Creating an Employee Recognition Program with Lapel Pins- Part 1
A customer called on Friday – in a bit of a panic. His client had called and asked him to present ideas for creating an employee recognition lapel pin program and needed help.
The first step we discussed was assessing the needs of his client. Generally companies will establish such programs because it’s easier (e.g. less expensive) to keep current employees than it is to find new ones and train them from scratch. While most recognition programs have retention as the primary goal – specifics of your clients organization will have a big impact on the type of program you put together. For example, a fast food chain faces different employee retention problems than an insurance company. The fast food client constantly hires many young workers and they’re lucky if they can get them to stay 1 year while the insurance company may expect a good portion of hires to make a career in the business. You obviously wouldn’t give solid gold pins to a burger-flipper at McDonalds – but you may for an insurance executive who sold $5M in premiums. The fast food employee will also probably wear their recognition pins on a hat, while the insurance client will put theirs on a suit. Each of these factors will influence the type of pin you choose. Consider the specific challenges your client faces, and translate that into how it will effect the recognition program.
What exactly does your client want to recognize and reward? Years of service or achievement of some other goal. Years of service is probably the most common approach – and these programs are very successful – but ask yourself it that’s what needs to be rewarded to retain the best employees. Maybe there are other metrics which when measured and recognized can impact your clients bottom line more directly. For example, safe driving (measured in days, hours or miles without an accident) reduce insurance costs. Hitting or exceeding budgeted sales or profits has obvious direct benefits. Referring new hires is an important goal for some rapidly growing organizations. By designing your lapel pin program aroound achievements which are relevant to your clients business and can be measured you add significant long-term value.
How many levels of recognition are appropriate? Do they want to recognize every year of service (1,2,3,4…50) or in increments of 5 (1, 5, 10….) or perhaps they have created their own levels of achievement within the organization (e.g. Presidents Circle, Sales Star, Manager of the Year, etc). Again, understanding your clients business will help you establish the right number of levels. Obviously the more levels you establish the more business for you – but you also don’t want the participants to achieve new levels too quickly – as it will diminish the value of achieving the goals.
Stay tuned for Part II – Designing Your Pins.