Incentive - January 2008 - (Page 23)

CASE STUDY They found that the shipper was a fraud victim, an elderly woman who had been falsely led to believe she’d won a large amount of money and had to send the additional money to claim her prize. Because of Tunison’s efforts, the woman’s money was returned. Getting the word out about these episodes of individual initiative not only gives other employees models to learn from, but it gives the workers who are “on it” special recognition. In addition to publicizing their stories, DHL honors motivated workers through an extensive system of rewards designed to maximize motivation. “The recognition philosophy is all about timeliness,” says Snowberger. “It’s about sincerity, and it’s about recognizing individuals who go above and beyond, not necessarily by saying, ‘Here’s a check for $10,000.’ We’re focusing on the meaningful, day-to-day recognition.” Part of these everyday ovations come in the form of DHL’s “I’m On It” awards. In keeping with the individual empowerment philosophy, coworkers, the company leadership stays aware of how efforts are going in instilling the culture of recognition throughout the company. With that in mind, DHL actually trains managers in the art of recognition. In seminars of 50 to 100 people (and sometimes as many as 400), managers are instructed not only on the importance of rewarding good work by employees but in the specific ways in which it should be done for maximum impact. “E-mail is probably the easiest way to tell somebody thank you, but it’s probably also the most insincere way. So we talk about making sure that the recognition is timely, that it’s sincere,” says Treglia. “We always strive to get the managers to understand that doing it in a way that promotes it in his or her team, publicly, is going to help us support the whole culture.” These interactive training sessions are opportunities for managers to ask for advice on recognizing individuals in specific situations. Leaders go over why these commendations are impor- “You really need to understand what motivates the individual, and recognize the individual in a way that’s important to them.” –Tony Treglia, DHL any employee, whether within management or not, can give another employee one of these awards for making an impact through the quality of his or her work, satisfying a customer, or being a good corporate citizen. The employee gets receives a small plaque, and notification is sent to the manager and tracked company-wide. There are also bronze-, silver-, and goldlevel awards. Each comes with its own level of merchandise—and potentially travel rewards—that employees are able to choose for themselves from a Web site. All of these awards are monitored in a central database, so that the company leadership can see how frequently they are occurring and the distribution of the recognition among the various departments. This database has tracked an over 200-percent increase in recognition events from 2006 to 2007. Another metric used by DHL is the annual employee survey, which has shown a notable improvement in positive responses about the company’s rewards and recognition efforts. Even though employees have a great deal of freedom in awarding their tant in a workplace culture and offer examples of when people were recognized and what worked or did not. “Afterwards, I’ve had people come up to me and go, ‘You know, Tony, I’ve always seen recognition as something where I say I’m going to give someone this Starbucks gift card, and that’s what I do for everybody. But going through this, I’ve learned that it’s about what’s important to them.’ It’s not a one-way approach to recognition,” says Treglia. “You really need to understand what motivates the individual and recognize the individual in a way that’s important to them.” Despite its success at implementing a culture of recognition at DHL, the company sees a lot more to be done. “While we’ve had a significant increase in recognition events, we know we’re not where we want to be. We have 20,000 employees in the U.S., and we want to get up to over half of those receiving recognition a year. We’re getting close to where we want to be, but we still have some opportunities for us to get better, to reinforce and train people.” s DHL’s employees are encouraged to think and act independently to meet customer needs at every possible opportunity incentivemag.com | January 2008 | Incentive | 23 http://incentivemag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Incentive - January 2008

Incentive - January 2008 Contents Editor’s Note: Out of SITE In The News Cover Story: Include a Meeting, Improve Morale Case Study: DHL Delivers Recognition Incentive Primer: How To Use Promo Products How Bob Nardelli Rallied Chrysler’s Dealers Incentive Interview: Ken Blanchard Says Be Nice TV’s Extreme Makeover Motivates Giving Pre-Employment Motivation The Daycare Dilemma Happy Employees Shouldn’t Mix with Sick Employees Incentive Research: Consumer Promotions Report In Her Shoes: Winning Approval Of Flextime Travel News Field Report: Barcelona Field Report: Bermuda Golf: Follow The Pros potentials Here and Now Watches As Jewelry Awards: Online Gift Cards Tech Gadgets for 2008 Last Word: Stanley Bing Bashes Bully Bosses

Incentive - January 2008

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