Top-performing companies have been found to reward fewer employees, but these rewards are also more robust. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock/Nattakorn
Top-performing companies are likelier to use incentive trips for
employees as a form of reward when compared to standard-performing
companies; and while they reward fewer employees in this way, their
spend per employee is higher than that of a standard-performing company.
These findings and more were discussed in a session entitled ‘Driving
growth through total rewards’, hosted by the Incentive Research
Foundation (IRF), which examined how top-performing companies design and
manage total rewards packages to maximise employee performance. It
examined how total rewards can be most effectively used to motivate
employees.
Total rewards are identified as non-cash rewards and recognition,
such as incentive travel, base compensation (for example, salary and
wages), variable compensation such as commissions and bonuses and any
other benefits, which could be paid time off, health insurance and
wellbeing.
The discussion examined data from an IRF survey, carried out earlier
this year, featuring responses from 1,200 business individuals at
executive level from multiple industries, including professional
services, health, retail, finance, technology and manufacturing.
Fewer rewards, bigger impact
“Top-performing companies reward fewer employees but have more robust
individual rewards,” said Andy Schwarz, VP, content and communications
at the IRF. “That holds for employee rewards and also for sales employee
rewards.”
Megg Withinton, VP enterprise analytics at HR solutions provider
Insperity and research advisor, said that while top-performing companies
appear to be rewarding fewer people, the pay-off they get is ‘pretty
significant’.
“These top-performing companies might be focusing a little bit more
tightly in terms of the audience they are recognising,” she said.
“There’s a narrative in the industry around recognising everybody,
around letting everyone have a reward experience every year and that is
maybe worth examining a little more closely.”
Focus on top performers
Min Choi, EVP and chief marketing officer at Germania Insurance said
his company is increasingly focusing on rewarding the right people at
the right amount.
“When I started incentives fifteen years ago, it was all about
rewarding people at the same level and then it became about moving to
the middle, but there’s only so much of the middle that ends up moving
and the rest is left on the table,” he said. “The question now is do we
reward the best or top-performing people and does that deliver more bang
for your buck?”
Wellness takes priority
Top-performing companies are also more likely to include wellbeing in
their reward programme. Results showed that in these businesses, there
is a trend around allocating budget [for trips] at a departmental or
unit level, rather than at a corporate level, giving more ownership to a
particular division within a business.
Surprisingly, the survey found that non-cash reward budgets are not
being spent - the percentage spent in top-performing companies was 36%
compared to 38% in standard performing companies.
Choi said whether budgets are spent depends on the programme and the
channel; with regards to incentive travel, there is a set number of
trips, and the budget allocated to those is generally being spent.