It’s National Careers Week, this was designed to empower positive change through careers education, providing a platform to celebrate the world of work. It’s therefore the perfect time for businesses to engage their employees and promote their career progression opportunities.
With a lack of clear career progression being one of the main reasons workers are choosing to leave their job roles, HR leaders and employers are increasing their focus on reward and recognition schemes, using them to retain and engage employees, as well as boost general productivity in the workplace.
Increase in productivity
High quality rewards and recognition are a great way to motivate and engage staff, boost team morale and promote a feeling of positivity within the workplace. It’s been continually proven that award schemes, like long service awards, can reduce staff turnover by 20%.
In terms of productivity, this means an employee is much more likely to be committed to their personal job role, investing and committing more to the company and its culture. This generates a cycle of recognition, which become beneficial for all parties. If an employee does something notable and the employer wants this behaviour to be continued, the employer should reward and thank this employee so that they’ll repeat the desired behaviour. But what does this have to do with career progression? Well, reward and recognition programmes aid HR and business leaders in identifying their top talented people. This then allows management to progress these employees to the next stage in their career and create new deserved roles which in return boost business growth and contribute to the bottom line.
Employee retention
We have previously published an article on the importance of reward and recognition schemes like long service awards and how they can directly prevent employees from going elsewhere. It’s been continually proven that 66% of organisations with social recognition reported a direct positive on retention. With the average employee only staying with an organisation for 4.4 years, HR leaders must acknowledge the importance of implementing an appealing recognition scheme that will encourage employees to stay and work towards the next award milestone.
Boost engagement
Happiness is infectious. Not only does a reward and recognition scheme make employees happier, but it also engages them for the long term. When employees have a clear path to career progression and are rewarded for good work along their journey, this boosts their confidence and motivation and usually leads to a promotion. Engaged employees feel more invested and committed to the business for the long term and are less likely to entertain the idea of leaving their role and the business.
Thus far it has been outlined why reward and recognition schemes are so important for career progression, so how do you create an appealing rewards and recognition scheme that will cover and is successfully implemented?
As a starting point – 71% of people recently surveyed revealed that they wanted an experience gift as a corporate reward. Such gifts are about making space for new discoveries, spending time with loved ones and having amazing stories that the employee can share afterwards. Experiences are incredibly thoughtful and memorable and should be considered as part of a reward and recognition scheme.
If you would like to explore how Virgin Incentives can help you with your reward and recognition schemes [ultimately impacting your employees’ career progression], call our team on 0330 111 3131 or complete a short form and we’ll be in touch.
