Can you recognise employees with a limited budget?

Competing priorities mean HR budgets are more stretched than ever. On one hand, leaders are asking for more while on the other, asking HR to do it with less. According to one recent study, 34% of HR leaders are expecting to work with a decreased HR budget this year.

Given the impact of COVID, that presents a significant challenge. There is more of a need than ever to support employees. Many are still feeling the wellbeing impacts of isolation. The effect of the long months at home are lingering, although easing as we return to a post-lockdown life.

Many companies are struggling to re-align teams around changing workplace dynamics. Some employees are loving being back in the office and the connection it brings. Others are anxious about the commute, the crowds and co-workers mingling. It will take time to adjust after learning to live, work and cope at home for such extended periods.

Reduced HR budgets coupled with the increased need for employee focussed initiatives are in contest. Companies know they need to re-build the connective tissue of their organisation. Many are looking at tools like recognition get their employees back to thriving but with what funding?

These conflicting needs bring up the question - can you run a successful recognition program with limited budget?

The short answer is yes.

Giving recognition is free.

There are lots of ways you can show appreciation that cost nothing. Send an email, post into your collaboration channels, call out the achievement at a meeting, pick up the phone and ring the employee. There are also lots of low-cost ways to recognise employees.

While all recognition is good, free recognition is a bit like throwing confetti in the air and hoping for the best. The little glimpses of appreciation confetti are great as they float through the air. The problem is they don’t always land where you want them to, have no defined framework and unless you were there in the moment, are all meaningless dots on the ground. They leave you wondering about the celebration and what it meant.

Recognition without a defined framework and a consistent way to deliver and measure it, is still recognition. It’s just not the most effective way to deliver it and has limited impact. And even a free-form confetti approach comes at a price - both in time spent and the opportunity cost.

If you have zero budget for recognition, doing something is better than doing nothing. It will be ad-hoc, inequitable and untrackable but still recognition.

A better approach is to look at how you can leverage a limited budget to get the most from a program. A recognition program that has a structure, defined expectations and clear reporting does not have to cost a lot and will drive the desired results.

Here are the key elements to consider when trying to deliver recognition with a small budget.

Recognition software is the only choice.

When budgets are crunched, some are quick to dismiss recognition software citing the cost being too high. Afterall, you can run a program on spreadsheets, or on the wall where you pin cards right? And by doing that, you can save on the software costs and invest that into rewarding employees.

The cost of custom recognition software is expensive, even prohibitive. If your ideal is a bespoke, bells and whistles platform to deliver your employee recognition program, then yes, it is expensive - very expensive.

However, recognition software doesn’t need to break the bank. There are plenty of great off the shelf recognition software options that are attainable on a small budget and do not mean you have to say bye-bye to the fancy features.

The best option for a limited budget is to look for a Software as a Service (SaaS) recognition solution. SaaS software will deliver all the features and benefits, but usually costs a fraction of the cost of building it yourself. The provider handles the platform, hosting, maintenance, security as well as new feature development.

Typically the company licenses SaaS software for your employees to use so you get all the benefits without any of the hassle.

SaaS software can cost as low as cents per employee per month, depending on how many employees you have so while it is a cost, it’s a low cost when put in context of the benefits.

What are the benefits of employee recognition software?

Recognition software creates a go-to place for all things reward and recognition. It is a digital hub where all employees can go to give and see who is receiving, support moments that matter and interact when their team are called out. It’s a single place to celebrate great achievements.

The other things recognition software does is streamlines management of your program. Software reduces the time spent administering it by integrating with your data, issuing notifications and reminders for you and give you access to insights and analysis. Put simply, it’s an invaluable resource on your recognition project team that will free up time so you can focus on other important initiatives.

So while software can look like a large cost up-front, it’s a false economy to think that you will save money by trying to run a recognition program in-house.

Communication.

These days, communication on a low budget is easier than ever.

With collaboration tools you can communicate on a recognition stream for all employees to see. You can create a channel in stream in Slack, a channel in Teams or Workplace or wherever it is your team connect and share recognition moments that way.

You can share great moments at meetings, by email to the team, host them on your intranet. And these can all be done with resources you already have and are already using.

Many recognition moments are celebrated on the back of good communication. That’s where this strategy for recognition communication can fall down. It’s well and good to share meaningful appreciation, but if someone skips the meeting or has not subscribed to the channel, they can miss the moment.

Ultimately you want those involved in a recognition, and their manager, to know about it as it happens. And that’s where dedicated recognition software can help.

Good software has complex notifications that support activity in the recognition program. It’s not just about the employee knowing someone has recognised them, but their manager benefits from knowing too. On collaboration channels, employees may know if they log in look for it but recognition software will update them as it happens. No extra effort required.

Similarly, you can set a channel up but if no-one is using it, you have to manually encourage them to get involved. Great software will automate engagement for you with non-activity reminders and other messages that drive the socialisation of recognition.

Can you deliver the communication to support recognition at a low cost? Sure you can. It just depends how much time you want– or can - dedicate to manually pushing out messages and chasing those who have not recognised anyone.

And how do you know who is recognising if messages are being posted across different platforms without streamlined reporting?

What about rewards?

You don’t need rewards to run a recognition program. Many companies run a ‘recognition only’ model where rewards don’t feature at all.

‘Recognition only’ works perfectly well for companies who are introducing a new program. It’s more of a challenge to pull them out if you already have a program up and running. Not impossible, rewards just need to be phased out over time to avoid totally losing your employee’s interest.

The other option is to look at no-cost or low-cost ways to reward. If you have access to supplier product, can buy a stash of vouchers and keep them in the HR cupboard, or can get other things at cost you can give as rewards, this can really help extend a limited budget.

The other rewards that should be considered if you have limited funds is time and activity based rewards. Can you give employees extra time off the job – for life admin, to volunteer with their favourite charity, to pick the kids up at the school gate? Can you reward them with the chance to meet with a mentor? Would they get excited by publishing a blog post on the company page? Do they want to share a big idea with leadership at the next exec meeting?

All these activities cost no more than time – a soft cost – but can have a huge impact on your employees. These rewards can also have the upside of benefiting the company as well as employees. If that pitch your employee made to the execs turns into something tangible, the company wins in two ways. The tangible win of the new idea as well as increased loyalty from an employee who feels heard and valued. That meeting with a mentor is great for the employee as they are inspired and motivated to challenge themselves or learn more. It’s also great for the company.

The other rewards to think about are low-cost rewards. These have a small cost attached but in the scheme of things, fit in the overall budget.

Low-cost rewards can be things like a manager buying an employee a coffee. A box of donuts on an employee’s desk when they arrive at the office. A movie ticket from a stash you keep, company branded merchandise and swag, lunch delivered to an employee’s desk, a two-week guest pass to the local gym. The options are endless, but not expensive.

No-cost and low-cost rewards don’t work for all companies – or all departments - and can be hard to manage manually. Great recognition software will help administer both low cost and time and activity-based rewards if your budget allows you to go down that path.

Really great software will even enable you to delineate which of these rewards are available to which department. That way you can ensure everyone is being rewarded fairly, but in the way most suitable for their role or business needs.

So can you run an employee recognition program with a limited budget?

Yes - and pretty soon it will start to add so much value, leaders will be clamouring to add more funding to the project.