Talent Management - July 2008 - (Page 48)

application by Eric Mosley Intuit Spotlights Strategic Importance of Global Employee Recognition Employee recognition can help companies build and maintain engaged workforces that are productive, conscientious and loyal. But to be effective, recognition programs must touch a large portion of the workforce, emphasize timely acknowledgement and allow organizations to reap beneﬁts that enhance the employeremployee relationship . When employee rewards and recognition initiatives are discussed with senior management, ofﬁce parties and one-off gift certiﬁcates typically come to mind. Efforts often involve discretionary spending without measurable outcomes or business impact. Long-term strategic planning often is neglected, putting the value and sustainability of recognition and rewards programs at risk. In a global context, efforts can be even more fragmented and tactical. While each country operates as its own island, offering varying types of employee recognition, programs frequently don’t roll up under one strategic company-wide initiative. Companies operating in this fashion cannot effectively motivate the majority of employees, reinforce company values, shape the culture or inﬂuence the bottom line. But recently, things have begun to change. Global companies now are scrutinizing their recognition programs to assess effectiveness and seeking new ways to create sustainable value. Intuit Inc., a California-based ﬁnancial software and services provider, has developed a successful employee recognition program called Spotlight that has been underway for more than three years. The Evolution of Employee Recognition at Intuit In 2000, following the arrival of Steve Bennett as the company’s chief executive ofﬁcer, Intuit conducted an assessment of its talent strengths, gaps and opportunities. One of the opportunities was in employee rec- ognition, which the company believed would have an immediate impact on culture. “It’s all about trying to create excitement in the culture,” said Jim Grenier, vice president of human resources at Intuit. “It’s part of trying to build momentum and keep that momentum going. But how do you keep the momentum going day-to-day? You want to let people know they are doing a good job and, at the same time, reinforce the same messages about where the business is going and what’s important.” In 2000, there was no formal employee recognition program and no budgeted funding for recognition. Managers developed their own ways of recognizing employees, but most did nothing, so Intuit developed an internal recognition program. The company found this difﬁcult and time-consuming, and there was little consistency in adoption of the program from department to department. Awards were generally cash and tended to be quickly forgotten by employees. In 2001, Intuit launched an online employee recognition program, allowing managers to give awards that could be redeemed for merchandise. Employees could choose gifts from an online catalog of about 2,000 items. But the online program’s adoption was uneven and offered multiple challenges. Employees in the U.S. and Canada were dissatisﬁed with the merchandise catalog rewards program for many reasons. Catalog items were too expensive. For instance, awards in the $250 category were much cheaper if bought in a store or online. Employees felt the company was spending too 48 July 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - July 2008

Talent Management - July 2008 Editor’s Letter Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Guest Editorial Passive Candidate Recruiting: Evolving with a Changing Workforce How Do They Feel? Sec Regulations and Executive Compensation Performance Management: A Retail Perspective Train the Non-Trainer Management-Go-Round: Developing Future Leaders Netflix Creates Its Own Script for Talent Management Intuit Spotlights Strategic Importance of Global Employee Recognition Make HR a Profit Center: Automate Technology to Gather Tax Credit Data Offshoring and the Impact on Talent Management Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - July 2008

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