The OpenWater Blog

How Internal Awards Programs Can Reap Big Rewards for Your Company

If you’re suffering from high turnover rates, poor productivity among staff members, and a loss in sales, you are a part of a growing trend among companies today. However, you don’t have to remain a part of this trend. An internal awards program can turn all of this around and more. Here’s how.

Lower Turnover Rate

While every business will experience turnovers regardless of industry, the rate at which turnovers occur can make or break a company. Most businesses would like to maintain low costs while improving their revenue streams. However, high employee turnover rates can cost a company so much money that it becomes almost impossible to break even. The cost of advertising for a newly opened position, losing calls and clients due to under-staffing, and administering training to new employees can set a company back over one-third of the new employee’s annual salary. When you multiply this figure times the number of employees that are leaving too soon, you’ll see why it’s vital to stop these turnovers before they begin.

In order to do this, you have to understand why your employees are leaving in the first place. Business experts at Chron listed one of the reasons for high turnover as dissatisfaction with the working atmosphere. While this can be caused by poor benefits or inadequate training, it is almost always caused by the non-recognition of achievements. By implementing an internal awards program, your employees will gain the motivation they need to keep reaching for better results. This, of course, leads to lower turnover rates. According to World at Work, it leads to a 31 percent lower rate when compared to companies that lack this program.

Improved Work Productivity

You’ve probably heard this expression, but in case you haven’t – “A happy employee is a productive employee.” And of course improved productivity leads to higher sales, happier customers, and increased brand loyalty. Internal recognition programs don’t just single out workers who do well, they give lower-performing employees a goal to work toward. This leads to an overall better working environment. According to Bersin and Associates, companies that push award programs for their employees are rewarded with a 14 percent higher productivity rate than their counterparts. This is great news for businesses that are currently struggling with internal productivity issues.

Despite the evidence that internal awards and recognition provide a huge boost for organizations, a study conducted by Bersin and Associates revealed that while four out of five companies have a recognition program, only 58 percent of employees believe it to be true. This means that businesses have to do more to implement these programs and broaden the award nomination requirements. Since most are given on a tenure basis, much has to change to incorporate today’s employees into the awards system. Then, and only then, can you truly see the fruits of such a program.

Timothy Spell

Timothy Spell co-founded OpenWater in 2007 with the goal of helping organizations tackle and better manage the oftentimes overlooked awards and contests industry. As an author and speaker in the awards industry, Timothy provides unique insight on how to use awards to boost membership, social media followers and search engine traffic.

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