performance.

Above all, remember that none of the following ideas can compensate for major deficiencies in other aspects of Total Reward (such as low pay, high workload or an unfulfilling role), and none can be a substitute for common courtesies, such as saying 'thank you' for a job well done.

Ideas for Non-Cash Awards

plaques or certificates bottle of champagne basket of fruit food hamper house cleaning for a year car parking for six months prime car park for a month dinner out for two (+ taxi and babysitting?) cinema vouchers points-based catalogue gifts personalised items Fridays off for a month magazine subscription retail shopping vouchers charity donation small gift (e.g. mug with appropriate cartoon) t-shirt

gift certificates balloons or flowers (delivered to the workplace - an additional idea, to reinforce a team focus, is for the recipient to give a single flower to each person who helped make the award possible) tickets to a concert, theatre or sports event books pen and pencil sets (monogrammed?) jewellery (e.g. watch or tiepin) joke/funny gifts conference attendance fee air miles airline tickets or hotel packages logo merchandise (t-shirt, mug, cap, mousemat etc.) trophy (passed from one person to another)

Many organisations offer 'points', which can then be converted to prizes.

Further Resources

Review of Progress